The long-vacant Nathan Hale School in Enfield could soon get a second life as housing for older residents, under a proposal that would convert the former elementary school into 38 apartments for people 55 and older. The roughly 47,756-square-foot building at 5 Taylor Road has sat empty since 2017, and town officials are now weighing whether to approve the zone change and site plan needed to move the project forward.
The developer, NHR LLC, is seeking approval to redevelop the property into what it calls Nathan Hale Apartments, according to Hartford Business Journal. The application asks for both a zone change and site-plan approval for the roughly 8.5-acre property, and it names Chris Marszalek as the company's contact. Reports differ slightly on the unit mix — Hartford Business Journal describes 38 total apartments, while an earlier January report from the Hartford Courant put the figure at 39 units, including 31 one-bedroom apartments and eight studios, versus seven studios in the more recent account. The discrepancy in exact unit counts has not been resolved in public reporting.
According to CT Insider, the plan calls for retaining the existing building footprint while adding studios, one-bedroom apartments and six townhouse-style units, with residential units ranging from 595 to 1,270 square feet. The largest one-bedroom apartment would include a flex area, and the redevelopment plans include six expanded one-bedroom units alongside six townhouse-style one-bedroom units with a second floor. The project would also bring exterior renovations, landscaping, and improvements to parking areas and pedestrian access, the Hartford Business Journal report notes.
A School Building Sitting Idle Since 2017
Nathan Hale School was built in 1962 and operated as a kindergarten-through-Grade-2 school until it closed at the end of the 2016-17 school year, per The Hour. Enfield's Republican-led Board of Education voted 5-4 along party lines in December 2016 to close the elementary school, and the board chairman said at the time that the closure would save the district about $436,000, according to CT Insider. Town officials began exploring reuse options for the property in 2017, not long after the building emptied out.
Since then, the property has changed hands more than once. The Enfield Town Council voted to sell it to The Court LLC for $750,000 in 2024, CT Insider reports, but that earlier deal — which would have brought a mixed-use development with a sports facility, 32 apartments and a day care — never advanced, according to the Hartford Courant. The town ultimately sold the property to Our Town Home Buyers LLC for $500,000 in February, according to property records cited by Hartford Business Journal, and that company applied through its subsidiary, NHR LLC, to rezone the site to a special development district overlay zone.
Why an Earlier Zoning Bid Stalled
This isn't the first time the property has gone before Enfield's Planning and Zoning Commission. In 2023, the commission voted against a proposed zone change without prejudice, as reported by the New Haven Register. The commission cited the need for a completed environmental study and clarity on whether the town would receive loan forgiveness tied to an outstanding school-project bond before it would consider the change. That same report noted the Environmental Protection Agency had found contaminants in the building.
A project narrative from DiBattisto Associates, dated September 9, 2026, describes the property as underused and deteriorating amid vandalism since the school closed, and frames the current proposal as an effort to restore the building through adaptive reuse while preserving its architectural character. Architectural plans submitted with the application carry the same September 9 date. Planned site improvements include parking lot upgrades, landscaping, reconfigured entrances and a gazebo on the rear lawn, according to CT Insider.
What Comes Next for the Proposal
The proposal appeared on the Planning and Zoning Commission's Sept. 24 agenda, and the commission is expected to discuss the plan again at its November 5 meeting, per the latest agenda cited by CT Insider. State law requires the commission to act on the application by November 14, meaning Enfield officials could render a decision within weeks.
The Enfield proposal fits a broader pattern playing out across Connecticut, where shrinking school enrollment and an aging population have pushed towns to repurpose old school buildings. At least 2,400 apartments and condominiums have already been built in former Connecticut school buildings, and more than 1,600 additional apartments could be added through similar redevelopments in the coming years, according to a review by CT Insider. Manchester's own former Nathan Hale School recently received approval for a 41-unit retrofit, and a former Batcheller Elementary School in Winchester has been proposed for conversion into an apartment complex with nearly three dozen units, the same review found.
