Now, after years of planning and negotiation, officials voted in February to approve a mixed-use development proposed by Hamden developer Michael Belfonti for the 12.1-acre property. The plan is to knock down the roughly 225,000-square-foot building and replace it with 213 apartments in 11 buildings, 11,067 square feet of office space and 9,959 square feet of retail. Town leaders say the Ames redevelopment could be the start of building a true downtown center for Rocky Hill, a central-Connecticut bedroom community of about 21,000 that has been the fastest-growing municipality in Hartford County over the past decade, according to U.S. Census figures. The state Bond Commission, last spring, approved $500,000 to help demolish the Ames building. The town is close to securing a $990,000 state brownfield grant to help with the cost of clearing hazardous building materials from the Ames property and a small patch of subsurface pollution, Carpentino said.
https://www.hartfordbusiness.com/article/60m-redevelopment-of-former-ames-hq-could-give-rocky-hill-a-long-sought-town-center