The Outer-Outer Borough

Construction in Fairfield County and much of South Connecticut is thriving thanks to migrating New Yorkers.

Fairfield County Overview

A construction boom has exploded across Fairfield County, Conn., over the last few years with no sign of slowing down.

Besides luxury housing and other residential, a number of mixed-use projects including retail, office, institutional and hotel space also are rising. The bulk of the work hugs the Interstate 95 corridor and is close to Metro North train stops, but major projects are also popping up in Danbury and more rural spots.

Officials estimate that developers have proposed more than 10,000 housing units – from luxury condos to market-rate apartments – in the county, with 4,000 units slated in  Stamford alone and almost that many in Bridgeport. “Whether it all gets built is a question mark, but clearly the development community is seeing housing as a major driver,” says Joe McGee, vice president of public policy for the Business Council of Fairfield County.

Despite concerns over the subprime mortgage crisis, developers continue to talk about moving forward, with projects under construction and plenty more proposed or under review.

Construction, industry and municipal officials say two demographic groups attracted to city living at prices lower than Manhattan – young professionals in the 25-to-35 age group and empty nesters who are downsizing from their large houses and yards – are among the factors driving construction.

 Here’s an overview of what’s going on. Stamford is clearly leading the way with Harbor Point, an ambitious $3.5 billion project by Greenwich-based Antares Investment Partners, which plans to revitalize the city’s industrial South End over the next decade.

The project is within walking distance to the city’s transportation center. It includes 4,000 housing units, 400,000 sq ft of retail space, 200,000 sq ft of office space, a boutique hotel, marina, parks and waterfront promenades, and a peninsula on Long Island Sound where abandoned factories now sit. 

The first phase calls for a combination of new and rehab construction over the next two years that will deliver 900 housing units and 330,000 sq ft of new retail space, says Michael Freimuth, Stamford’s economic development director.

Other major projects in Stamford:

• A $400 million, 500,000-sq-ft downtown office tower under construction off Washington Boulevard for Royal Bank of Scotland and a subsidiary, RBS Greenwich Capital. Scheduled for occupancy late this year, the complex includes a 95,000-sq-ft trading floor and 300,000 sq ft of office space for 3,000 employees, including workers moving from Greenwich and Manhattan. COST?

• The renovation of Stamford Town Center, a downtown mall, in which 140,000 sq ft of old department store space was torn down and replaced with 110,000 of new retail space last year. COST?

On the housing front, more than 1,000 new units are under construction in Stamford’s downtown over the next few years. They include Trump Parc, the first luxury high-rise in Connecticut to bear New York developer Donald J. Trump’s name.

The $75 million, 170-unit, 36-story luxury housing tower, on which sitework began in September, is being developed jointly by Stamford developers Thomas L. Rich, president of F.D. Rich Co., and Louis R. Cappelli Enterprises.

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In addition, Boston-based Corcoran Jennison is developing the next phase of Park Square West, a $50 million, 16-story, 181-unit luxury apartment building, which was slated to begin construction late last year. Stamford-based Hannah Real Estate Investors completed renovation during the summer of a 66,000-sq-ft Class B office building into The Metropolitan with 39 loft-style condominiums and 12 luxury townhouses.

Four other housing projects are also under construction, including two on the city’s East Side, which both involve Hannah Real Estate Investors. One is Glen View House, a $50 million, 140-unit luxury apartment building, which will include affordable rentals and 15,000 sq ft of ground floor retail space, already leased by Walgreen’s. The other is Eastside Commons, a 110-unit luxury housing project.

The two other projects are River’s Edge, an $80 million, 170-unit townhouse condominium development by Stamford-based RMS Construction in the Springdale area; and a 195-unit condominium development on what’s known as the Dorr-Oliver site, on the Greenwich line.

Scheduled to begin construction within the next two years are three other major projects in Stamford. One is the Atlantic Centre, which will feature a 198-room Ritz-Carleton hotel and a 289-unit condominium development in two 39-story buildings developed by Stamford developers Louis D. Cappelli and Thomas L. Rich. Developers would not reveal the project’s cost.

The other is Tresser Square, a Los Angeles-based Lowe Enterprises development still in design. That project, which requires the demolition of St. John’s Tower A, will encompass over 1 million sq ft, including three downtown towers with 835 residential units (518 condos and 316 rentals) and 145,000 sq ft of street-level retail and restaurant space.

The third, which plans to break ground this spring, is Metro Green, an environmentally friendly, mixed-income residential and retail development by New York-based W&M Properties and Jonathan Rose Cos. Featuring a 17-story office tower and 238 housing units, it, like many other projects, is being built close to the city’s train station.

 A variety of reasons explain the construction boom, says Freimuth, Stamford’s economic development director. “Some, like the RBS project, are tenant-driven deals,” he adds.  “Others are market driven, including the expansion and reconfiguration of the Stamford Town Center mall.”

He says the housing is driven by demand and the fact that many of the developments are close to train service.

It’s not just Stamford that’s experiencing the construction boom.

The Bridgeport City Council in November approved what’s being called that city’s largest redevelopment project in decades. The $1.5 billion Steel Point by  New York-based developer Midtown Equities promises as many as 3,500 upscale condominiums and townhouses facing Bridgeport Harbor, stores, restaurants and possibly hotel and office space.

Plans also call for a waterfront walkway and a 350-slip marina and a yacht club. The project, which sits on 53 acres of Bridgeport’s East Side known as Steel Point peninsula, will include new streets and other infrastructure improvements, part of which will be financed by $190 million in state-approved bonds.

Farther north in Norwalk, Norwalk-based Spinnaker Development Corp was scheduled to break ground at the end of 2007 on a 1.1-million-sq-ft, 19-story mixed-use project to LEED standards called 95/7 (at the heavily trafficked junction of I-95 and Connecticut Route 7).

The development, which closes out the last parcel in the city’s 20-year renewal plan, includes 600,000 sq ft of office space, 125,000 sq ft of  retail space, a 140-room hotel and a mix of  250 rental units and condominiums, according to Tim Sheehan, Norwalk Redevelopment Agency executive director.

Meanwhile, Port Chester, N.Y.-based Poko Partners is planning a spring groundbreaking on a transit-oriented development of 300-plus units in Norwalk’s downtown that’s planned over three phases. It will include ground-floor retail space and be within a 10- to 12-minute walk of  the South Norwalk train station.

Nearby, Norwalk-based Seligson Properties is planning to develop a 1-million-sq-ft  mixed-use project called Waypointe on a 19-acre West Avenue site in Norwalk that will include retail, 257 residential units and 125,000 sq ft of office space. Developers say 10% of the housing will be luxury units, and the remainder will be offered at market rate And in the town of Fairfield, a $500 million project called Metro Center is being developed in a public-private development with Fairfield developer Blackrock Realty that will include the construction of a new (third) train station on the Metro North line. It should be completed by the end of 2009.

The 36-acre development also includes 800,000 sq ft in four office buildings with underground parking, a 175-room Hilton hotel and a health club.

In Danbury, Danbury Hospital just completed a $45 million, 60,000-sq-ft addition called the Medical Arts Building, which is the largest addition since 1983, says Wayne Shepperd, the city’s economic development director.

Mankind Pharmaceutical is planning a $107 million expansion to its existing Casper Street manufacturing plant this year and the city has broken ground on a new $36 million police station targeted for completion this year.

On the housing front, WCI Communities Inc. is developing a new residential village on a 321-acre former Union Carbide site, one of the largest master-planned communities in the region. Planned are about 1,200 houses ranging in price from $300,000 to $700,000.

Meanwhile, Greenwich, Conn.-based Georgetown Land Development, which specializes in reclaiming brownfield sites, is transforming a 55-acre mill site in the Georgetown section of rural Redding into a $400 million mixed-use transit-oriented development called Georgetown, a first of its kind in the state.

Scheduled for completion in three years, it will include 416 housing units, 300,000 sq ft of commercial space and a new Metro North train station within walking distance from anywhere in the village.

With the exception of a few, industry officials note that most of the projects under construction or planned are private ventures.

“They’re developer-driven,” says John Oliveto, former president of the Connecticut Building Congress, a trade group, and partner at Fletcher-Thomson Inc., a Shelton, Conn., based architectural firm.

“What’s going on in many areas are the TODs [transit-oriented developments]. In the coming years, we’ll see a lot of these developments pop up, focusing on developing as near self-sufficient buildings that will be near rail lines and highways.”