Trumping Stamford

Construction begins on Stamford, Connecticut’s Trump condos.

Trump Parc Stamford is promising a dazzling, high-rise tower in Stamford, Conn., with all the amenities of Big Apple living but without the congestion.

“This represents another major stage in the revitalization effort of the city,” says developer Thomas L. Rich, president of F.D. Rich Co. of Stamford. He teamed up with Cappelli Enterprises of Valhalla, N.Y., and Donald Trump of New York to develop the luxury residential units.

The $160 million, 34-story Trump Parc Stamford will feature 170 one-, two- and three-bedroom residences, including six two-level penthouse lofts with wrap-around terraces on the top floors. Living rooms and bedrooms offer water views of Long Island Sound.

Rich has long been part of changing the Stamford landscape. His company, which continues a three-generation family legacy, has been the sole developer of the city’s urban renewal project since 1960. It has added more than 5 million sq ft of office, residential, retail and hotel space, including the Stamford Town Center Mall, the Stamford Plaza office complex and the city’s two Marriott Hotels.

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“We are finally getting to the point where the market can support this type of high-rise housing, which is costly to construct,” Rich says. “Louis Cappelli [president of Cappelli Enterprises], paved the way with successful projects he had in White Plains and New Rochelle. We got together a couple of years ago. I brought him on, and he brought in Trump.”

Trump and Cappelli partnered on the 35-story Trump Tower in downtown White Plains, N.Y., which sold out in less than a year, and on the 40-story Trump Plaza in downtown New Rochelle, N.Y. This is the first project in Connecticut to bear the Trump name.

The Trump Parc Stamford is the second phase of a two-phase development on a 3-acre site. The company completed an urban Target retail complex in 2004, which left a 24,000-sq-ft footprint for the 475,000-sq-ft residential tower.

“We got a beautiful building on a small site with a lot of space,” says Alina Rodescu-Pitchon, senior associate with architect Costas Kondylis & Partners of New York. “It responds to the urban area.”

Costas Kondylis placed parking at the base of the building, on levels two through six. None of the units face the blank wall of the discount department store. There is 3,000 sq ft of restaurant space, with room for an outdoor café, on the first floor.

“The bow part of the building is a gesture toward the water,” Rodescu-Pitchon says. “The garage is translucent glass and has a more sculptured urban energy to it than a typical garage. At night it glows. It doesn’t have the feel of a garage.”

The 350-ft-tall building is the highest in Stamford, Rodescu-Pitchon adds.

Units range in price from $670,000 to $3 million and were 20% sold out in October. Completion is scheduled for early 2009.

“At $800 to $1,000 per sq ft for Trump Parc Stamford, we are probably one-half to one-third less for the same product that you would get in New York City,” Rich says.

“The living spaces are all open,” says Salaseddin Ramadan, an associate with architect Lessard Group of Vienna, Va.

A seventh-floor amenity deck will include an indoor swimming pool, fitness center and large party room, with glass on both sides to bring in natural light.

Construction manger George A. Fuller Construction Co., Cappelli’s construction arm, broke ground in June and was working on the 5.5-ft-thick folded mat foundation in the fall.  

“It’s folded to create a partial basement,” says Peter Palazzo, president of George A. Fuller. The concrete mat will be depressed in the center for mechanical spaces. “We created two lines of driven piles, so the folded mat could be done against a one-faced wall.”

The work includes an H-pile and lagging shoring system around the perimeter and pile-supported utilities. Pile depth varies from 18 to 20 ft. An access road for the Target is contained within the base of the Trump building along with a loading dock for the high-rise.

“A portion of the roadway is not only on the mat, but there’s a section that goes over our framed arch above the basement slab,” Palazzo says. “We have a section reinforced to take a truck load.”

The superstructure employs a post-tensioned concrete system. The cables are placed in the pour and when the concrete reaches 75% capacity, crews will tension the cables.

“The total reinforcing is about 3 to 4 lbs per sq ft less for the post-tension,” Palazzo says. “The advantage is you are able to save cost and time associated with placement of that additional 3 to 4 lbs of reinforcing. A post-tension design gives you a more efficient design. You don’t sacrifice anything in terms of capacity or finished result, but it allows us to do this in a more consistently timely manner.”

The tight site will require Fuller to exercise caution with hoists and crane layout, Palazzo says. With no laydown areas, deliveries are scheduled as needed and must be taken into the project immediately.

Trump Parc Stamford is within a five-minute walk to the Stamford Transportation Center, where people can catch a 45-minute ride on the Metro North New Haven Line to Grand Central Station in New York. Developers will provide residents with a shuttle bus to the train station.

Jessica Rohm, senior managing director of sales and marketing for Cappelli Enterprises, says 60% of the buyers hail from Stamford and Greenwich, Conn., and 20% from Manhattan, many of whom work in Stamford.

“In 1968, this city was really down on its luck and characterized by dilapidated housing and third-rate retail,” Rich says. “Today, it is a powerful financial center and a center of commerce, culture, recreation and education for southwestern Connecticut.”

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