New home construction focuses on apartments

The days of developers building large tracts of single-family homes in Fairfield County -- confident that they would snapped up by buyers -- may be over, but the desire for more new apartments continues to keep the construction trade busy, as the millennium generation seeks out urban housing and baby boomers look to downsize.

Some young adults can't afford a down payment on a house, while others prefer to rent a new upscale apartment in a downtown atmosphere. And their baby boomer parents, seeking a less-cluttered lifestyle, may be looking for much the same housing in an urban environment or a location within walking distance of shops and restaurants.

That is what Boston-based Trinity Financial was considering when it planned Park Square West, a 209-unit complex in Stamford scheduled for occupancy next spring.

Built for convenience, the 15-story building will have 6,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, and apartments ranging from studios up to three bedrooms. Trinity is also scheduled to start building a similar 207-unit tower next door. The company has pegged the total cost of the two buildings and improvements to the nearby Summer Street garage at $130 million.

`Important audience'

According to a Downtown Special Services District survey, young professionals dominate the demographic profile of Stamford's downtown rental market, according to Maixuan Phan, senior project manager at Trinity.

"This is obviously an important audience," she said, "but we think the prime location and quality of our building will also appeal to a broader audience of people -- including baby boomers -- who don't want the burdens of home ownership or car dependence, yet still prefer an active, sociable and walkable lifestyle that they can get from an urban environment."

Stamford was a prime location for the project because of its importance as a business hub in the New York region and access to mass transit.

"It has become increasingly appealing as a place to live for people who work in and around Stamford, and for some who are priced out of the New York rental market," Phan said.

Other major apartment complexes that are under way in Stamford include The Summer House, a 23-story, 226-unit complex on Summer Street, developed by Thomas Rich, also a partner in a mixed-use project with New Jersey-based Ironstate Development that will include about 700 apartments. Construction is expected to start this year.

See the article here:
New home construction focuses on apartments