Hartford Business Journal

8 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | MARCH 18, 2024 Deal Watch Farmington-based Metro Realty has just filled the last units in its new $20 million Flats at Little Brook multifamily development, at 833 Deming Road, in Berlin. The 12-building property features 88 one- and two-bedroom apartments. PHOTOS | CONTRIBUTED More multifamily developments sprout in Berlin, as town inches closer to affordable housing goal stages of construction, Valenti said. Market forces — including supply chain issues, inflation and rising interest rates — have impacted the Steele Center project since it was first proposed in 2019. Last year, the development team reconfigured the types of units, eliminating some two-bedroom apart- ments in favor of more studio and one-bedroom units, which are seeing greater demand, Valenti said. "It varies market by market," he said. "Some can't build enough two-bed- rooms, but we didn't see as much demand for two-bedroom lease ups." Another recent change was the inclusion of more affordable apart- ments. Twenty percent of the units at 55 Steele Blvd. will be afford- able, rented at 80% of the area median income. Adding affordable components to housing projects is important because it opens the door to federal and state grant funding and local tax abatements. Such incentives are crit- ical, especially at a time when bank lending has tightened and higher interest rates have increased project costs, Valenti said. The Steele Center project has a 10-year tax abatement agreement with the town of Berlin. Other Berlin housing projects include a 72-unit luxury apartment development called Turnpike Ridge that will be located at 104 Episcopal Road, behind the Acura of Berlin dealership on the Berlin Turnpike. That development, which has a By Hanna Snyder Gambini hgambini@hartfordbusiness.com T he town of Berlin has been experiencing an apartment boom, with hundreds of new units coming online or set to break ground this year. In fact, there's been so much interest in new multifamily develop- ment in the suburban town of nearly 20,200 residents, that planning offi- cials in 2022 instituted a temporary moratorium on new projects. Berlin Economic Development Coordinator Jim Mahoney said the moratorium, which expired last August, came into play after the number of new apartments approved in just a few years nearly doubled the town's existing multi- family housing stock. It also came as the town was weighing changes to its development and affordable housing strategy. Part of the town's focus, Mahoney said, has been to encourage tran- sit-oriented development near its Hart- ford Line train station, which debuted in 2018. More broadly, the town is trying to create more of a live, work and play environment that attracts new residents and businesses. Berlin's new residential units have, or will include a mix of market-rate and affordable studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments, divided among a half-dozen or so projects. Farmington-based Metro Realty has just filled the last units in its new $20 million Flats at Little Brook multifamily development, at 833 Deming Road. The property features 88 one- and two-bedroom apart- ments spread over 11 buildings. A 12th building features communal space and a fitness center. Thirty percent of the units are deemed affordable, which means they are leased at discounted rents to those earning 50% to 60% of the area median income, according to Ben Tripp, Metro Realty's development director. Market rate units are demanding rents between $2,000 and $2,400, higher than Metro Realty anticipated when it first conceived of the project back in 2019, Tripp said. That reflects the significant demand for housing in the Greater Hartford region, he said. "Housing is one of the few areas where it's difficult to produce enough supply to satisfy the demand," Tripp said. "There has been probably more market rate development in central Connecticut, more multifamily housing devel- opment in central Connecticut, in the past 10 years, than in several decades before that." The Flats — especially ground- level, walk-out units — have been popular with older adults, as well as residents who are moving into town or the state, or delaying major life deci- sions like buying a home, Tripp said. Shifting market The Steele Center is another major mixed-use project in Berlin, led by Southington-based Newport Realty Group/Lovely Development. When fully built out by 2026, the approximately $20 million development will include 70 apartments and 19,000 square feet of commercial space. The project's first two phases are complete, with 16 market rate apart- ments and most of the commercial space leased in a 22,000-square-foot building at 9 Steele Blvd. Town officials recently held a ribbon cutting for the Hop Haus brewery and gastropub on the main floor of 9 Steele. A separate 1.5-story building, at 10 Steele Blvd., contains nearly 8,000 square feet of commercial space on the first floor, and four apartments above. Only one commercial space and a single apartment remain avail- able for lease in that building, said Tony Valenti, of the Newport/Lovely team. Work will soon begin on a 1,650-square-foot, free-standing commer- cial building at 29 Steele Blvd., where a coffee/ bagel shop has already signed a lease for the entire space, including an outdoor patio. The largest 50,000-square-foot building, at 55 Steele Blvd., will include 50 apartments and is in the early Ben Tripp Jim Mahoney Tony Valenti

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