Hartford Business Journal

14 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | JUNE 16, 2025 Easton developer Stephen Shapiro in front of the former St. Emery's School in Fairfield, at 108 Biro St., which he plans to knock down to make way for a 100-unit apartment building. HBJ PHOTO | MICHAEL JULIANO Building Up Amid housing shortage, Fairfield County is a hotbed for affordable multifamily development proposals Jr.'s plan to build 35 condos and 110 apartments on the Housatonic River. John Abene, a Shelton developer represented by Thomas, recently received approval to build 100 apart- ments at Fountain Square Center, at 801 Bridgeport Ave., in Shelton. Agim and Shprsa Ismali, a married Shelton couple also represented by Thomas, have recently received approvals for a 30-unit apartment building, at 2 Mohawk Drive. All of these Shelton projects were approved under the state's 8-30g afford- able housing statute, Thomas said. Other Fairfield County municipalities that have seen significant multifamily development proposals include Stamford, Norwalk, Danbury, Fairfield and Westport. Over the past decade, the rental stock in the Stamford-Norwalk area has increased 36%, with development accelerating in recent years, according to a report by real estate services firm Institutional Property Advisors. More apartments were built from 2019 to 2024 in the region, even amid the COVID-19 pandemic, than in the prior five years, the report said. Stamford alone has added about 15,000 apartment units over the past decade, growing its multifamily inven- tory by about 56% to 40,000 units. "A key factor aiding demand for these rentals has been transit access," the Institutional Property Advisors report said. "The majority of post-pan- demic openings were within a few miles of Interstate 95, Route 1 or the Metro-North rail line." 'Plainly ridiculous' activity The town of Fairfield, home to around 64,000 residents, is one of the more active municipalities in Connecticut when it comes to multifamily development. The town's Planning and Zoning Commission is currently reviewing seven 8-30g multifamily housing proposals that, if approved, would result in more than 1,000 new apartment units. Many of those proposals have come in since the start of the year, after the town in December applied to the state Department of Housing for permission to implement a four-year affordable housing moratorium. The state granted that request a few months ago, which exempts Fairfield from 8-30g requirements until April 2029. A municipality is eligible for a moratorium each time it shows it has added afford- able housing units, measured in housing unit equivalent (HUE) points, equaling the greater of 2% of the housing stock, as of the last decennial census, or 75 HUE points, according to the Office of Legislative Research. Fairfield's affordable housing stock makes up 3.05% of the town's total housing inventory, according to the town's website. Mark Barnhart, Fairfield's economic development director, noted five other towns in Connecticut have been granted 8-30g moratoria since 2020: Brookfield, New Canaan, Orange, South Windsor and Waterford. However, multifamily proposals Fairfield developer Eric Delaurentis has proposed replacing St. Emery's rectory, at 105 Biro St., in Fairfield, with a 40-unit apartment building. HBJ PHOTO | MICHAEL JULIANO By Michael Juliano mjuliano@hartfordbusiness.com F airfield County has become prime real estate for affordable multi- family development as the highly desirable region close to New York City faces a significant housing shortage, developers and land-use lawyers say. The shortage is primarily due to local zoning boards adopting regulations that did not allow multifamily housing over the past half-century, said Domi- nick Thomas, a Derby attorney who represents developers proposing multi- family housing proposals in Shelton, a Fairfield County city of around 42,000 residents. "Therefore they weren't built, and therefore you ended up with a housing shortage," he told the Hartford Business Journal. "When a zoning commission says we don't want housing because we don't want housing, that isn't operating rationally in accordance with good planning. A lot of the commissions, I think, have become insular." The state has a shortage of as many as 350,000 residential units, primarily due to its restrictive regulatory environ- ment, according to a recent report from the CBIA Foundation for Economic Growth & Opportunity. Developers have responded to the shortage by proposing numerous multi- family projects, often under the state's 8-30g affordable housing statute, which allows builders to override local zoning regulations if a town's afford- able housing inventory is below 10% of their overall housing stock. That's the case in many Connecticut communities, particularly in wealthy Fairfield County. Developers who invoke 8-30g must make at least 30% of a project's apart- ments affordable for 40 years. In the past seven years, Thomas has represented developers who have won approvals for nine multifamily housing plans that have resulted in 680 new apartments in Shelton. They include a Bridgeport developer's 152-unit project at 452 River Road, and Greenwich property owner Richard Kral Mark Barnhart

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