Hartford Business Journal

HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | JUNE 16, 2025 15 TorringtonSavings.Bank/Wealth (860) 595-2083 Connect with our Private Wealth team today. Where Planning Is Personal At TSB, it all starts with one simple question: What's most important to you? Maybe it's providing for your loved ones, simplifying complex needs, or protecting your legacy. Our experts are ready to listen, help you create a plan that reflects your priorities, and put it into action. submitted in Fairfield before the moratorium officially went into effect, can still move forward through the approval process. Those projects include Norwalk- based Spinnaker Real Estate Partners' plan to replace an 80-room Circle Hotel, at 441 Post Road, with a six-story, 493,710-square-foot apartment building with 478 units. In mid-March, Bridgeport-based Primrose Companies proposed a three- building, 204-unit apartment complex, at 4221 Black Rock Turnpike. Easton developer Stephen Shapiro is seeking approval for two 8-30g multifamily housing plans: a 100-unit apartment building at the site of St. Emery's School, at 108 Biro St., and a 39-unit apartment building, at 1477 Congress St. Across the street from the school, Fairfield developer Eric Delaurentis plans to demolish St. Emery's rectory, at 105 Biro St., to make room for a 140-unit apartment building. Shapiro also has an approved 8-30g project for 19 apartments at 430 and 452 Stillson Road, in Fairfield. "Any town that's desirable, especially with the housing shortage we have, whether it's Fairfield, Westport, Darien — you name it — people are going to want to develop in those areas," Shapiro said. He said his largest proposed project in Fairfield, the redevelopment of the St. Emery's School site, "makes sense" because it would provide multifamily housing near the train station, allevi- ating the need to drive on traffic-con- gested Post Road, Interstate 95 and the Merritt Parkway. Such transit-oriented development has been a major focus in Connecticut. "We want to put housing by where jobs are and transportation is," he said. "If you put housing by public transit, that'll help solve the problem." Fairfield has always attracted multi- family developers because it's a highly desirable community on Long Island Sound and close to New York City that draws top dollar for real estate, said Barnhart, the town's economic development director. "That's why these guys are in the business that they're in," he said. "They're not trying to provide affordable housing units out of the goodness of their hearts." He said the recent frenzy of 8-30g proposals has caused the town's Planning and Zoning Commission to meet more regularly (weekly instead of biweekly) since January. "I don't know that they anticipated something like we're seeing here," he said. "I think that it's plainly ridiculous." Shapiro said he has several other smaller multifamily housing plans across Fairfield County — including in Stratford, Trumbull and Shelton — that don't include affordable housing components, which typically require higher-density development, but instead focus on middle-income housing. There is also a significant need for that type of apartment stock in the state, he said. "8-30g affordable housing — that density — makes sense in some areas, but it doesn't in others," he said. "There's not that happy medium with the middle housing, and I think that's something that, at the state level, we really need to work on in general, whether it's Fairfield County, New Haven County, Hartford County, wherever." A rendering of the 100-unit apartment complex planned for the site of the former St. Emery's School, at 108 Biro St., in Fairfield. CONTRIBUTED RENDERING

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