Hartford Business Journal

6 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | AUGUST 11, 2025 Deal Watch Clayton Fowler, co-founder, chairman and CEO of Spinnaker Real Estate Partners, stands in the company's Norwalk headquarters at 1 N. Water St. HBJ Photo | Michael Juliano Beating Aspirations Spinnaker Real Estate Partners, in busiest development era yet, works to secure long-term future as CEO succession looms family to support them and grow and learn without fear of not being housed, or being assaulted. Housing is the beginning of building good families and good citizens." The shortage is particularly acute in high-cost regions like Fairfield County, he said, where many working families can't afford to buy homes. The solution, in his view, is building denser housing in the right places. "We're not taking a pristine 10 acres that's previously been either in single-family zoning, or in a farm district," Fowler said. "It's where that job should be, in an area with lots of services around good transportation." CT pipeline One of Spinnaker's largest ongoing Connecticut projects is rising on the former site of the New Haven Coli- seum, where the developer is leading a multiyear, multiphase redevelop- ment expected to deliver hundreds of market-rate and affordable apart- ments to the city's downtown. The first phase — called Anthem A look at 55 Elm Club, a former state office building in downtown Hartford that has been converted into apartments. Photos | CoStar By Michael Juliano mjuliano@hartfordbusiness.com N orwalk-based multifamily developer Spinnaker Real Estate Partners is in the busiest period of its four-decade history as it works to secure its long-term future. The firm, which was founded in the 1980s, has about 2,500 apartment units under construction or in the development pipeline in Connecticut, while it has completed 1,544 multi- family dwellings in the state over the past five years. Meantime, the firm continues to search for new projects in lower Fairfield County and Greater Hartford, where it already has major develop- ments at various stages, said Clayton Fowler, Spinnaker's founding partner, chairman and CEO. "If you don't grow, you die," Fowler said during a recent interview with the Hartford Business Journal at his company's Norwalk headquarters. "We want to make Spinnaker an evergreen company. We have a lot of young people that want to grow and make money, so we gotta grow to … beat their aspirations." Fowler, who will turn 75 in October, said Matthew Edvardsen, a partner in the business since 2014, will succeed him as CEO, but he would not say when that might happen. "The transition is ongoing, but I am not the type of person who retires, as I am doing what I want with a great mixture of family, business, nonprofit work and recreation," he said. Meeting demand Fowler said Spinnaker's relentless pace reflects a simple reality: the nation is millions of housing units short of meeting demand. "We're four to five million units short in this country, and it's getting worse, and we're particularly short on affordable housing," he said. Access to affordable housing, Fowler added, is critical to giving children stable, safe environments in which to grow into healthy adults and, eventually, homeowners who contribute to local tax bases. "Shelter and security are key," he said. "That means a home where a young person can feel safe, have a AT A GLANCE Spinnaker Real Estate Partners Industry: Real Estate Development Top Executive: Clayton Fowler, Founding Partner, Chairman & CEO HQ: 1 N. Water St., Norwalk Website: spinrep.com Contact: 203-354-1550 Spinnaker Real Estate Partners' recently completed multifamily projects PROJECT NAME LOCATION UNITS Sono Central South Norwalk 150 Platform Sono + Shirt Factory Lofts South Norwalk 122 Ironworks Sono South Norwalk 108 Brim and Crown East Norwalk 189 The Anthem Square 10 New Haven 200 141 Danbury Road Wilton 179 The Audubon New Haven New Haven 467 Park & Main Hartford 129 Spinnaker's projects under construction PROJECT NAME LOCATION UNITS 20 Fair Street New Haven 168 64 Danbury Road Wilton 93 Hiawatha Westport 157 15 Chestnut South Norwalk 200 Mill Pond East Norwalk 77 55 Elm Hartford 164 Stonebridge Cheshire Cheshire 300 Source: Spinnaker Real Estate Partners

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