The Metro Realty Group, one of central Connecticut’s biggest developers, is proposing to build a 64-unit affordable apartment complex near its headquarters in the southern end of Farmington.
If the company is awarded aid through a competitive federal tax credit program, it would lease 80% of the apartments at rates that Connecticut deems “affordable,” and just 20% at market rate.
Metro Realty’s zoning application emphasizes that it’s pursuing the development under the state’s 8-30g statute, which is intended to spur development of affordable housing by sharply limiting the reasons that towns can use to reject it.
The 8-30g law applies only to communities where less than 10% percent of the housing qualifies as affordable. Farmington’s rate has hovered between 7.5% and 8% for the past decade.
In recent years, most developers invoking 8-30g in suburban communities have proposed setting aside the minimum amount of affordable units required by the law: 30%. The rest are leased at market rates.
Metro Realty’s plan is for 24 one-bedroom apartments, 38 two-bedroom models and two three-bedroom units spread between three three-story buildings.
Approximate sizes will range from approximately 800 to 930 square feet for one-bedroom apartments, 1,070 to 1,280 square feet for the two-bedroom models, and 1,500 square feet for the three-bedroom units.
“Residents will have access to a variety of amenities, including an indoor club room and
indoor common area with a study / computer area, outdoor lawn areas, and in-unit washers and dryers,” the company said in its proposal.
“The buildings have been sustainably designed to provide efficient electric “MEP” (mechanical, electrical, and plumbing) systems and high indoor air quality through the use of a radon mitigation system and low VOC materials,” it said.
Metro Realty’s FCP-One LLC owns about 5 acres at Executive Drive and Corporate Avenue, a commercial section of Farmington just north of Plainville. The land is mostly woods and is zoned as industrial, but residential and commercial developments are allowed by special permit. About 500 feet to the north is the company’s headquarters.
The plan includes 100 parking spaces, which includes spots for guests.
The company proposes creating a new zone for the property rather than a standard rezoning. It notes that there aren’t single-family homes nearby.
“A variety of commercial and industrial uses surround the site, including a CT Water
Co. warehouse to the east; the Farmington Sports Arena and Rhythmic Angels Gymnastics
facilities to the northeast; and the Trumpf Inc. facility to the west. Various office buildings
surround the site in all directions,” its attorney, Andrea Gomes of Hinckley Allen, wrote in a memo to the town. “The area to the south of the site is primarily vacant land and includes the
Pequabuck River and Scott Swamp Brook.”
Metro Realty said that if financing from the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit
program is used, the company will reserve 80% of the apartments as affordable and will then provide more details about the maximum income levels for those units. Typically affordable rents in Connecticut are pegged at either 30%, 50%, 60% or 80% of the area’s median income.
In the Greater Hartford region, the median income for a four-person household is currently $126,600, she noted.
Metro Realty’s portfolio includes senior housing complexes in Farmington, Avon, Canton, South Windsor and Berlin; market rate apartments in Farmington, South Windsor, West Hartford and Berlin; and affordable housing in Farmington, Avon and Berlin.
The Town Plan and Zoning Commission is expected to conduct a hearing Oct. 6 about the Executive Drive proposal.