Much of the focus of residential developers building apartments in Connecticut in recent years has been on the state’s urban centers: Stamford, New Haven and Hartford — cities with restaurants, services, commuter rail service and entertainment venues, with many of the apartments within walking distance.
But over the past two years, interest has grown in building apartment complexes big and small in New Haven’s suburbs and beyond. The latest evidence of that trend is “The Bradley,” a 30-unit apartment complex on Bradley Road in Madison.
The project is scheduled to break ground some time next month and will be built on a 1.5-acre site at 110-114 Bradley Road that once was home to the Tuxis Laundromat and one other business, as well as two other buildings. The complex is a little more than a quarter-mile from the Madison train station, which is served by Shoreline East trains.
It’s also a short, two-block walk from the complex to Madison’s downtown via sidewalks along Bradley Road and Wall Street.
All four existing buildings are scheduled for demolition, according to Jerry Davis, managing partner of Davis Realty in Madison and the developer of the project.
The project has support in the business community.
Ryan Duques, chairman of the Madison Economic Development Commission, said commission members in January voted unanimously to support the development.
Duques said in a letter to members of the town’s Planning & Zoning Commission that the “development positions the Town of Madison to further capitalize on our recent Transit Oriented Development (TOD) projects, which have included new sidewalks on Bradley Road and renovated Tuxis Walkway, which enhance the connection of Madison Center, Bradley Road our bus stop and the train station.”
“This development would enable residents to take advantage of our downtown amenities, beaches and access to commuter rail without requiring a vehicle,” Duques wrote. “Finally, we believe that this development will add vibrancy to our downtown and Madison community overall, helping to ensure long-term sustainability of our commercial base, grand list and robust community.”
A view of Madison’s downtown looking north along Route 1. A 30-unit apartment complex being built on Bradley Road will allow residents to take a short walk in order to reach the downtown area.
Luther Turmelle / Hearst Connecticut MediaJohn Guszkowski, Madison’s interim town planner, said The Bradley’s 30 units will be spread across three stories.
Guszkowski said the town’s master plan has a strong focus “on creating a vibrant downtown area” as well as offering those who want to live in Madison an alternative to single-family homes.
“Madison has a relatively monolithic housing stock,” he said. “It adds to the level of density (near the center of town) and accessibility with relatively small units, which will increase overall residential and business activity. This is not an option that is presently available anywhere else in the community.”
The Madison train station is located about a quarter-mile from where The Bradley, a 30-unit apartment complex, will be built.
Luther Turmelle / Hearst Connecticut MediaGuszkowski said developing apartment complexes in Madison and other Shoreline communities that don’t have municipal sewer systems can be problematic.
“Because there is a lack of public infrastructure, sewers, it can be tricky to do,” he said. “You have find a site where the soils work (for a septic system).”
Having to provide septic systems for new apartment complexes such as The Bradley effectively limits how many units can be built, according to Guszkowski.
“In a lot of towns without sewer lines you'll see these complexes of 30 units or fewer,” he said. “Any development that produces more than 7,500 gallons of sewerage per day is reviewed by (the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection). Anything below that threshold is reviewed by the local health officials.”
Review by local health officials is considered more desirable because DEEP reviews are lengthy, Guszkowski said.
The former Tuxis Laundromat on Bradley Road in Madison will be one of four buildings scheduled to be demolished to make way for The Bradley, a 30-unit apartment complex.
Luther Turmelle / Hearst Connecticut MediaDemand and demographics
Elsewhere outside cities, Cheshire has several apartment complexes in various stages of development.
One is Hamlet on Highland, an 11-unit luxury apartment complex located across Route 10 from Maplecroft Plaza, which has one of the town’s two large supermarkets as an anchor as well as several restaurants. Tenants are expected to begin moving in to the complex this month.
Another Cheshire apartment project is located near the town’s northwestern border with Waterbury.
A Stratford-based developer plans to build a 114-unit apartment complex — including 29 units of affordable housing — on the site of a former nursing home on Hazel Drive. The Cheshire Planning & Zoning Commission approved the plan in June 2020.
The Cheshire PZC also earlier this year approved a seven-unit apartment complex approved at the intersection of Higgins Road and Route 10. But John Ricci of Ricci Construction, the developer of the project, has decided to put the 0.69-acre site up for sale.
In Trumbull, the start of construction for 260 market-rate rental units along the periphery of the Westfield Trumbull Mall “is imminent,” said Rina Bakalar, the town’s economic and community development director.
One suburban apartment complex plan that got rejected was in Milford. Dallas-based Centennial, which operates the Connecticut Post Mall, wanted to spend up to $70 million to build a four-story luxury apartment complex on a six-acre tract surrounding what used to be the Sears Auto Center. The Milford Planning & Zoning Commission rejected that plan last summer and revised plan was submitted in May.
Donald Klepper-Smith, chief economist and director of research for New Haven-based DataCore Partners, said the demand for suburban apartments, particularly complexes built along commuter rail lines, will only increase in the coming years.
“The labor market in Connecticut is in such a state of flux, it implies the need for flexible housing arrangements,” Klepper-Smith said. “Right now, people are looking for flexibility in their lives, whether it is financial or logistical. And right now, there is not a lot of inventory along those lines.”
As an example of the lack of apartment inventory in cities compared to suburbs, Jed Backus, president of the Guilford-based group New Haven Middlesex Realtors, said a search of the Multiple Listing Service real estate database Friday found 74 apartment units in available in New Haven and two in Madison.
Backus said while the development of suburban apartment complexes is relatively new, there has been a tremendous amount of growth in the market since the 2008 recession.
“After the last downturn, some people started to feel that home ownership wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be,” Backus said.
Another reason for the surge in interest in apartments is demographics, he said.
“The largest population group after baby boomer is millennials, and they are in a stage of life where it makes more sense to be living in an apartment,” he said. Everything they’re doing in their lives is now happening later than it did for previous generations.”
luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com
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