5 Apartment Buildings, Hotel And More Planned For Metro Center

FAIRFIELD, CT — Fairfield's long-awaited Metro Center project is beginning to take shape, as a developer presented an overview of the plans for the more-than-20-acre property to zoning officials earlier this week.

"This is a complicated application with a number of moving parts," attorney Bill Fitzpatrick told the Town Plan and Zoning Commission.

Among those moving parts are five apartment buildings, a hotel, a concourse structure near the existing Fairfield Metro train station and a retail building, according to Fitzpatrick, who represented property owner Black Rock Realty LLC during its hearing Tuesday before the commission.

The site at 219 Ash Creek Blvd. includes 10 acres of property available for development as well as a conservation easement with lowlands and walking trails near Ash Creek. A former metal foundry, the property has since been razed and remediated, and was purchased about 20 years ago by Black Rock Realty. It has been roughly a decade since the commission approved a proposal for the property, and the previous option focused more on creating office space than meeting residential needs.

The new project, called The Crossing's at Fairfield Metro, will include 357 apartments with 450 bedrooms, offering one-bedroom, two-bedroom and studio units, and ranging from 550 square feet to 1,100 square feet, according to presenters Tuesday. The apartment buildings will be just under 50 feet tall with an area ranging from about 13,000 square feet to about 24,000 square feet. Among planned tenant amenities are a fitness center, pool and common spaces.

Negotiations are ongoing for a hotelier to operate the 118-room hotel on the site, the presenters said. The 70,000-square-foot concourse building would be at a separate address, the 1.5-acre lot at 160 Ash Creek Blvd. The concourse would include retail and office space and serve as a lobby for the train station. A proposed building at the south point of the development would provide an additional 17,000 square feet of retail.

Parking garages are planned under apartment building five, the hotel and the concourse building, according to landscape architect Earl Goven.

Black Rock Realty intends to construct the hotel first, followed by apartment buildings three, two, four, one and five, in that order, Goven said.

"Timing is as the market allows," he said.

Among items discussed by the zoning commission was the absence of any new crosswalks on Ash Creek Boulevard in connection with the project, particularly near a pavilion planned next to the hotel. Both Goven and traffic engineer Mike Galante said they were open to adding traffic calming measures to the area. Another issue raised by the commission were whether the train station was accessible enough for the apartment residents.

The project has already been approved by Fairfield's Conservation Commission and Water Pollution Control Authority. Black Rock Realty has filed amendment and permit applications with the zoning commission that, if approved, would allow for residential use on the site.

The developer did not finish its presentation Tuesday, so the commission will resume the hearing for the project at a later meeting. Fitzpatrick said the presenters may discuss possible rents for the apartments at the next hearing date.