5-Story Apartment Complex Under Construction On Post Road

FAIRFIELD, CT — A developer broke ground recently on a five-story apartment building planned for Post Road. The complex will include several affordable housing options and is expected to open in about a year.

The lot at 1675 Post Road is less than a quarter acre, according to Community and Economic Development Director Mark Barnhart, but the planned structure will contain 13 apartments — nine one-bedrooms and four two-bedrooms.

"It's on a .17-acre lot, so it's a pretty small lot," he said.

One parking space will be included for each apartment, Barnhart said, and tenant parking will be at grade level, but primarily under the building.

The site was bought about two years ago for $500,000 by 1675 Post Road Partners LLC, according to town property records. At the time of the purchase, the lot was occupied by a two-story office building constructed in 1900.

The first floor of the new apartment complex was originally intended to be a storefront, but Barnhart said the proposal elicited concern about whether it was appropriate for the project to be a mixed-use development when it was classified under the state law Section 8-30g. As a result, the developer changed the first floor to be residential space.

Section 8-30g applies to towns where less than 10 percent of housing stock meets state criteria to be recognized as affordable. Under the law, the only way for the town to avoid approving certain affordable housing proposals is by proving a project warrants zoning denial because it poses a threat to public health, welfare and safety that outweighs Fairfield's need for affordable housing. The amount of housing stock in Fairfield considered to be affordable by the state is 2.5 percent.

Zoning for the Post Road development was unanimously approved about a year ago by the Town Plan and Zoning Commission, according to commission meeting minutes.

Thirty percent of the project's apartments will qualify as affordable housing, according to Barnhart. Of those, 15 percent will be affordable for households earning 60 percent of the local median income and another 15 percent will be affordable for households earning 80 percent. Depending on the median income percentage and apartment size, units classified as affordable in the building are expected to rent at between $870 per month and $1,350 per month, Barnhart said.