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11/02/2015 11:00 PMBy the end of this week, large earth-movers and back-hoes will mobilize to 7 North Main Street to begin demolition of the former Knights Inn motel, and with the removal of that first bucket of debris, work to build a new 186-unit incentive housing development known as Post & Main will begin.
The June start date for the project shifted by four months as developer, Saybrook Station, LLC, ran into unexpected snags in finalizing the property acquisition paperwork. With that now complete, building demolition and site work can begin.
According to Lindsey Geitz of U.S. Residential Group, LLC, spokesman for the project, site work will continue throughout the winter months, weather permitting. Concrete pouring of building foundations could begin as early as March 2016. Marketing of the new apartments could begin, therefore, by summer 2016.
Geitz said that the developer and contractor will be coordinating with the town’s contractor for the North Main Street rebuild. Both projects will be underway and active on North Main Street during the spring and summer of 2016. If necessary, the Post & Main project site’s construction traffic could enter the site through the former motel site.
The Zoning Commission approved the site plan for the residential development on North Main Street in April, paving the way for the project to move forward.
The Post & Main residential development on 10-plus acres at 7 North Main Street is designed by Gate 17 Architects from Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. The project’s 186 one- and two-bedroom apartment units are divided among eight separate buildings. On-site parking will be in both covered garages and surface spaces. On-site amenities planned include a clubhouse with a fitness center and clubroom, an outdoor pool, a dog park, and an outdoor grilling area.
Eighty percent or 149 of the 186 apartment units will be rented at market rates. Twenty percent or 37 of the 186 units will be designated as affordable workforce housing.
During the project application process, Bill Finger of Eastpointe explained that rents for affordable units are determined by a formula established by state statute and are dependent on the local Area Median Income (AMI) as calculated by the federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Based upon HUD’s 2014 published AMI for Old Saybrook, if units were rented in that year, the maximum one-bedroom rent would have been $1,337 and a two-bedroom rent, $1,582.
A Bit of Background
Eastpointe, LLC, approached the Zoning Commission (ZC) in May and June 2013 with a proposal to land an incentive housing zone on the 10.78-acre North Main Street property.
After a public hearing and deliberations on the proposal by ZC, in June 2013 the commission approved landing an Incentive Housing Zone (IHZ) with a multi-family subzone over the property.
In summer 2014, Eastpointe filed a site plan application, asking ZC to approve a proposal to build 186 residential rental units on North Main Street in the IHZ. After public hearings on the site plan application, the commission voted in November 2014 to deny approval because it did not find the application compliant with the regulations. The denial motion listed 41 points of non-compliance, but the key issue for the members speaking that night was the design of driveway access and egress for emergency vehicles and fire trucks.
In addition, the first site plan’s submission did not address a number of required ZC regulations. Among the missing elements were a signage plan and a landscaping plan that showed the size, type, and location of trees to be planted as well as identifying existing trees that would be saved.
A few months later, the applicant filed a new site plan application, modified to address ZC concerns with the first project site plan.
After two public hearings, ZC in April 2015 approved the second site plan as complying with regulations.