This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
07/20/2021 09:00 AMNow that major construction on an affordable housing complex in Centerbrook has been completed, project managers will soon be adding several finishing touches.
The Essex Planning & Zoning Commission voted to approve several modifications to the site plan for The Lofts at Spencer’s Corner, LLC, 90 Main Street, at its July 6 regular meeting.
“What we are looking to do, primarily, I think the biggest issue is the relocation of the Dumpster to a more central location, and what we believe might be a safer location on the property,” said HOPE Partnership, Inc., Operations Manager Loretta McCluskey at the meeting.
“We are now fully leased up and we have discovered that we have plenty of parking,” she added.
The Dumpster, originally planned for the parking lot, will be moved out into a grassy area and surrounded by a chain link fence with slats.
“By moving it back into the grassy area, it takes it out of the actual parking area and gives the hauler a little better access to it to pick up the cans,” said Larry Kluetsch, an architectural consultant for the project, at the meeting.
Other improvements include replacing light poles and light fixtures to closely match the existing, more decorative ones on the property, adding bollards to handicapped spaces, and removing three dead trees, one of which was in a traffic island. The PZC stipulated that trees be replaced.
If funds allow, another improvement could be a sidewalk directly from the parking lot to the entrance of Savour Café and Bakery.
“Right now, people have to go around the grass area to get there and since most people seem to walk over the grass anyway, we thought that it would be a good idea, also for safety, to just have a direct route to her door,” said McCluskey.
There is also a plan to update signage at both entrances.
“We lost one [sign] over by Savour, that was run over by a truck several months ago,” said Kluetsch. “So, that will be rebuilt.”
The outer parking lot will also be paved, with new line striping. The funds for this portion of the project will be paid, in part, through a $128,000 grant that the Town of Essex received from the state’s Small Town Economic Assistance Program.
A Three-Year Process
These final improvements will mark the end of a nearly three-year renovation project in Centerbrook spearheaded by HOPE Partnership, Inc.
With approvals first granted in 2018, the project to renovate several vacant condominium units on the upper floors of Spencer’s Corner started construction in early 2020.
The existing units were turned into a 17-unit mixed-income community, with three units reserved for those earning 30 percent of the Area Median Income, eight units for those earning 50 percent of the AMI, and six units for those at 80 percent of the AMI.
When the Courier reached out to HOPE Partnership, Inc., earlier this year regarding the leasing of its units, a spokesperson reported a great amount of interest from the community.
“With regard to leasing, we saw tremendous interest for all of the units regardless of income restrictions,” said HOPE Media Coordinator Dylan Lyons by email “We received over 80 applications for the 17 available units, with a majority of applicants being from the Old Saybrook [and] Essex area.”