🔒State incentives, including support from new quasi-public development agency, spurring major multifamily projects in Waterbury, Enfield

A long-vacant, 145,656-square-foot office complex in downtown Waterbury could be transformed into more than 100 apartments thanks to new state programs that incentivize multifamily development.

The cluster of office buildings at 81 and 111 West Main St. – including one known as “the Sovereign Bank Building” – have been empty for more than a decade.  These prominent buildings dominate a corner of West Main Street across from the city’s downtown Green, with three linked buildings ranging from two to eight stories. 

The properties also include a freestanding, 3,460-square-foot office building in the shadow of the larger complex.

Michael Belfonti, founder and CEO of Hamden-based Belfonti Cos., said he is assembling designs and financing for a roughly $30 million redevelopment that will create 100 or more apartments, mixed with amenities and commercial uses. A recent swell in state-supported financing options has been key to giving the project life, he said.

“I think that’s a big driver of it,” Belfonti said of the state programs. “I think now the state and the city are willing. The city is a stakeholder. Everybody is in a partnership. It wasn’t as user-friendly five or ten years ago. You didn’t have these programs.”

Economic driver

Belfonti’s proposal is one of the leading candidates for financing through the new Connecticut Municipal Development Authority, said David Kooris, executive director of this new quasi-public agency.

Established by state lawmakers in 2019, the CMDA began to take form with Kooris’ hiring last July. Gov. Ned Lamont armed the quasi-public agency with a $60 million state bond allocation. 

It’s tasked with partnering with Connecticut communities to incentivize multifamily developments in downtowns and around mass transit options.

So far, a dozen municipalities have lined up to enroll. This starts a process that will target an area appropriate for high-density development, where CMDA incentives can be applied. The agency can help update zoning regulations and then offer funding for related infrastructure and low-cost financing for developers.

Waterbury, New Haven, New London, Naugatuck, Enfield, Seymour, Torrington, Old Saybrook, Manchester, Bridgeport, Norwich and Derby have been the first to formally start the enrollment process, Kooris said. 

Danbury and New Britain are expected to follow suit soon, and “quite a few others have started the process,” he said.

“I think the diversity of the communities in terms of geography and scale is a strong testament to the interest in this approach,” Kooris said Wednesday. “The governor’s strategy to offer up support and incentives seems to be working.”

Waterbury is one of those communities that could tap into CMDA dollars earliest, thanks to projects that are nearly “shovel-ready,” like Belfonti’s, Kooris said.

Belfonti said he hopes to fund the development with a mix of state and federal historic tax credits, conventional financing, a CMDA loan and the state’s Build For CT program.

Launched in late 2023, the $200 million Build For CT program partners state funding with private financing to support middle-income housing development. Under the program, at least 20% of units must be set aside at rents affordable to tenants whose income is between 60% and 120% of the area median. 

The program offers financing of up to $125,000 per rent-restricted unit, with interest rates of 1% to 3%.

So far, Build For CT has committed $83.63 million to 18 developments in 16 municipalities, according to Marcus Smith, director of research, marketing and outreach for the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority. This will translate into 2,575 new apartments, 706 of which are restricted to middle-income tenants, Smith said. 

Belfonti said he hopes to secure financing for his Waterbury project late this year or early next. That would allow him to launch a two-year construction project in early 2026.

Waterbury Economic Development Director Joseph McGrath said Belfonti’s plan meshes well with Waterbury’s push to increase market-rate housing in its downtown. The long sleepy city center has seen a surge in investor interest in the past few years, with developers buying vacant or partially vacant downtown buildings to convert them into apartments.

That has resulted in more than 100 new apartments, McGrath said, with 80 more in progress and about 220 more in design.

Belfonti said he hopes to complement this surge in development, creating a more attractive and vibrant city center.

“Eventually, it’s our hope to create an 18-hour city where people aren’t rushing out of there at 5 p.m. anymore, where people are living there, and eating there and shopping there,” Belfonti said.  

Enfield project

Another leading contender for CMDA funding, Kooris said, is a potential 300-unit development planned for 3.2 acres along the Connecticut River in Enfield that had once been part of the defunct Bigelow Carpet manufacturing plant. The project is a partnership between West Hartford developer GRAVA Properties and Avon-based Honeycomb Real Estate Partners.

The building site, at 33 North River St., is near the chosen site for a new multimodal transit hub. Town officials have shown support, approving zoning changes and a 12.5-year tax abatement for the project’s first phase, which would include 150 apartment units. 

Enfield also secured a $4 million state brownfield grant to help remediate past industrial pollution on-site.

Gregory Vaca, founder and president of GRAVA, said the development team plans to submit final designs for town approval soon and be ready to launch construction before the close of 2025. He expects to finish a first development phase of 150 apartments within two years, and then push forward with a second phase of about 150 units, along with restaurant and commercial space.

Vaca estimates each of the two phases will cost about $50 million. With the current high level of state support, Vaca said he’s on the hunt for additional projects in Connecticut.  

“We are very excited to be working with the CMDA on this project,” Vaca said. “We think it’s an ideal candidate for them. With interest rates where they are today, this type of financing is critical for getting mixed-use and multifamily projects like this done.”