With an official groundbreaking ceremony on Monday, Nov. 21, developer Beacon Communities (MA) celebrated the redevelopment underway to recreate Branford-based Parkside Village 1 affordable housing.

Owned by Branford Housing Authority (BHA), Parkside Village 1 is being transformed from 1970’s-era, 50-unit housing for seniors and disabled adults to 67 new apartments. Of those, 60 will be designated affordable, under CT state statute (§) 8-30, for families earning at or below 60 percent of area median income.

Several existing Parkside Village residents joined the Nov. 21 celebration under a temporary tent on Parkside’s property at 115 South Montowese St. Current Parkside residents will be eligible to move into the new building. Construction is expected to be complete in December 2023, with additional site work completed in the spring of 2024.

Joining Beacon Communities CEO Dara Kovel in addressing those gathered outdoors on a cold day -- with the smell of Pasta Cosi (Branford) restaurant’s mobile oven guaranteeing a hot pizza buffet immediately to follow -- were Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz; State Senator Christine Cohen (D, District 12); CT Dept. of Housing (DOH) Deputy Commissioner Shante’ Hanks; CT Housing Finance Authority (CHFA) CEO Nandi Natarajan; Elm City Communities (Housing Authority of New Haven) Executive Director Karen Dubois-Walton; U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Hartford Field Office Community Planning and Development Director Alanna Kabel; Madelyn Kavanaugh, mother of late Parkside resident/board president James “Jamie” Kavanaugh, and current Parkside resident David D’Amelio.

Cohen thanked all those involved for their work and leadership involved in bringing about the project. She said she was “...thrilled that we’ve come to this day, and I know that this is going to be a tremendous success.”

“I’m thrilled because ultimately it is about making this place safe, and accessible and affordable for folks to live here and thrive here,” said Cohen. “And so we want to be able to bring more people into this community, more people into the state of Connecticut, and that’s really all about making housing more affordable, and ultimately will help our economic development here in Branford and throughout the state, as well.”

In her closing remarks, Kovel also thanked Branford third selectman Ray Dunbar, former Branford Housing Authority (BHA) chair Robert Imperato and BHA clerk Maryann Amore for attending; as well as thanking former BHA chair Douglas Denes.

In a press release issued Nov. 21 by Beacon Communities, Kovel additionally stated, “We are absolutely thrilled to be breaking ground on Parkside today. After a long road, we at Beacon cannot wait to bring state-of-the-art affordable housing to the people of Branford.”

A Long Road

Several speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony remarked on the long road to reach this point in the project. Six years ago, when BHA first entered into a site development agreement (amended May 2016) with Beacon Communities to redevelop Parkside Village 1, it was to address numerous issues facing the failing housing complex.

Beacon's original Parkside redevelopment plan was submitted to Branford’s Planning and Zoning Commission (PZC) in 2016; and withdrawn in October 2016, citing a lack of support from the public, Town planning staff and Fire Marshal. Beacon then submitted a 3-part application including seeking to become affordable housing under § 8-30g, to which the PZC applied a super-majority voting rule requiring all 3 applications to be approved, otherwise the plan would be denied. In January, 2018, the PZC approved 2 of the 3 applications, resulting in an overall denial for the project. In October, 2018, the PZC's denial was overturned by Superior Court decision. In June, 2019, the PZC approved Beacon’s redevelopment site plan and coastal site plan, with several conditions attached. BHA and Beacon appealed some of those conditions in a Superior Court land use case, and won. In October, 2020, the Superior Court ordered the PZC to modify a condition of approval which had required an agreement to use Town property for access. The PZC then petitioned the state Appellate Court, asking for a review of the Superior Court order. The PZC’s petition was denied in January, 2021. In April, 2021, with 4 of 5 PZC commissioners voting in the affirmative but "under protest," the PZC unanimously approved a resolution containing court-ordered modifications to the Town's approved Parkside Village 1 redevelopment site plan and coastal site plan. In Feb. 2022, Branford's Representative Town Meeting (RTM) approved BHA’s grant of a public access easement to the Town to continue public use of a portion of Sliney Road leading to Sliney Field, clearing the way for Phase 1 demolition of the current Parkside complex for redevelopment. Construction work began in September 2022.

“There are deals that are easy and there are deals that are hard,” said Kovel. “There are deals that financially make sense and then there are those that don’t. This deal was both hard [and] financially stretched us for the last 6 years. But there are also deals that have to get done.”

Kovel said Beacon had a “moral imperative” to work on this housing project with BHA, adding, “...this is just one of those moments where we have to appreciate the amount of endurance and perseverance that was created by all the people who started this work, and what we’ve done over the last several years.”

Bysiewicz said the project involves state, federal and local partners collaborating to create an investment of $30.4 million, including $4 million in state housing trust funds and $1.2 million in national housing funds.

“The Governor and I support projects like these because it is our goal to try to create more affordable housing for people in our state,“ said Bysiewicz.

Bysiewicz said that, during the pandemic, people “...rediscovered how beautiful it is here, especially in Branford, and they want to come and live here. And that is our challenge - how can we build more affordable housing for individuals and families in our beautiful state?”

She said the complex will be an economic driver for local businesses and restaurants. Bysiewicz also noted the Parkside renovation will offer 20 percent more affordable housing than the original complex. Additionally, social services will be available for the residents.

DOH’s Hanks said she was gratified Parkside’s renovation includes upgrades which will introduce energy efficiency standards with a new, 67-unit building designed and built to sustainable, passive house standards. She also commended those who worked for many years to see the project through.

“Similarly to many other housing developments, this project has not been without its own set of hurdles. The project survived an extensive 8-30g battle and lawsuit. So this has been an effort; and many years in the making,” said Hanks. “We at DOH are grateful to all the partners who made this possible, for their perseverance, determination and attention to detail in bringing the project to this point today.”

CHFA’s Natarajan said in addition to being entrusted by the state in providing Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) through private investment for projects including this one, “...there is another value that we hold dear, over and above all the transactional work, and that is our commitment to diversity and inclusion.”

“We believe in the power of diverse communities. We think that inclusion means many, many things, including supporting communities that welcome the kind of socioeconomic diversity that this particular development is going to see, in terms of folks from all different walks of life, and from all different communities, coming together,” Natarajan said. “Recent studies have shown that, through strong social connections that transcend barriers, [we] can foster the kind of upward mobility that affordable housing has aspired to for so long.”

In a press release issued Nov. 21, Beacon additionally thanked project partners including Citizens Bank, Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston, U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development, the Town of Branford, RBC Community Investments, Boston Capital Finance and Bank of New York Mellon.