Developer plans $25 million apartment complex with $4 million in CT state aid
August 14th, 2023
By DON STACOM | [email protected] | Hartford Courant
As a developer nears completion of two market-rate apartment towers in downtown New Britain, it’s planning to begin a third but with a twist: 20% of the units will be set aside for people with middle to low incomes.
The state is committing $4 million toward building The Strand, a movie theater-themed mid-rise tower that Jasko Development LLC intends to open in mid-2025.
Even though Jasko typically builds only market-rate housing, the company will enter the affordable housing business with The Strand by restricting rents on 20 of its apartments significantly. The other 80 units in the 100-unit building will be leased at regular market rate.
“This is an important piece for development now. This is really going to have a menu of options for people of all income levels now,” Mayor Erin Stewart said Friday.
Avner Krohn, president of Jasko, said a $500,000 grant from the city along with the state’s $4 million will make it feasible to build The Strand with an affordable housing component.
“If the state is going to solve its housing shortage, it’s going to take this kind of public-private partnership,” Krohn said.
Jasko has been preparing construction plans for months and wants to break ground later this year on the site, a vacant property alongside police headquarters on Chestnut Street. He hopes to have tenants moving in around summer of 2025.
The Strand will be themed after a well-known theater that once stood on the property, and Jasko plans a sweeping staircase as well as a grand piano in the lobby, and a marquee in vintage style facing the street.
“This is not going to be an industrial look. On the rooftop there will be fire pits, grilling areas, plants and trees and a movie screen,” Krohn said.
Krohn’s company has been the key player in a housing renaissance in downtown New Britain, where its 107-unit The Brit apartment complex is close to completion and its 114-unit The Highrailer is only six months behind it.
Both will have first-floor retail or restaurants, and the $25 million Strand building will, too.
“You need the density for a walkable downtown,” Krohn said.
Gov. Ned Lamont this week announced that $4 million from the Connecticut Communities Challenge Grant program will go toward The Strand. That funding program is run by the state Department of Economic and Community Development to create new jobs.
The administrations of Lamont and his predecessor, Dannel Malloy, both put significant state monies into fostering new apartments near the $570 million CTfastrak bus rapid transit system. The Strand, which will front on Main Street, is about a 2-minute walk from the CTfastrak platforms at the main New Britain station.
Jack Benjamin, the city’s planning director, called it “critical infill development,” and projected it will bring more residents and businesses to Main Street.
“This project will turn an underutilized parcel where one of our city’s most well-known theaters once stood into a beautiful, obtainable housing option for those looking to call New Britain home,” Stewart said.
Stewart noted that the state grant program is highly competitive, and called the Lamont administration’s funding a key to making New Britain’s downtown more appealing.
She said Friday that her administration has further possibilities for downtown development, but is also looking to the Arch Street corridor as a site for both new buildings and renovation projects.
