Out in Griswold, a housing development that's already up and running is getting bigger. Crews have broken ground on Oak Tree Village II, a 60-unit second phase at 97 Preston Road, and the developers expect construction to take about 15 months.
The project is being developed by Xenolith Partners together with Connolly and Partners/First Hartford Realty Corporation. The total development cost is $22.5 million. Do the math and that's about $375,000 per apartment, all in, which is worth knowing if you price multifamily work in eastern Connecticut.
What's going up
Phase two is two three-story garden-style buildings, all new construction. Ed Wojcik Architect Ltd is the architect. The developers haven't publicly named a general contractor on the project page.
The mix includes affordable, supportive and market-rate apartments. The affordable units are permanently restricted to households earning 30% to 60% of the area median income. Twelve of the 60 units are permanent supportive housing, with on-site services from the Chrysalis Center.
The detail builders will care about most is that phase two, like phase one, is designed to Passive House standards. Xenolith says that means lower energy use, lower utility bills and healthier, more comfortable homes. Phase one's 72 apartments were built in two Passive House prototype buildings, and Kaplan Thompson, the firm that designed that prototype, describes them as wood-framed with a superinsulated, airtight shell, triple-glazed windows, air-source heat pumps and energy recovery ventilation. Those phase one buildings earned PHIUS+ 2018 Core certification, according to Kaplan Thompson, and a 22-kilowatt solar array on the community clubhouse helps cut energy costs. The clubhouse has a community room, fitness room and leasing office, and it was built to Passive House standards too, though it isn't certified. Add the 60 new units to phase one's 72 and Oak Tree Village will have 132 apartments on Preston Road.
The developers haven't published the full specs for phase two, so we'll see how closely it follows that playbook. Either way, Passive House work usually means careful air sealing, detailed insulation and airtightness testing that leaves no room for shortcuts.
How it's paid for
Like most affordable housing in Connecticut, this one is built on a stack of funding sources. According to Xenolith, the money comes from federal low-income housing tax credits allocated by the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority, Department of Housing Flex Funds, CHFA Opportunity Funds, a construction loan from Citizens Bank, and tax credit syndication through National Equity Fund.
Xenolith closed on the construction financing over the summer and held a groundbreaking this fall, thanking CHFA, the Department of Housing, National Equity Fund, Citizens, the Town of Griswold and U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney for their support.
A deal with this many lenders and agencies often comes with paperwork that flows down to the subs, like funding-source requirements, draw inspections and documentation a private market-rate job might not need. Ask the builder what applies before you bid.
National Equity Fund's role is worth a word, too. Syndicators like NEF bring in private investors who buy the tax credits, and that money becomes equity in the project. It's one of the main ways affordable housing raises its upfront money.
There's also something to be said for building on a site that already works. Phase one is already built, so the developers, the town and the lenders all know what they're getting.
Why it matters for Contractors
Oak Tree Village II is a good example of the kind of project we are seeing outside the big cities: mid-size, mixed-income rental housing with supportive units, paid for with tax credits and state money, and built to a high energy standard. For contractors in eastern Connecticut, that means steady multifamily work, but it also raises the bar. Passive House and other high-performance building standards reward crews who know air barriers, continuous insulation and heat pump systems, and they punish sloppy details. If your company hasn't worked on a high-performance building yet, projects like this are a good reason to get some training and get your subs up to speed. A 15-month schedule on two three-story buildings also means the framing, envelope and mechanical trades will need to move in close order.