For years, anyone driving the north end of Main Street in Windsor Locks passed a tired strip mall that had seen better days. On Tuesday, Oct. 13, town and state leaders gathered there for a ceremonial groundbreaking on something new: a 120-unit mixed-income apartment development right next door to the town's new train station.
The developer is Boston-based Trinity Financial, and the site is 255 Main St., the former Windsor Locks Commons shopping center (via Patch). The same morning, officials cut the ribbon on the station itself, which begins Amtrak and Hartford Line service on Oct. 18 (via Connecticut Public).
What's going up
Trinity will build in two phases. Phase one has 70 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments and about 2,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space. Phase two adds 50 more apartments and another 2,000 square feet of storefronts, for 120 homes and roughly 4,000 square feet of commercial space in all (via Patch).
The apartments are aimed at households earning 30%, 50%, 60% and 80% of the area median income, with some market-rate units mixed in (via Trinity Financial). Back in 2025, Trinity's Dan Drazen said most of the apartments would be reserved for residents earning below the area median (via Connecticut Public). Eleven units will be supportive housing so adults with disabilities can live independently. Patch reports those are set aside through the federal Section 811 program.
Rents will range from $700 to $2,600, said Drazen, Trinity's vice president of development. Those figures, he said, mean "people at five different income tiers and at different stages of their lives will be able to live here, steps from the train" (via Connecticut Public).
The money behind it
Connecticut Public and Patch both put phase one at $49 million. (Trinity's own project page lists phase one development costs at $45 million.) State brownfield grants are paying to demolish the old strip mall and clean up the property. Connecticut Public's latest report puts that money at $6 million, while earlier reports from Patch and Connecticut Public put it at $4 million.
Trinity puts the whole project at about $85 million. Roughly half comes from affordable housing tax credit equity through the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority (CHFA). The other half is state soft debt from CHFA, the Department of Housing and the Department of Economic and Community Development (via Trinity Financial). Patch notes that phase one also landed $12.1 million from the state Department of Housing this past March.
A site with a past
That cleanup money is there for a reason. A state environmental scoping notice describes the 3.2-acre parcel's history: a pond that was filled in, railroad use, coal storage and a former gas station, plus petroleum in the soil and groundwater from an off-site gas station. A hazardous materials study of the 1987 strip center found asbestos in floor tiles and on the roof, lead paint in four of the units, and PCB light ballasts and/or mercury-containing equipment (via CT Council on Environmental Quality).
When will it be done?
That depends on who you ask. Trinity's project page projects phase one for 2027, and Patch reported the same. Connecticut Public reported the project should be complete in 2028. Either way, Tuesday's ceremony wasn't the true start of work. A staff bio on Trinity's website says phase one completed its financial closing and broke ground in summer 2026 (via Trinity Financial).
Who's building it
The development was designed by Amenta Emma Architects (via Amenta Emma). None of the free sources we checked name a general contractor, list the trades on the job or post a bid schedule. Contractors hoping to get on the project will want to ask Trinity directly.
The station is what makes the whole thing work. "This station is going to anchor housing development, bringing homes, shops, and public transportation together in a walkable downtown," said Connecticut Department of Transportation Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto (via Connecticut Public). It has a high-level platform for boarding without stairs and a bus connection to Bradley International Airport (via Patch).
Why it matters for contractors
This is the kind of project Connecticut keeps backing: state money cleans up a worn-out commercial lot near transit, and tax credits and soft loans help mixed-income housing pencil out. That means abatement, demolition and site cleanup up front, then a full multifamily build with commercial space on the ground floor. With a 50-unit second phase still to come and no general contractor publicly named, local subs and suppliers in the Windsor Locks area have good reason to reach out to Trinity now and ask who is building phase one and when phase two might go out to bid.