At the Merritt 7 office park, where the Merritt Parkway meets Route 7, two of the original office buildings have been sitting vacant. Now they're getting a second life. PREMIER Design + Build Group has officially started M7 Lofts, a 286-apartment conversion of 101 and 201 Merritt 7, and the developers call it one of the largest office-to-residential conversions underway in Fairfield County.
The developers are Saber-Hightower and Granoff Real Estate, joined in the venture by Wind River Holdings. They're calling it a $120 million conversion, and they expect the first apartments to be ready in late 2027. PREMIER marked the start with a demo party on Sept. 30, with the developers, Norwalk's mayor and project partners on hand.
The scope
This is a big one: 511,000 square feet across two eight-story buildings, which PREMIER will tie together into one unified site. The work includes a complete interior renovation, a full modernization of the exterior and a full renovation of the existing three-level parking garage.
The unit mix is 42 studios, 167 one-bedrooms and 77 two-bedrooms, averaging 983 square feet. Most units will have a den. Expect 11-foot ceilings, quartz finishes and open layouts. There will be more than 55,000 square feet of amenity space, including a pool, a community green, a fitness studio, co-working space, a playroom and a demonstration kitchen.
The design team includes Granoff Architects, structural engineer Michael Horton & Associates, civil engineer Redniss & Mead and MEP engineer RCR.
Here's the line that caught my eye. In the developers' own announcement, Saber-Hightower co-founder Greg Belew said they looked at the buildings and saw "great bones," with tall ceilings, wall-to-wall windows and simple floor plates. "We are making no structural modifications to either building, and that lets us control costs and mitigate risk," he said.
For those of us in the trades, that tells you where the work will be. No structural changes means the money goes into everything else: demolition and gut-out, mechanical, electrical and plumbing work for 286 kitchens and baths where open office floors used to be, interior framing and drywall, finishes, the exterior and the garage. That's a lot of hours for interior trades.
The two buildings were the first of six built at Merritt 7. Part of the top level of the parking deck will be turned into a landscaped, resort-style amenity area, according to the developers, and plans also call for landscaped private gardens and an outdoor pool deck.
The money
The financing came together in late summer. Greystone arranged a $75.5 million construction loan from Bank OZK plus $32 million in joint venture equity from a confidential family office.
"These are well-located buildings that can serve Fairfield County far better as housing than as office," said Marty Berger, a principal at Saber-Hightower. "By leveraging the existing infrastructure at Merritt 7 and the property's proximity to transit, we can create a differentiated residential experience while giving these buildings a new purpose."
PREMIER says this isn't its only big job in the state. "PREMIER is delivering over 950 market-rate and affordable housing residential units in the Connecticut market over the next two years," said Jason Hart, executive vice president of the company's Eastern Region. He called M7 Lofts "complex, large-scale adaptive reuse that demands creativity, precision, and strong collaboration."
Location helps, too. The buildings are a short walk from the Merritt 7 Metro-North station on the Danbury Branch, with trains to Stamford, Greenwich and Manhattan, and the developers say there are more than 1,300 parking spaces already on site.
Why it matters for Contractors
Fairfield County has a lot of tired office space, and conversions like M7 Lofts are turning it into housing without starting from scratch. These jobs look different from ground-up work. The structure is already there, so the work leans hard on demolition, MEP, interior framing, drywall, finishes and envelope upgrades, and it often means working inside a building whose drawings may not match what's behind the walls. PREMIER's comment about more than 950 units in the state over the next two years tells you there's a pipeline. Interior and MEP subs who can staff a job this size, and handle the surprises that come with reworking an old building, are going to be in demand.