The Felician Sisters, a religious order of nuns, have lived on their Enfield campus for nearly 90 years. Now, the Sisters are preparing to welcome a new group of residents.
The Sisters, along with nonprofit housing developer The Community Builders, are constructing 45 affordable apartments for senior renters.
Felician sister Nancy Piecewicz, said the apartments are part of the group’s legacy.
“This is not an erasing of history, but a continuation of it, we are preserving what is sacred, while allowing new life to grow,” Piecewicz said. “What we begin today is not only construction, it is continuation. It is the belief that this place can still be home.”
Opening the campus to seniors who are in need of affordable housing is in line with the Sisters’ mission, Piecewicz said.
“As the number of sisters here has declined, we have been faced with a prayerful and very real question,” Piecewicz said. “How do we remain faithful to this place, to its history, and to the people we are called to serve? For us, the answer has never been to step away, but to transform.”
Community gardens, wetlands and walking paths are spread throughout the campus, Piecewicz said. Angela Gardens, the 60,000 square foot apartment complex, named after the founder of the Felician Sisters, will be built with eco-friendly standards.
Angela Gardens will be home to senior residents earning at or below 50% of the Area Median Income (AMI), according to Kristin Anderson, with The Community Builders.
In Enfield, the median household income is about $90,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The old novitiate, a building in which the new nuns trained, is being rehabilitated and expanded to house the apartments, Anderson said.
“The Felician Sisters had a vision of how to preserve this campus and so this was sort of their decades-long vision of how to make something that lasts beyond them,” Anderson said.
There are currently about 25 nuns living at the Felician Sisters campus in Enfield, along with an elementary school. Already existing on the property is a 22-unit, market-rate apartment building for seniors.
The project will cost about $29 million, about $10 million of which was provided the Department of Housing and Connecticut Housing Finance Authority.
Angela Gardens is currently under construction and should be ready for residents in the summer of 2027.
