Greenwich has increased efforts to provide more affordable housing options to residents in recent years, and the latest project to do so will be Benedict Court.
In downtown Greenwich, on Benedict Place, the apartment complex will be 120 units, 40% of which are reserved for “moderate income” families. The remaining apartments will be market rate.
In Greenwich, “moderate income” is an affordability standard set by the town and is based on town employee salaries. Under the standard,monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment is capped at about $2,000 and about $2,500 for two-bedroom units.
The project is designed for Greenwich residents looking to downsize and for those who work in town but don’t live there, according to Phil Wharton, with Nimbus Properties, one of the developers.
“The people that work in this building and in other buildings that are close to the downtown will not only be able to live where they work, they can potentially walk to work,” Wharton said. “People that currently work in Greenwich, but don't live in Greenwich, that's 80% of the Greenwich workforce. It's more than 25,000 people.”
The apartments will feature 10-foot ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows. More than half of the units will be two-bedrooms and another 30% will be three-bedrooms.
“We wanted the building to blend into the aesthetics of Greenwich as it is,” Wharton said. “We're going to have some modern features and amenities, of course, but we want to make sure that when it's completed, that it looks like it belongs here.”
The six-story complex will be split into two buildings one block from Greenwich Avenue. Construction should be complete in 2028.
Benedict Court falls under Connecticut’s affordable housing law, which requires municipalities with less than 10% of their housing stock deemed affordable to accept new projects that propose at least 30% affordable units.
Greenwich has about 1,500 units, according to state data.
“I have lived with this project for 11 years. When it first came in, we weren't real happy with the project,” Greenwich Planning and Zoning Commissioner Dennis Yeskey said. “Our job is to criticize, understand. So all of you that have been insulted by P&Z, I'm sorry, but our job is to criticize.”
The project was also funded with a $100,000 loan from the Greenwich Affordable Housing Trust Fund, according to the Trust’s co-chair Bill Finger.
With an increase in acceptance in affordable housing projects in recent years, the town’s gone from 5.2% to 6% affordable, according to First Selectman Fred Camillo.
However, there’s still tension in Greenwich regarding the state’s push for affordable housing construction.
“In Greenwich, we don't like it, but we are doing it locally. We've been increasing our stock of affordable housing,” Camillo said. “They are units now, but they become homes, and that's the whole thing. We want people to live in places that they love and, certainly downtown, they could walk to everything.”
