When a high-end apartment complex opened in Mansfield this year, demand was strong from students at the University of Connecticut.
The Standard at Four Corners offers 392 off-campus units a short distance from the school. Apartments feature stainless steel appliances, quartz countertops and access to a clubroom, fitness center and outdoor fire pits. Photos show turquoise water shimmering in the pool.
With rental housing in Mansfield in short supply, prospective tenants were quickly drawn to the property.
The developer also courted UConn students with a targeted marketing campaign. An Instagram account features students who serve as "leasing ambassadors," and videos that capitalize on social media trends, labeled with hashtags like "#HuskyHousing," "#DormAesthetic" and "#UConnBound."
Many units were leased weeks in advance. But despite strong interest in the property, a collection of apartments reserved for renters with moderate to low incomes remains largely empty, nearly three months after the complex opened its doors. As of last week, more than 85% of the 52 units designated as affordable and workforce housing had yet to be filled, according to the owner.
The absence of tenants has frustrated and puzzled some local officials. Across Connecticut, renters face an affordability crisis as they navigate tight inventory and increased costs.
The empty apartments have also raised questions about the developer’s efforts to market the project beyond Mansfield's student population, and sparked concerns about the town's housing guidelines.
Chase Powell, a senior development director with Landmark Properties, the Georgia real estate company behind the estimated $91.7 million project, said those regulations effectively prevent many students from occupying income-restricted units, limiting the pool of applicants.
With more than 72,000 beds in its portfolio, and assets worth more than $15 billion under management, Landmark Properties is one of the country's largest developers of housing geared toward college students.
Powell said the Mansfield project "has, hands down, been the most difficult implementation of being able to lease up affordable units in any property that we own."
Demand for off-campus housing
Mansfield's rental market is under increasing strain as enrollment grows at the state’s flagship public university.
According to the town's most recent affordable housing plan, many renters with low and moderate incomes have been priced out because they can’t afford the rents many students and their families can pay.
The same dynamic affects homeownership. Many working people and families with young children struggle to compete with investors vying to convert existing properties into rental housing, said Paul Stern, a volunteer member of the Mansfield Affordable Housing Committee, an advisory committee to the town government.
"The demand for off-campus student housing pretty much dominates or determines the nature of the local housing market," Stern said.
The Standard's Aug. 15 opening was a welcome addition to Mansfield’s housing stock. The project is a mixed-use redevelopment of the Holiday Mall, former Willards Hardware and former Two-Steps sites, which includes apartments and 15,000 square feet of commercial space.
The Standard is among the first in a wave of new multi-family residential developments in the pipeline. They promise to transform the town's northwest corner with the creation of more than 1,200 units of housing.
Town needs more affordable units
Under guidelines in place when the project was permitted in February 2022, The Standard was required to include 35 affordable apartments and 17 priced as workforce units.
Landmark Properties also secured a density bonus for the project by agreeing to contribute more than $1.6 million to Mansfield's Affordable Housing Trust, a fund designated for development of affordable housing elsewhere in the community.
The town has since implemented stricter guidelines as it works to increase its share of affordable housing to at least 10% of its housing stock, an important threshold in state law that allows cities and towns to maintain more local control over new development.
For projects with at least five dwellings, Mansfield's inclusionary zoning regulations now require 15% to be affordable, up from 10% previously. The town also eliminated provisions in its zoning code last year that allowed developers to pay fees in lieu of meeting affordable housing requirements, or to secure density bonuses, after determining the fees weren't generating enough money to cover the cost of building more affordable apartments.
Spreading the word
To ensure low-income renters are aware of affordable options, the town requires developers to make special efforts to market them. An affordable housing plan approved for The Standard requires Landmark Properties to take steps such as coordinating with churches, civil rights organizations and housing authorities to publicize the units.
Powell said Landmark met and exceeded those commitments but still struggled to find tenants. The company paid for ads through Google and social media targeting people interested in affordable housing, worked with UConn to identify graduate students who may be eligible and contacted potential leads it received from local housing officials, he said.
Landmark also ran weekly ads in a local newspaper, and marketed the units in Tolland and other nearby communities by posting flyers in local libraries, Powell said.
"We haven't really seen the fruits of that yet," Powell said. "But we've spent significant amounts of money in just marketing these affordable units."
'The math doesn't make sense'
Part of the challenge may be that even income-restricted units are too expensive for many tenants.
Affordable units are available to families earning no more than 80% of the area's median income, set this year at $70,896 for a one-person household, according to information provided by the town.
Workforce units include a higher cap, with the maximum salary set at 120% of area median income, or $106,344 for a single person.
The maximum rental price for affordable and workforce units is pegged to those income figures, and can’t exceed 30% of a tenant's income.
But in practice, many people in the region may struggle to afford them. For example, a calculation from the developer's 2021 application shows a single person living in a studio apartment designated as workforce housing could face rents in excess of $2,100 a month.
"The math doesn't make sense," Powell said.
Because area median incomes are relatively high, the company could rent some workforce housing for more than it charges for equivalent market rate units, though Landmark hasn't done so, Powell said.
According to a spokesperson, Landmark currently leases affordable and workforce units at The Standard from $1,399 to $2,616 a month, depending on the size.
Students face additional restrictions
Town regulations are also an impediment, Powell said.
Mansfield requires tenants of income-restricted units at The Standard to meet requirements imposed under the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program.
Those rules stipulate that households made up entirely of full-time students generally cannot qualify. Exceptions include single parents; students who receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits; those enrolled in a government-supported job training program; and those who were formerly in foster care.
Town officials have said the rules ensure affordable apartments are available to families who truly need them.
However, low-income students in other communities have easier paths, Powell said. In Austin, Texas, where Landmark operates similar housing developments, staff from universities connect the company with students receiving significant financial aid to assist them with being placed in affordable units, he said.
"We have candidly struggled with the lease up on the affordable housing side and the workforce housing side, due to, really, the regulations that were imposed on us," Powell said.
Students as neighbors
Jennifer Kaufman, Mansfield’s director of planning and development, said she was surprised to learn many affordable and workforce units are unoccupied, given Connecticut's housing crunch. She said the town is open to reconsidering its guidelines as it prepares for a major increase in new apartments.
"It would do no one any good if they are not successful, and it would also do no one any good if these affordable units are not occupied," she said.
Kaufman said one difficulty in attracting working families could be the design and marketing of The Standard, which aims primarily to serve a student population.
"They have to make a profit; otherwise, they are not going to come to Mansfield," she said. "But this is a very — it's a product for a very specific population.”
Mansfield Housing Authority Executive Director Rebecca Fields said she agrees the design could be a deterrent. She said apartments feature ample bathrooms and bedrooms, with smaller living rooms and kitchens — an appealing layout for college roommates.
The Housing Authority manages Eagleville Green, another significant multifamily development that opened in Mansfield this year. The project includes 34 affordable and eight market rate apartments. Fields said about 2,400 people applied for affordable spots.
"I think we have a substantial need for affordable housing, not only here, but in the state, and I do hope that The Standard can get those leased up," she said.
