After struggling to fill apartments set aside for people with moderate incomes, the developer of an upscale apartment complex in Mansfield is asking town officials to ease restrictions on who can rent them.
Landmark Properties, the national real estate company that owns and operates The Standard at Four Corners, is seeking to reclassify most affordable and workforce housing at the development as market-rate apartments, lifting income restrictions for renters.
In exchange, the company proposes making a significant one-time payment to the town. It would also convert some affordable apartments into low-income housing, dropping the rent it can charge for those units by hundreds of dollars.
Chase Powell, a senior development director with Landmark Properties, said in a statement that affordable and workforce apartments are "incredibly challenging to lease" because many people can't afford them, even with rent restrictions in place. The demand is for cheaper low-income units, he said.
"We believe that, given this is the true void and need in the market, it would be appropriate to adjust the criteria for affordable units accordingly," he said.
The move is likely to face pushback from the town's Planning and Zoning Commission, which will consider it in March.
In a preliminary discussion this month, commissioners expressed unease with reducing Mansfield's stock of affordable units. In a Feb. 17 vote, they also determined the town's affordable housing regulations don't allow the modifications that Landmark proposes.
Vera Stearns Ward, a member of the commission, said town officials should stick with the terms they established when the project was approved.
“I think we hammer it out at the time of the application," she said. "It’s a little disingenuous to come in after the fact and say ‘Oh, we want to do it this way.’ We have already established the way we want it done, or think it should be done.”
Apartments still empty
The Standard at Four Corners offers 392 units a short distance from the University of Connecticut.
With rental housing in Mansfield in short supply, the property drew strong interest from students when it opened last year. However, apartments reserved for renters with moderate to low incomes remain largely empty.
Under guidelines in place when the project was permitted in February 2022, The Standard was required to include 35 affordable apartments, which are available to households earning up to 80% of the area median income. An additional 17 are priced as workforce units, available to households earning up to 120% of area median income.
Landmark Properties also secured a density bonus for the project by contributing to Mansfield's Affordable Housing Trust, a fund designated for development of affordable housing elsewhere in the community.
In an application filed earlier this year, Landmark proposed modifying those conditions. It cited difficulty finding eligible tenants, despite extensive efforts to market the apartments, including in-person outreach, advertising in print publications, targeted emails to income-eligible households in Mansfield and surrounding towns and mailings to social service agencies.
To date, the company has leased only eight of the affordable apartments and no workforce units, according to its application.
'Affordable' units too expensive for many
A fundamental challenge is that income-restricted housing in Connecticut is too expensive for many renters, the company argues.
Affordability calculations take into account the typical income in the region, which is higher in Connecticut than most other states. Statewide median family income is currently $124,600, a figure set by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
For that reason, income-restricted units are still priced out of reach for many, according to Landmark. Several people who currently live at The Standard rely on housing choice vouchers to make rent, the company said.
As of November 2025, Landmark listed affordable and workforce units at The Standard from $1,399 to $2,616 a month, depending on the size and type.
With rents falling in that range, workforce units are priced nearly the same as market-rate units, according to Landmark's application. Therefore, tenants who are eligible for them opt for market-rate units instead to avoid the additional administrative burden of qualifying for an income-restricted unit, according to the application.
"Landmark expects this situation to remain based upon its forecast for future rents," the application reads.
Demand for low-income housing
The company proposes reducing the number of affordable apartments from 35 to 18. Of that number, eight would be available to households earning up to 80% of the area's median income — the existing threshold for affordable apartments.
Ten others would be reclassified as low-income housing units, available to households earning up to 50% of area income. If the change is granted, households earning a maximum of $43,000 would be eligible for studio apartments. The top of the income range would be $65,000 for a three-bedroom apartment, according to the application.
"If permitted, these units would provide a housing option difficult to find in the market, particularly at the lower income levels," the application reads.
Landmark proposes no longer maintaining workforce housing. In exchange, it would pay a fee of roughly $1.7 million, a figure it said is tied to construction costs and net rentable square footage.
The figure was derived using the town's previous affordable housing regulations, which allowed developers to pay fees in lieu of creating affordable units. Officials eliminated that provision in 2024 after determining the fees didn't generate enough money to meet the town's goals.
Mansfield also implemented stricter guidelines aimed at increasing 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.
'Our regulations may not be perfect'
Landmark argues another stumbling block is the town's criteria for students. To be eligible for income-restricted apartments, students must 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, with some exceptions, such as single parents.
Landmark proposes easing those restrictions by aligning them with eligibility rules under the federal section 8 program. Doing so would allow more students to qualify, including those who are married, have served in the military or are age 24 or older, according to the application.
The Planning and Zoning Commission is scheduled to hold a public hearing March 16 on the request. It also referred the company's application to the Affordable Housing Committee and town attorney for review and comment.
The Standard is among the first in a wave of new multifamily 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.
With more new construction on the horizon, Landmark's challenge with affordable housing could prompt the town to revisit its zoning code in the future. During a February discussion, Commissioner Paul Aho said he believes the affordable housing rules are clear, but may need further review.
“The regulations clearly do not provide for payment in lieu, and they clearly do not allow for a reduction or modification. Now, having said that, I think that our regulations may not be perfect in every possible way," he said.
