Builders once envisioned traditional houses for this CT town property. Now the plan is for 58 duplexes
A year after Krown Point Capital switched a stalled Bloomfield subdivision plan to rental townhouses, it is converting a similarly beached single-family housing proposal in East Granby to duplexes.
The company has bought the nearly 29-acre tract that was once envisioned for a traditional subdivision to be called Bramble Bush Circle. Using that and another 26-acre parcel just to the south, Krown Point now plans to build 163 rental homes.
The housing market has changed since a previous developer won approval for the Bramble Bush subdivision plan more than 10 years ago, according to Reggie Kronstadt of Krown Point and his business partyer, Robert Kligerman of Connecticut Realty Trust.
“We’re still getting surprising demand for our rental homes, including houses and townhouses and duplexes,” Kligerman said Wednesday. “We’re seeing people who maybe sold their home but still want to see grass, still want a front yard and a backyard. And we’re seeing people priced out of owning a home.”
East Granby this summer approved their plan to put 58 duplexes on the Bramble Bush site, which is a half-mile north of Route 20 just off East Street. That will provide 116 rental homes, with three to four bedrooms.
The original developer planned to build and sell 66 one-family houses, and installed a storm water drainage system including pipes and catch basins along with other utilities. But construction ended in 2011 and never resumed. Kligerman and Kronstadt plan to use that infrastructure as the basis for their project.
Just below that property is the East Granby Meadows site where a developer initially planned a 47-unit condominium building. Kligerman and Kronstadt have acquired that property and will instead build 47 separate rental houses there. The combined project will have a total of 163 housing units with a total of 428 parking spaces.
Krown Point’s strategy is to rent homes or townhouses that are larger than traditional apartments and include individual lawns. The company keeps maintenance staff on site, and provides landscaping and snowplowing.
Krown Point built a similar complex of duplex homes in Granby last year, and is constructing 90 additional rental housing units at the Bloomfield site where Maulucci Home Builders had previously planned a conventional subdivision.
“We’re clearly filling a void,” Kligerman said. “We have consistent demand. We’re trying not to let the talk about interest rates and all the financial noise on CNN affect us. And it doesn’t appear to be anywhere close to affecting our tenants, either.
“There are people who still like property and don’t want to be living in a conventional apartment. And at all our properties, we have a pool and a clubhouse and dog runs,” he said. “In East Granby we’ll have pickleball. And it’s close to bicycling and jogging.”
Kronstadt said called the market for more spacious rental housing under-served.
“It’s under-supplied. We look for markets where where there’s an imbalance,” he said. “People want the full-service resort feel with the benefits of having more space than a traditional apartment, another bedroom, a bigger living room, but with the no-hassle living that comes with new-build rentals,” Kronstadt said.
