Citing plenty of jobs and too little housing, Farmington gives go-ahead to 204 new apartments
Agreeing that the UConn Health corridor on the eastern edge of town is becoming a jobs center, Farmington zoning officials have given the OK for more than 200 new apartments near Batterson Park.
The planning and zoning commission unanimously approved the project this month after hearing Pond LLC describe a market with plentiful jobs but too little suitable housing for new workers.
“Clearly it’s a product that the town needs. The location is great. I have no issues,” commission member Patrick Carrier told his colleagues.
The commission rezoned the 34-acre property and approved a site plan for Pond LLC, which wants to build a four-story building behind the Pond View Corporate Center.
Timothy Hollister, the developer’s attorney, said market studies show high demand for new, quality apartments near the UConn Health Center, Jackson Laboratory, Stanley Black & Decker and other major employers near the site.
The UConn Health complex employs 6,300 people, about 20 percent of all jobs in town, said Hollister, who called the stretch of Route 4 near UConn Health “a jobs mecca.”
Pond LLC, an affiliate of New York City-based Sovereign Partners LLC, intends to construct a large J-shaped building behind the two office buildings at 74-76 Batterson Park Road.
It will have 204 apartments, with 152 of them one-bedroom units of 750 square feet renting for about $1,400 to $1,600 a month, Hollister said. There will be 44 two-bedroom units measuring 1,050 square feet and renting for $1,700 to $1,900.
Pond LLC, an affiliate of New York-based Sovereign Partners LLC, also plans eight three-bedroom apartments of 1,300 square feet each; they’re to be priced at $2,100 to $2,300 monthly.
The property is east of I-84 and west of Batterson Park, a part of three-story office buildings that make up the 236,000-square-foot Pond View Corporate Center.
The planned construction zone was the site of a third Pond View building, Hollister said, but it was never constructed. Pond LLC bought the entire plaza for just under $20 million three years ago.
William Gentile, acquisitions director at Sovereign Partners, said he anticipated the new housing in Farmington would be much like his company’s recently completed Sky View Apartments in Kansas City.
“I think it speaks to how our perspective on mixed-use looks,” he said. “It’s so similar to what we want to do in Connecticut. It’s obviously not vertical, but a similar concept in terms of the the symbiotic relationship that can exist between office and residential, especially in the COVID works that we’re in today,” Gentile said.
Sky View was built inside a 20-story office building that was losing commercial tenants. The top eight floors were converted to 116 one- and two-bedroom apartments, Gentile said.
“There’s a similar concept in terms of the symbiotic relationship that can exist between office and residential, especially in the Covid world that we’re in today.” Gentile said. “They’re very similar size units, similar amenity package, we think there’ll be a very similar look.”
Hollister said market studies have shown a demand for this kind of housing near the UConn Health campus.
“The expected residential demographics will be millennials, young professionals and empty nesters,” he said. “The overlay of that is that the market here is primarily focused to employee of the medical center.
The company plans amenities including a fitness center with lockers and showers, a yoga room, a community room and a patio with tables and grills.
Don Stacom can be reached at dstacom@courant.com
