Pawcatuck nightclub owner has plans for $15 million, over-55 apartment complex
May 11—STONINGTON — The owner of the Phoenix nightclub on Route 2 in Pawcatuck outlined his $15 million plan Tuesday to develop a 140-unit over-55 housing housing complex on the site.
Richard Mann detailed his proposal to the Economic Development Commission, whose members expressed initial support for the concept. But they deferred writing a letter of support for the project to the Planning and Zoning Commission until Mann solidifies details of the plan, such as whether it will include affordable housing. The PZC would have to approve the plan.
Mann said no decision has been made yet about whether it will include affordable units as defined by state law.
Mann said three buildings with a combination of studio, one- and two-bedroom units would be constructed on the 4.5-acre site. The existing nightclub would remain but be transformed into a community center that would provide meals, entertainment, a gym, classes and other services. Certified nursing assistants would be on site. There would be walking trails on the property.
Rents would range from $2,175 to $3,200 a month including meals.
Mann said the development is designed for people who have lived and worked in the community and are now ready to downsize but want to live among like-minded active people.
EDC member Jim Lathrop told Mann the project would not meet current zoning regulations. Creating a floating zone for the project could be one option while including an affordable housing component could make it exempt from zoning regulations. He added the project has public water and sewer and would not produce students for the schools system if it was age 55 and above.
EDC member Kevin Bowdler congratulated Mann on his "entrepreneurial spirit." He said the two groups most impacted by the lack of rental shortages in the region are seniors and young people just beginning their careers.
The property is best known to many southeastern Connecticut residents as the home of Rosalini's. Back in the 1970s and 1980s, large and sometimes rowdy crowds packed the club to watch local and nationally known bands perform.
The club's heyday ended in the 1990s, when it closed. Residents stopped a strip club from opening there in 1999. In 2000, a sports bar opened and was replaced in 2002 by the Fuji Gardens restaurant, which closed in 2014. In 2019, Mann purchased and renovated the building and reopened it as Phoenix Dining and Entertainment, which offers food and live music.
While Mann has not made a decision about including affordable units in the project, affordable housing has become a sometimes controversial issue in town as some Pawcatuck residents have questioned why their section of town has been the location of several new projects with affordable units while other parts of town have not. Last fall, residents rejected a tax break to redevelop the former Campbell Grain property in downtown Pawcatuck into an apartment building with some affordable units.
Last week, the PZC adopted an affordable housing plan that it has cut from 34 pages to five and removed many of its major recommendations after a group of residents criticized it at a public hearing.
On March 17, the PZC is scheduled to hold a hearing on an application to build a 100-unit apartment complex with affordable units on the lawn in front of the Brookside Village subsidized housing project on Route 1 in Pawcatuck, just east of the high school.
