Affordable housing units slated for former St. Mary Star of the Sea School building in New London
New London — The Connection Fund Inc., a nonprofit affordable housing developer based in Middletown, won approval last week from the Planning and Zoning Commission to convert the former St. Mary Star of the Sea School on Huntington Street into a multifamily residence with as many as 21 affordable housing units.
The Connection Fund also operates the Jefferson Commons development next to New London High School and will utilize a similar income cap to qualify applicants for residency, an attorney for the developer said. To be eligible for residency, an applicant can earn no more than 80 percent of the city’s median income.
“It is going to be a mix of both lower and moderate income people,” said William R. Sweeney, an attorney from Tobin, Carberry, O’Malley, Riley, Selinger, P.C. who represents The Connection Fund Inc. “We expect young people, we expect elderly people, we expect people who have physical disabilities or developmental disabilities and we wouldn’t be surprised if we had veterans apply for residency.”
Though The Connection Fund will build and manage the housing units, St. Mary church will act as the landlord for the development, Sweeney said.
The 120-year-old Catholic elementary school, which was founded by the Sisters of Mercy, closed in 2012 amid economic troubles after years of declining enrollment.
The Planning and Zoning Commission granted approval for the project last week with a 3-2 vote, and several residents voiced concerns or apprehension about the project at the commission meeting.
“I think there were a lot of misconceptions about the project, some people thought it might be a homeless shelter or a halfway house,” Sweeney said. “This is going to be leased units, every resident will have a legally binding lease for the units in there.”
One particular concern, Sweeney said, was that the apartments could become home to sex offenders. The commission, as a condition of approval, stipulated that the complex cannot lease to registered sex offenders. The conditions of state and federal financing also prohibit leasing to registered sex offenders.
The Connection Fund Inc. is related to The Connection Inc., which operates The January Center, a residential sex offender treatment facility on the grounds of Corrigan-Radgowski Correctional Institution. The Connection Inc. and The Connection Fund Inc. are operated by separate boards of directors.
Now that the project has been approved by the commission, The Connection Fund will seek state funding and federal Department of Housing and Urban Development funds. Sweeney said The Connection Fund expects the apartments to be completed sometime next year.
“The bottom line is New London has housing already for lower-income people, but much of it is substandard, not what you would call high-quality,” he said. “We want to provide housing stock of a much better quality but still keep it affordable. From our point of view, it is about improving housing stock in New London, and we’re excited about the project.”
c.young@theday.com
Twitter: @ColinAYoung
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