Newtown’s Growing Condomania—

Age-Restricted Condominiums Fill A Niche For Affluent Empty-Nesters

By Andrew Gorosko

Gable after gable, the facades of tightly spaced condominiums at Walnut Tree Village recede into the distance. This form of housing, which did not exist in Newtown until a decade ago, has become a popular type of residence for people over age 55 who are able to afford it.

Besides several proposed age-restricted condominium complexes that have never materialized during the past decade, approximately 285 age-restricted condos have been built locally; 54 such condos have received construction approvals but have not yet been built; and 178 proposed age-restricted condos are now pending in the town’s land use review process.

By contrast, the 134-unit Nunnawauk Meadows rental apartment complex on Nunnawauk Road is designed to meet the needs of the elderly in the form of a basic rent-subsidized project. There is a long waiting list for prospective tenants.

Nunnawauk Meadows received its initial construction approvals in 1975 and has expanded in stages since then, its most recent expansion involving the addition of 14 units of “congregate housing” at the 64-acre site at 3 Nunnawauk Road.

The Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) created the EH-10 (Elderly Housing) zoning regulations to enable Nunnawauk Meadows to be built. Unlike other types of zones that are fixed in place, the EH-10 zone is a “floating zone,” which developers typically seek to create in areas that are otherwise zoned for single-family housing.

EH-10 zoning provides developers with a “density bonus,” allowing them to build a much higher residential construction density than is allowed under zoning regulations for single-family housing.

High-density age-restricted condo development typically is served by public water and public sewer lines. In January, the P&Z rejected a requested change of zone from R-2 (Residential) to EH-10 submitted by developer Jack Dweck for his proposed 56-unit age-restricted condo complex at a 20-acre site at 32 Alberts Hill Road. The P&Z cited that property’s lack of access to public sewers and lack of access to a public water supply as reasons for the rejection.

Walnut Tree Village

Realizing that there was a demand for condominiums for affluent older people, Walnut Tree Developers was the first firm to develop such condos in the mid-1990s. The firm sought and received approval from the P&Z to cut the minimum age for those living in age-restricted housing complexes from 62 to 55, in accord with federal law. That zoning rule change broadened the local market for such housing.

Starting in 1995, the firm built Walnut Tree Village on Walnut Tree Hill Road in Sandy Hook. The 189-unit project on a 53-acre site took about a decade to construct in two main construction phases.

The P&Z’s original intent in creating EH-10 zoning was providing housing for the elderly who are able-bodied, who are frail, and who are in need of medical care, so that senior citizens could “age in place.”

Across time, however, developers sought various zoning rule modifications from the P&Z to allow the specific forms of age-restricted condo development that the developers wanted to construct.

And as time passed, successive age-restricted condo complexes became increasingly elaborate.

Walnut Tree Village’s initial units that sold in the mid-1990s were priced from approximately $140,000 to $180,000. Recent condo sales there have brought approximately $375,000 per unit.

By comparison, the age-restricted condos for sale at the largely built 96-unit Liberty at Newtown in Hawleyville are being offered for sale from $564,900 to $744,900.

Ginsburg Development Corporation, of Valhalla, N.Y., has constructed that complex on a 40-acre site at 178 Mt Pleasant Road in Hawleyville. The firm received P&Z approvals to build the complex in August 2002.

On February 16, the P&Z approved the construction of a 54-unit age-restricted condo complex, known as Regency at Newtown, in an environmentally sensitive area on Oakview Road.

Toll Brothers, Inc, a Pennsylvania-based developer, plans to build 54 condos at a 51-acre site at 21 Oakview Road, near Newtown High School. Toll Brothers had been seeking various approvals for the condo complex from town agencies since February 2004, initially having proposed 80 condos for the site. The developer hopes to start construction by June.

Following the Regency at Newtown approval, First Selectman Herb Rosenthal said that from an economic development standpoint, creating an age-restricted condo complex is a better use of the site than other potential uses of the property, such as an affordable housing complex or perhaps a conventional residential subdivision of single-family houses. Age-restricted condos do not contain school-age children, who necessitate public education spending.

Besides its approval of Regency at Newtown, the P&Z is reviewing plans for a 178-unit age-restricted condo complex on a 50-acre site in Hawleyville, which formerly was a sand-and-gravel mine.

Bashert Developers, LLC, of New City in Rockland County, N.Y., proposes The Woods at Newtown as 132 units of congregate housing in ten apartment buildings, plus 46 independent-living units in eight separate buildings. The project has gained a wetlands permit from the Conservation Commission. A P&Z public hearing on the proposal is scheduled for March 16.

The 50-acre site has a street address of 12-16 Pocono Road and has driveway access from 166 Mt Pleasant Road.

The Woods at Newtown site is adjacent to The Homesteads at Newtown. The Homesteads is a 100-unit assisted-living apartment building, which gained town construction approvals in 1998 and opened for business in March 2001. The Homesteads offers rental apartments, not condominiums.

The other local assisted-living complex is Lockwood Lodge, which is located next to the Ashlar of Newtown nursing home off Toddy Hill Road. Lockwood Lodge, which received P&Z construction approvals in 1997, contains 56 assisted-living apartments.

The Homesteads had planned to build 178 units of age-restricted housing on the 50-acre Hawleyville site, but that project did not materialize. Bashert then acquired the site for its development after The Homesteads entered bankruptcy.

The Woods at Newtown would be the largest multifamily development in town since Walnut Tree Village.

Community Development

Community Development Director Elizabeth Stocker said that the growth of age-restricted housing is a regional phenomenon.

Such development adds diversity to a community’s housing stock, she said. Age-restricted housing provides an alternative to conventional residential growth in subdivisions of single-family houses on two-acre lots, she said.

In the past, developers seeking to build age-restricted housing complexes had sought and sometimes received endorsements for their projects from the Economic Development Commission (EDC). The developers presented their projects to the EDC as mechanisms to create construction jobs and other employment, as well as generate property tax revenue, stressing that their complexes would not include school-age children who require costly public education.

The EDC, however, no longer endorses age-restricted housing as a form of economic development, Ms Stocker said. Economic development generally is considered to be growth such as factories, office complexes, and stores.

Local realtor Joann Maurer said she expects that the local market for age-restricted condos will remain stable due to Newtown’s reputation as a desirable place to live.

But, she added, “Newtown has to watch that we don’t go overboard” in terms of such growth.

Although such development does not economically burden the public schools, residents of age-restricted condos do require some public services, she said.

Unlike a period several years ago, when it was clearly a seller’s market for such dwellings, the inventory of age-restricted dwellings on the market now has made it a buyer’s market, she said.

 Bill Ethier, a spokesman for the Home Builders Association of Connecticut, Inc, said the reason that age-restricted condominiums get built is, “There’s strong demand for that type of development.”

Mr Ethier said that throughout Connecticut, municipalities’ development review and approval processes have become too restrictive. “The local land use boards have run amok,” he said.

The length of time needed to gain approvals for development projects has grown significantly, he said. The 1,300-member association includes firms in the state that construct multifamily and single-family housing.

Joanne Carroll, a spokeswoman for the home builders group, said there is a strong, pent-up demand for age-restricted housing in Fairfield County. The land that is available for such development lies in northern Fairfield County towns such as Newtown, she said.

“Fairfield County, in general, needs this kind of housing. There’s no [economic] impact on the school system. There’s certainly a lot of advantages to it,” she said. Such growth helps improve the local property tax base, she said.

Ms Carroll said she expects that the housing market in the state will continue to be a good market for developers, but not as strong as it has been during the past several years.