New Apartment-Building Phase Underway

One hundred thirty-five new apartments will stand at the corner of Orange and Grove streets next year, as part of the second phase of The Audubon complex.

Two blocks away, a hotel planned by the same developer remains on hold as the hospitality industry’s Covid-19 downturn continues.

“We’re constantly inquiring with lenders and banks about what the market is like for hotel construction. It’s still lukewarm,” Spinnaker Vice President Frank Caico said of the 80 Elm St. project.

Caico provided these updates Tuesday evening to the Downtown-Wooster Square Community Management Team.

Renters have been living in the first phase of The Audubon, a 269-apartment complex with a garage at its center. Construction started on the first phase in 2018 and was done by 2020. These apartments are now 90 percent leased, Caico said.

The second phase of construction fills out the Grove Street side of the block with 135 more apartments and ground-floor retail space. Caico expects construction to continue through the rest of this year and for apartments to be ready for tenants by the spring of 2022.

Neighbor Kevin McCarthy asked at Tuesday evening’s virtual meeting to hear Spinnaker’s strategies for filling that retail space, particularly during the Covid-19 economic downturn.

The restaurant industry is still a good bet, Caico revealed. The street-food-focused eatery El Segundo has moved into the restaurant space in the first phase of The Audubon and seems to be thriving.

Early conversations with restauranteurs and a few other retail companies about the Grove Street spaces has Caico feeling cautiously optimistic.

The South Norwalk-based developer also has approval for a third phase, a townhouse-style building planned for 29 Audubon St. This would put another 66 apartments on what is now a parking lot (pictured above). All told, the complex is expected to cost $160 million.

The Audubon as it stands now is a high-end complex, with a pool, a rooftop terrace, and a sleek coffee bar in the lobby. The Audubon’s leasing website shows studios starting at $1,776 a month. The largest apartment size currently available are one-bedrooms rentable for up to $2,392 a month.

A Boutique Hotel?

One Spinnaker project not moving along is the hotel planned for 80 Elm St. Newly-elected management team chair Ian Dunn asked about the hotel’s status during Caico’s presentation. The site is currently a dirt hole next to the city Hall of Records where a bank once stood.

While lenders still do not want to support a hotel project, Caico expects to see some change in that attitude by the end of the year. He hopes to restart the hotel project by 2022 or 2023.

In the meantime, Spinnaker is considering changing which hotel fills out the six-story building planned for the site. The company is in talks with a more boutique brand for the hotel, rather than the Hilton Garden Inn originally approved. Otherwise, the 80 Elm building plans remain the same.