Liberty At Newtown––

Multifamily Project Progresses In Hawleyville

 By Andrew Gorosko

Construction work on the town’s newest multifamily housing complex, intended for people over age 55, is progressing in Hawleyville, with initial occupancy of units at Liberty at Newtown expected by late October, according to the project’s developer.

Thomas Gissen, executive vice president of Ginsburg Development Corporation, Connecticut, LLC, said this week the company is well into the construction of its first residential building at the 40-acre site at 178 Mt Pleasant Road. Work has started on a second building, he added.

Ginsburg describes the planned complex as a “common interest ownership community,” which is similar to a condominium complex.

In August 2002, the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) approved Ginsburg’s proposal for the 92-unit Liberty at Newtown in 12 residential buildings. Each building would contain either six or eight units, with most building containing eight units.

A 1,700-foot-long private road will serve the property. Two spur roads would extend off that road. The site would contain three four-building clusters.

Mr Gissen said the first residences at the complex should be ready for occupancy by late October. Construction is planned in three phases. Completion of the 92-unit complex is projected for July 2005.

Four different units will be available for sale, ranging in size from approximately 2,000 to 2,300 square feet, Mr Gissen said. The sale price of the units is expected to range from the low $400,000s to the low $500,000s, he said. When the project was in the planning stages last year, the projected price for units had ranged from $300,000 to $400,000.

All of the living area for each unit will be situated on one level, with storage facilities and two-car garages placed on a lower level. Each building will be served by an elevator.

Mr Gissen said Ginsburg is building Liberty at Newtown as a “high quality, luxurious” complex. Building exteriors will incorporate multiple materials intended to provide a sense of “understated elegance,” he said. Interiors will have high-ceilinged rooms, with airy, well-lit spaces, he added.

The complex will include a clubhouse, outdoor swimming pool, health club, billiard room, and function room, he said. The property will have a network of sidewalks and trails.

When completed, the property should have a market value of between $40 million and $50 million, Mr Gissen said.

Ginsburg Development Corporation of Hawthorne, N.Y., has done extensive development in Westchester County, including condominiums, cooperative apartments, single-family homes, apartments, and commercial development.

In this area, the firm is the developer of the 252-unit housing complex known as Woodland Hills on Shelter Rock Road in Danbury. It also has developed the 23-house Redding Woods complex in Redding.

In 1999, Avalon Bay Communities had proposed constructing 304 rental apartments at the site where Liberty at Newtown is now under construction. The Avalon Bay proposal had included 76 units designated as affordable housing. Avalon Bay dropped its plans for that project after encountering difficulty in getting town approval for a sanitary sewer connection. At that time, the Mt Pleasant Road sewer line was still in the planning stages.

Liberty at Newtown will use the municipal sewer line, which has since been installed along Mt Pleasant Road.