Image courtesy of Crosskey Architects
A pair of apartment buildings planned by Norwalk-based Spinnaker Real Estate Partners in Hartford’s Bushnell South development area could get an $8 million boost each – that’s if the Capitol Region Development Authority agrees.
A CRDA board subcommittee is scheduled to review the loan proposals for buildings at 65 Elm St. and 100 Capitol Ave. at a meeting Friday. The loans will come with 3 percent interest rates and 10-year terms, and will come with an interest-only payment period for the first 36 months according to documents in the packet for Friday’s meeting.
The loans will be in addition to a pair of construction loans totaling $42.25 million Spinnaker is sourcing from unidentified lenders, the documents state, and $9.91 million in developer equity.
The two ground-up buildings would compliment Spinnaker’s existing 55 Elm St. office-to-residential conversion project next door, which the CRDA helped finance with a $7 million permanent loan and a $6.5 million bridge loan to tide the project over until its state historic tax credits for the project are monetized. The full loan amount for 100 Capitol Ave. is contingent on the sale of those tax credits.
The buildings are permitted for 127 apartments and 3,250 square feet of retail at 65 Elm St. and 112 apartments and 5,250 square feet of retail at 100 Capitol Ave. Fully 20 percent of the units in the two projects combined will be below-market affordable housing, priced for renters earning a mix of incomes between 50 percent and 120 percent area median income. The unit mix will include studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units and amenities are planned to include a pool, beer garden and 1.2 parking spaces per unit in a shared facility.
At the same meeting Friday, CRDA board members will also consider a $6.5 million mezzanine loan to The Simon Konover Company’s planned 150-unit apartment project on East Hartford’s East River Drive. That loan will come with similar terms to the two proposed for the Spinnaker projects and will be in addition to a $33.25 million construction loan the developer is sourcing from elsewhere and $7.75 million in equity.
