Image courtesy of Beinfeld Architecture

A prominent but aging Fairfield motel near the town’s border with Bridgeport could get redeveloped into a mixed-use project if town officials approve.

An affiliate of Norwalk-based Spinnaker Real Estate Partners has filed plans to tear down the Fairfield Circle Inn and build a 110-room hotel and a separate 250-unit apartment building in its place. The town Planning & Zoning Commission is currently reviewing the application, with its next sitting scheduled for Tuesday evening.

Plans filed with the town call for the hotel and apartment to share a 473-spot parking garage, while the Circle Diner, also on the property, and its 65-spot lot will remain as-is. The plans show 35 studios, 151 one-bedroom and 64 two-bedroom apartments, with 12 percent of the units being set aside as affordable housing. Amenities noted on the plan include an outdoor pool tucked behind the apartment building, and a pedestrian path will line the property’s southern border, providing public access to the wetlands behind the site.

“Over the past 10 years, the property owners have gone to great lengths to beautify the Circle Hotel – even winning an award for the improvements from the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce,” a frequently-asked-questions document in Spinnaker’s application states. “Unfortunately, even with updates, the hotel remains tired. It is functionally and economically obsolete and its lack of amenities and budget-appeal no longer resonate with the town or with guests to Fairfield.”

Developers say the project will help advance the town’s master plan, which called for the area along the Post Road to be revitalized.

If town officials reject the mixed-use plan, though, Spinnaker’s filings say it’s secured its rights to develop the site entirely under the state’s 8-30g affordable housing law as a “back-up plan.”

“After receiving initial neighbor feedback we stepped back the upper floors at various locations to shield them from neighbors and minimize massing. The proposed project barely ‘pencils out’ and any reduction in scale would make the project infeasible. Current projections call for approximately a 6% return on investment with a substantial amount of risk on the part of the investors. This project is proposed because the developers believe in Fairfield and want to have a signature project for the Town; the project will not be a financial home run,” Spinnaker’s application states.