Commission criticizes bulk of proposed senior assisted living facility

GREENWICH — The development team behind a proposed assisted-living facility for seniors has scaled down an earlier plan and reduced the size of the project, but the Greenwich Planning and Zoning Commission still has concerns about the bulk and scale of the buildings.

The proposal is still in the preapplication phase, with no a formal application put forward by Renamba Greenwich and developer Amba Sharma. The plan calls for the creation of 120 residential units in a building at an old contractor’s yard on Old Track Road near Old Field Point Road. The facility would be called the Ambassador at Greenwich.

Project engineer Bradford Perkins told the commission at its Tuesday meeting that the developers had reduced the number of units from 130 to 120 since the last discussion July 14. The development team added underground parking and redesigned the layout of the buildings to make them appear less bulky, with the roof-line also lowered on the four-story structure, he said. The proposed floor area was reduced by 15,047 square feet, for a current proposal of 102, 847 square feet of space.

The commissioners said they were interested in pursuing even more reduction in mass in the buildings, and lowering the floor area ratio — the ratio of a building’s total floor area to the size of the parcel on which it is built. They also questioned why 120 units were necessary in the assistedliving facility for seniors.

Perkins said successful projects in this category — luxury housing for seniors with a large staff — were optimal in the range of 110 to 120 units. He said the current plan calls for onebedroom units, which take up more room. Studio apartments are less appealing, he said, and harder to market.

The development team said the larger amount of floor area ratio for the project was justified. The attorney representing the application, Bruce Cohen, said, “It’s a good package.” He pointed out that there is a strong need in Greenwich for an assisted-living facility such as the one outlined in the proposal.

The roughly 2-acre site near the Metro-North Railroad tracks was purchased for $11.5 million. About 150 people would work at the Ambassador at Greenwich, in shifts around the clock.

The commissioners requested more data and suggested the development team work on a proposal with a lower floor-area ratio.