Stamford affordable housing seeks face-lift funds
STAMFORD — The Stamford housing authority is looking to make preliminary repairs on one of its affordable housing developments on the East Side, signaling a step forward for the city’s older public buildings.
The project funds would tide over the Oak Park apartments until larger renovation projects could start in 2022, each of which would take about two years to complete, according to Jonathan Gottlieb, vice president of the Rippowam Corp.
The corporation makes up the real estate development arm of Stamford’s housing authority, Charter Oak Communities.
The Stamford housing authority requested nearly $300,000 last week from the Stamford Planning Board for the repairs as part of the capital budget for 2021-22.
Despite big changes slated for the future, the Oak Park residences need more than just the planned overhaul.
“We have some important work that needs to be done sooner,” said Gottlieb.
Charter Oak Communities is seeking to salvage the basements, electrical wiring and roofs in its Oak Park properties. These improvements are essential for the major work
that is to come, according to Gottlieb.
Health and safety is the foundation of all the work Charter Oak hopes to complete on the Oak Park apartments, he said.
The floor supports for the housing units have begun to deteriorate in recent years, Gottlieb said. This decay is due to unused oil tanks that have been left to sit on the dirt basement floors below the townhouse-style apartments.
The roofs have also sustained similar decay to the basements, according to Gottlieb, where water damage has chipped away at supports.
Some of the money would finance moving electrical panels away from kitchen sinks, a design point that has caused problems in recent years, he said. That electrical wiring in the apartments dates to the development’s initial construction more than 70 years ago.
While Charter Oak Communities is requesting funds from the city, it also plans to finance the Oak Park renovation project through its own equity financing options.
“We’re not dependent on grants that we have applied for, so we’re hopeful that we can do this scope of work, which should hopefully tide us over until we can apply for and get the larger funding for the more comprehensive repairs in a couple of years,” Gottlieb told the Planning Board.
While the housing authority requested $285,000 from the city’s coffers, part of that money is also to complete Phase 3 of the Lawnhill Terrace development, which is also owned by the city.
All other family developments in Stamford have undergone renovations in recent years, leaving Oak Park behind without any recent repairs or updates.
The East Side affordable housing units were built in 1947 after World War II. The properties were meant for returning officers.
“People were never intended to continue to live there [for long], but Charter Communities has maintained it for the duration of the years,” Charter Oak Communities CEO Vincent Tufo said.
Across 27 buildings, Oak Park has nearly 170 units, ranging between one and four bedrooms.
Still, the request from Charter Oak is only preliminary. The planning board will make its recommendation as part of the 2021-22 capital budget later this year.