Economy changes Storrs Center plan

Instead of starting with houses for sale, as had been expected, the developers of the Storrs Center mixed-use project in the Town of Mansfield, Connecticut, will first produce 120 rental apartments and 20 storefront spaces. The change of plans is being dictated by the still-difficult economy. “We’re waiting for the for-sale housing market to recover,” Philip Lodewick, a board member of the Mansfield Downtown Partnership, was quoted as saying in the April 25 Hartford Courant.

The apartments — a mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom units — will be part of what’s envisioned as a $300 million development to be carried out by LeylandAlliance. Steve Maun, LeylandAlliance’s president, said he remains “cautiously optimistic” about the project, in which his company has invested more than $5 million.

The Town and the University of Connecticut have been looking forward to the project since 2001, when they established the nonprofit Downtown Partnership to help coordinate its planning and development. Even in a difficult lending environment, said Maun, projects in college towns are viewed as relatively safe investments. Storrs Center will be across Storrs Road from UConn’s main campus. It may ultimately contain up to 700 rental and ownership housing units and approximately 180,000 sq. ft. of retail and commercial space, along with two community squares.

“I often think people underestimate what kind of financial cataclysm we just went through — and we’re not out of it yet,” Maun told the Courant. Nonetheless, he said, mixed-use projects, and especially rentals, are still seen as viable. Ten businesses have signed letters of intent for space in the project’s first phase.

Cynthia van Zelm, executive director of the Partnership, said no date has yet been set for development to get under way, but state and federal grants totaling $18 million have been secured for construction of a parking garage and improvements to the road.