High-end TOD under way in Connecticut

An elegant $75 million mixed-use development designed principally by New Haven architect Robert Orr has been tucked into a difficult 4.74-acre site in the Southport section of Fairfield, Connecticut. Houses in Federal, Italianate, and Greek Revival styles, plus an inn, a restaurant, a day spa, and offices, are being built on what had been polluted land situated between noisy Interstate 95 and the Southport station of Metro North Commuter Railroad.
The developers, Southport Village Partners LLC, won permission from the town to build brick-faced commercial space just seven feet from the site’s perimeter street, directly across from I-95. Stuart Baldwin, managing member of the Southport-based development partnership, says the placement of the commercial building bounces some of the traffic noise back toward the highway and helps to create a quieter, more secluded atmosphere on the interior of the site, where single-family houses, stacked flats, and pairs of townhouses are being constructed along narrow streets, a 50-by-75-foot green, and a small restored wetland.
The project, known as Southport Green, has 28 homes, ranging from a one-bedroom unit selling for $650,000 to a 10-room, 4,100 sq. ft. attached house selling for $3.25 million. Prices reflect both the affluence of Southport — its median household income is $123,000 — and the developers’ insistence on individualized designs and high-quality craftsmanship. Materials, window sizes and styles, and architectural detailing vary from house to house, giving them the appearance of having been there for decades. Baldwin considered cladding some exteriors in HardiPlank, which is used in many traditional neighborhood developments, but he decided cedar clapboard would be better at creating the look he was seeking.
All the units are in a condominium form of ownership, making the condo association responsible for exterior maintenance and for the grounds. Units in the inn are being sold as condominium-style residences that buyers can live in during part of the year and rent out when they’re away.
The land had been an eyesore, owned by an excavating company that parked bulldozers, dump trucks, and other equipment there. Pollution, some of it from leaking underground petroleum tanks, cost $3 million to clean up. The developers hope to recover the remediation expense through a state fund that reimburses innocent third parties in brownfield development.
Initial design work took place during an October 2000 charrette involving Robert Orr & Associates staff along with John Massengale, Patrick Pinnell, Milton Grenfell, Bob Gibbs, and Michael Morrissey. Barton Partners of Norristown, Pennsylvania, was responsible for construction documents and construction administration.

Individually designed garages
The site has been laid out with a connected street network, but the commercial area is situated so that business traffic will rarely intrude on the residential portion. The commercial section offers parking for 110 vehicles in a half-underground structure and about 50 parking spaces in a courtyard-like deck behind the offices. On-street parking accommodates approximately 90 additional vehicles. Houses have free-standing garages that face onto mews, with a picturesque cottage-like massing, no two garages identical. “We’ve made even the alleys attractive so you would want to go for a walk there,” Orr says.
The Postal Service will not deliver mail to homes. Instead, residents will pick up their mail in the lobby of the inn, possibly meeting their neighbors there. “It’s our attempt at social engineering,” says Harriet Baldwin of Southport Village Partners. The project is to be completed by January 2007.