Ferry Crossing involves a unique cooperative working relationship between the project sponsors and the Town of Old Saybrook. The town owns the site and has executed a 75-year ground lease for the project to local nonprofit HOPE Partnership. Old Saybrook was the first town in Connecticut to adopt the Incentive Housing Zone regulations as part of its overall zoning standards. This project is the first of its kind completed in the state.
The development of Ferry Crossing entailed new construction of 16 rental apartments in five buildings facing a common green space. All units are targeted to households earning at or below eighty percent of area median income. The project provides for deeper affordability than other multifamily developments in the region and includes some units for families earning below twenty-five percent of the area median. This helps address the needs of struggling families, young adults and seniors who wish to live in town.
Housing Connections helped HOPE Partnership as it explored several affordable housing development opportunities and provided ongoing technical assistance to the group as it discussed various options. Housing Connections worked with HOPE to identify an appropriate housing developer to work on the project, clarify the Partnership’s concerns about the development, and ascertain what role the group would play in the project.
