[Hypothalamus]

Details emerge about $70 million Kennedy Place deal
Dirk Perrefort
Monday, October 14, 2013

More details emerged Friday about the potential for a national developer to complete the long stalled Kennedy Place housing project in the city’s downtown.

Local developer Dan Bertram, a principal with the BRT Corp. that owns the property, confirmed in August that a national developer was interested in the project and that negotiations were ongoing.

On Friday, Mayor Mark Boughton said a group of private equity investors financing the deal had visited the city last week to look at the site and speak with area officials.

He added that the deal is worth about $70 million and a developer, “who is bigger than Avalon” is committed to the project and wants to build 367 high end luxury apartments on the site with “lots of amenities.”

In 2007, the project was approved to create for 589 housing units on the 10-acre property that sits between Kennedy Park and Rose and Main streets. The site once was home to the Danbury Mall and later the manufacturer Amphenol.

The project never got underway, however, because of the crash in the housing market resulted from the Great Recession that hit about a year after the approvals were in place.

The housing, Boughton said, would be a big boon for the city’s downtown by having people with disposable income living within walking distance of Main Street.