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March 21, 2007 Architects and consultants for Antares Investment Partners walked the Planning Board last night through their plan to improve infrastructure in the South End, just hours after they explained to legislators how they plan to pay for it. The real estate group has proposed redeveloping 82 acres of the 250-acre peninsula south of the city center. The four-phase, 10-year project would include 4,000 new housing units, 400,000 square feet of retail space, offices, two hotels and more than 10 acres of new parkland and waterfront trails. Building that much in such a short time would require major improvements to the South End's road network -- including new streets -- and upgrades to gas and sewer lines, sidewalks and storm drains, Antares officials told the Planning Board last night. The presentation came during the first of at least two meetings the board will hold before it makes a recommendation to the Zoning Board on whether to approve the project. The boards are considering site plans for the project's first phase and two special zoning districts that would allow Antares to redevelop the former Yale & Towne factory site off Canal Street and industrial land near the West Branch of Stamford harbor that once housed power plants and the Pitney Bowes manufacturing complex. Most of the infrastructure work would have to be done during the first phase of construction, Antares land-use attorney William Hennessey said in answering questions from board member Jay Tepper. "Will it all be done in phase one? No. But will a disproportionate amount be done in the first phase? Yes, it will," Hennessey said. The public improvements, which would include building a pedestrian path over the city's hurricane barrier and along the West Branch of Stamford Harbor, could cost as much as $180 million, Antares lawyer John Freeman said. The developer wants the city to authorize a special taxing district for property within the development boundaries to pay for nearly half of that, using property taxes that the project would generate. Freeman, Antares managing partner James Cabrera and chief operating officer Bruce Macleod spent several hours yesterday testifying before the state legislature's Finance,Revenue and Bonding Committee on a bill that would authorize the city to set up the special taxing district. Tax revenue from the district, which Freeman said would include only the property Antares is developing, would guarantee bonds to pay for infrastructure needs upfront. Antares estimates the entire development would produce about $20 million in new annual tax revenue. Under the plan, the city would dedicate half of that to repay the bonds and would keep the rest. After paying for $5 million in new services that the area's 10,000 new residents would need, the city would gain $5 million per year from the development, Freeman said. After paying off the bonds in 30 years, the city would keep all of the tax revenue, he said. Planning Board Chairman Duane Hill asked who would pay for the other half of the improvements if the city approved the funding process, called tax-increment financing. Some of the balance could come from federal and state grants for brownfields cleanup and "transit-oriented development," which puts dense housing and other development close to mass transit, Freeman said. A significant portion of the new housing and office space would be built within a 10-minute walk of the Stamford transportation center, and Antares plans to provide scheduled shuttlebus routes from the South End to the train station and downtown. Freeman said the improvements also would include sidewalks, landscaping and road improvements connecting the two sites to the waterfront, the city's planned Urban Transitway -- scheduled to be under construction this year -- and each other. "This is the type of project that at the federal and state level they really want to encourage," Freeman said. But Antares also must attract more private money to pay for the improvements, he told the board. The $180 million estimate for public improvements doesn't include about $20 million to widen and deepen the Atlantic Street underpass beneath the Metro-North Railroad tracks -- which the city and Antares have said is essential to connecting the new development to downtown. The city is seeking state and federal money for the project, and plans to contribute about $1.2 million in local funds. The city and its consultants are studying the developer's financial projections and the proposed tax-increment financing legislation to determine what changes to recommend, and what work the public should pay for, according to Economic Development Director Michael Freimuth. If the state legislature approves the bill, city boards would have to approve a deal with Antares and pass local legislation to create the new taxing district.
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