Connecticut has turned four long-vacant factory buildings in New Britain into apartments that meet the state’s definition of affordable housing.
The buildings were once the home of the defunct housewares manufacturing company Landers, Frary and Clark.
They’re on the National Registry of Historic Places and have been converted to 154 apartments.
Public money accounted for nearly a fifth of the financing for the project, which is called The Ellis Block.
Gov. Ned Lamont said converting unused properties will help solve the state’s affordable housing crisis.
“I love the fact that this represents a home to 154 people who otherwise might not be able to stay in New Britain or stay in Connecticut,” he said at the official opening of the buildings on Tuesday.
“We have to reimagine how we can take old spaces and make them real. And it's not easy. You’ve got environmental work and it's not easy,” he said.
The project is partly financed by $8 million from the Connecticut Department of Housing.
It also got $25 million in state and federal historic preservation tax credits and a $1 million brownfield loan from the state. It opened at nearly full occupancy.
