Property manager Andrea Vancho showing one of the new kitchens.
ANSONIA – The second phase of the Bella Vista Apartments located at 497 E. Main St. and 165 Main St. (the former Wells Fargo Bank drive-up) opened in September.
City officials hosted ribbon cutting with developer Joe Gega of New York-based Shaw Ventures. The first phase of Bella Vista opened in July 2022 in the former Palmer Building at 153 Main St., with 44 market-rate apartments. Read about it here.
The second phase added 48 one-and- two-bedroom apartments, and an unspecified number of studio apartments.
The studio apartments are 450-square feet and rent for $1,500-$1,600 per month.
The one-bedroom units are 509-square feet and rent for $1,600-$2,050 per month.
The two-bedroom units are 850-square feet and rent for $2,150 per month.
All the units have one bathroom.
According to Gega, the building is about 65 percent full, with the entire second floor fully occupied.
Property manager Andrea Vancho said the new building offers tenants plenty of perks and is within walking distance of the Ansonia train station.
“If you want to go to some good eateries or go to Target, everything is within walking distance. We’re close to the train and bus lines. You really can live here and work in New York City; the convenience is everything,” she said.
The building’s lobby also has some common space for tenants, including a coffee bar, lounge area and a pool table, Vancho said. There is on-street parking and a public parking lot for tenants on East Main Street.
Vancho said the tenants that have moved in so far range from working professionals, including several who work nearby at Griffin Hospital, to retired seniors.
City officials are happy to see a long-time Main Street eyesore redeveloped. “Team Cassetti,” recently re-elected in a landslide, has been working for a decade to get people living in downtown Ansonia.
“I don’t know if you saw what this place looked like before, I did, it was a dilapidated building with broken windows,” Mayor David Cassetti said. “I can’t believe how they preserved the ceilings, and how they preserved the floors to make it look this great. This is a transformation of Ansonia.”
Cassetti said both the Palmer and ATP buildings were a burden to the city for 40 years, costing about $60,000 a year to maintain the vacant spaces.
Gega is also developing the property next to the ATP building at 501 E. Main St., the former Farrel Corp. Processing Lab.
In total, when complete, that building will house an additional 200 market-rate apartments, according to Gega. He said the first phase will bring 127 market-rate apartments to Ansonia. He expects to have one floor completed by mid-summer next year.
The lobby.
