Work has started on a new 250-unit apartment complex in downtown Shelton.
Avalon Bay Communities Inc. is building the $45 million apartment complex on Canal Street, next to The Birmingham, a former factory converted into residential units.
The project includes five apartment buildings that surround a single parking garage.
The apartments should be complete in fall 2012, according to signs around the project.
Grant Jaber, the development director for Avalon Bay, didn’t return calls and an e‑mail seeking comment last week.
John Guedes, president of Primrose Companies, which is overseeing the larger redevelopment of Canal Street downtown, said Avalon is currently preparing the ground to install the foundation for the parking garage and buildings.
Guedes said he couldn’t speak for Avalon’s construction schedule.
However, when the apartments are complete, more development on Canal Street is likely to follow, Guedes said.
That Canal Street development — which is expected to include stores and restaurants — is being overseen by Primrose Companies.
“I’m very optimistic that during the next year, towards the summer, that some of the other phases can begin to be looked at,” Guedes said last week.
Click here on a previous article about Canal Street development plans.
The economy had previously held up the development plans. But in June 2011, Avalon received permission to scale back its parking garage, making it more cost effective to start work on the buildings.
Guedes said the new residents will make it easier to get investors to develop other parcels on Canal Street, which is lined with old factories and some vacant lots.
“They tend to be younger professionals or older retired couples,” Guedes said of the type of people who live in other Avalon Bay apartment complexes. “These are people who do go out, do go to restaurants. That’s the catalyst to bring in the retail and the commercial.”
