BY KEILA TORRES OCASIO
Hearst Connecticut Media
When Elizabeth Torres took on the role of CEO at Bridgeport Neighborhood Trust in 2005, she was the sole full-time employee of the nonprofit organization.
A decade later, the trust has nearly 20 employees and is going on an ambitious building spree, with plans to construct more than 100 new housing units over the next two years.
Those plans include the first new construction on the East End in years – the Milestone Apartments on Stratford Avenue.
When finished next year, the three-story building will contain 30 one-bedroom units on the top two levels and an ABCD childhood learning center on the ground floor. “For too long, nothing has happened in the East End of Bridgeport,” Torres said. “We are just very excited about doing a major project in this neighborhood.”
Workers pour foundations for Bridgeport Neighborhood Trust’s mixed-use three-story development at 1803 Stratford Ave. in Bridgeport’s East End. Photo by Brian A. Pounds
The neighborhood is excited as well, according to Lillian Wade, vice president of the East End Neighborhood Revitalization Zone.
“It’s something that’s positive happening in the East End,” she said. “It’s a start. That’s the good part. You start to do a little bit and it grows into bigger things.”
Wade noted there hasn’t been new housing in the neighborhood since construction was stalled on a condominium development on Seaview Avenue at the start of the recession. New construction or developments on Stratford Avenue, the neighborhood’s main corridor, haven’t happened in decades.
Torres is determined to change that.
“This neighborhood is positioned to make a lot of progress,” she said. “We wanted to be the pioneer, if you will, to really bring back this Stratford Avenue corridor, which was once very vibrant.”
Today, the main thoroughfare is made up of small bodegas, a few local businesses, take-out restaurants and run-down or empty storefronts.
“One of my visions is to open it up and get more businesses,” said state Rep. Andre Baker, D-124, who represents the neighborhood.
He said the Milestone building, which will provide support services to residents in 15 units, will serve people in the East End community. “If they know there are resources and services here, they will come,” he said.
Support services will include life skills training, vocational help and mental health and addiction services.
Lower costs
Mayor Bill Finch said the new building will be an asset to the community by providing homes to individuals at risk of homelessness, and also pointed to Bridgeport Neighborhood Trust’s plans to set aside 10 units for veterans.
Dara Kovel, vice president of multifamily housing for the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority, said building supported housing units helps reduce the cost of providing services to a household in need.
While $20,000 annually will be spent to support a household in one of these units, it costs $36,000 a year to support one that is not living in a unit, due to health care expenses, emergency services and even the cost of incarceration.
“Without a doubt BNT is one of the organizations that is stepping up to the challenge,” Kovel said.
Over the last few years, BNT has also worked to acquire other mixed-use buildings along Stratford Avenue.
“We’re trying to assemble as many parcels as we can and complete them as quickly as we can,” Torres said. “So over the next 18 months your experience as you drive down Stratford Avenue will be very different.”
The city as well has plans to acquire properties along Stratford Avenue, said Finch, noting that it’s this ability to work side by side with organizations like BNT that is the key to moving the city forward.
BNT “is a building block in the city of Bridgeport,” Finch said.
The nonprofit also has a strong presence in the South End. In recent months, the organization has gone before the city’s zoning boards for permission to construct more than a dozen multifamily dwellings on Ridge Avenue, Columbia Court and Gregory Street.
They have plans to build 61 units – in the form of multifamily dwellings – with 41 apartments serving as rentals and the remainder being home-ownership units.
‘Engine that could’
Besides building and renovating affordable housing units, BNT provides homeownership counseling services and helps administer the city’s down payment assistance program.
They have partnered with POKO Partners, of Port Chester, on those projects.
Terence Floyd, chair of the BNT board, said Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s commitment to affordable housing is making these projects possible. Most of the funding for the $10 million Milestone project came from the state.
“We’re in a period of time when the governor has made available unprecedented amounts of funding,” said Floyd, vice president and affordable lending manager at People’s United Bank. The availability of the state funds then helps the organization leverage to get private funding.
“Plus you need someone that doesn’t take ‘no’ for an answer,” Floyd said. “That’s Liz Torres.”
Torres said she enjoys being busy and is looking forward to completing their current projects.
“We’re like the little engine that could,” she said. “I’m just excited to be part of the movement here in Bridgeport.”
Hearst Connecticut Media includes four daily newspapers: Connecticut Post, Greenwich Time, The Advocate (Stamford) and The News Times (Danbury). See ctpost.com for more from this reporter.
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