Developers of Common Interest Communities

Our lawyers have prepared documentation for nearly 100 condominiums and planned communities throughout Connecticut for developers of common interest communities. The communities range from two units to hundreds of units. While most of the communities are residential, some are commercial. Our experience includes the following.

• Townhouse community located on 77 acres of land in two towns in Litchfield County. When it is complete, the community may include up to 103 units in 28 buildings. The buildings are constructed around environmentally sensitive wetlands, which are preserved from development. The community includes a clubhouse, a “tot lot,” and other recreational amenities.
  
  
• Phased, mixed-use, mid-rise development on an urban infill site on the water in Southeastern Connecticut. As approved to date, this development will include up to 127 residential units in three buildings. The residential units are single-floor flats with luxury amenities. Many of them include balconies with water views. Unit types also may include commercial spaces on a major downtown street and marina units located in the areas where the community has riparian rights.
  
  
• Phased, mixed-use development on an assemblage of developed and undeveloped parcels of land in Southeastern Connecticut, including an operating golf course. Readying the parcels for declaration as a planned community required the termination of a non-operating condominium. To allow maximum flexibility, the developer reserved extensive rights to construct future phases of the community for virtually any form of residential or commercial use permitted under municipal zoning. Governance includes council areas based on use and intensity of units in the areas. It allows for phased transition of developer control of the association. The planned community may contain up to 450 units for principal uses.
  
  
• Phased residential development on a suburban infill site. We prepared documentation for up to 244 residential units of both mid-rise flats and semi-attached townhouses. The development reuses a historic school building for flats and some amenities. Amenities for the development include a community green, gazebo, meeting rooms, exercise facilities, and extensively landscaped common areas.
  
  
• Residential condominium in Southern Connecticut. The condominium consists of two newly-constructed, mid-rise buildings with 61 units in each and an existing building with 98 apartments. The documentation creates units in the new buildings that are available for sale. At the same time, it creates the existing building as a single unit. An investor can continue to operate the unit as rental apartments or subdivide into units for sale.
  
  
• Multi-family condominium in Eastern Connecticut. One of our attorneys prepared documentation for a large residential planned community with 116 airspace units. The units, which include party walls as boundaries, encompass 19 quadraplex buildings. The developer received town approval for the development only by agreeing to build multi-family buildings on large subdivided lots with access to a new public road. Rather than offering apartments in the multi-family buildings for rent, the developer wanted to sell individual units. The documentation made that possible, and it also allowed expansion of the community by addition of an adjoining parcel with space for another 189 units.
  
  
• Industrial conversion building. We prepared documentation to convert a manufacturing facility with 200,000 square feet of space into three units for purchase by tenants.
  
  
• Reuse of former corporate headquarters in Western Connecticut. We prepared documentation for a commercial condominium in an 87,000-square-foot building that was formerly a corporate headquarters. The documentation allowed the developer to convert the building into medical offices that the doctors and professionals using them could own. The documentation includes expansion rights to add two new wings to the building.
  
  
• Professional conversion building. We prepared documentation to convert an office building in the Farmington Valley with 7,400 square feet of space on three floors into three units with intricate horizontal and vertical boundaries, together with various common areas. A real estate appraisal firm, a financial planning firm, and a firm of architects now share ownership of the building.
  
  
• Other matters. We also assist developers with marketing, sales, corporate organization, transition of control, and amendments to documentation. We are available to represent developers and community associations in land use matters, such as approval of site plans, special permits, variances, zone changes, and permits to conduct regulated activities in wetlands and watercourses.