Downtown Market Study Shows Good Forecast For Shelton

The Shelton Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) shared the results of its downtown market study at this month's Planning and Zoning Committee meeting. SEDC President James Ryan said that, overall, is in good standing and the downtown area has a great potential for growth.

"The key is to think of it as a bunch of very simple concepts," Ryan said of understanding the market study, prepared by Chesire-based consulting firm Milone & MacBroom, Inc.; those concepts being:

• "A market study looks at the health of the economy in the region and Shelton’s potential for growth, which we found to be very favorable.
• It’s also a report card. We looked back at completed rehabilitation efforts and confirmed that the investments made in downtown are resulting in new private investments.
• It’s an assessment of the tax impact that these new, finished and expected projects like Birmingham and Avalon have. That finding was also off the charts. In terms of net tax impact, it basically says that whatever the city has put in there they will get a return on."

Current economic conditions have created a new opportunity for housing development in downtown Shelton. Ryan said investors "foresee a strong rental market for a generation to come." Furthermore, those potential renters have a "significant" income -- anywhere from $75,000 to $200,000.

According to U.S. Census data, Shelton’s population grew by 11.7 percent between 1990 and 2010, and is projected to grow another 6.3 percent from 2010-2030. Based on these projections and market assumptions, Milone & MacBroom estimate that the demand would exist for an additional 400 to 700 housing units in downtown Shelton beyond the 500 units already proposed to PZC.

The Birmingham property is one example of how downtown's vacant land can be put back into productive reuse. The factory formerly located at the Canal Street site used to pay $4,000 a year in taxes. Now a 103-unit condominium complex, it pays just under $400,000 a year.

Next to that, construction of a is currently underway. The building is being constructed by Avalon Bay Communities, Inc. and is expected to be completed by this fall.

Meanwhile, the soil in is still being cleaned. Ryan said that land, about 70 acres, "will be made available for new private development probably within the next year and a half."

The study (full .pdf attached) gives a potential redevelopment option for the portion of Canal Street south of Bridge Street: The Samarius and Axton Cross factory sites would be renovated for mixed use development including housing, offices and retail space. The Rolfite site would be developed with 120 landscaped parking spaces and an access road that would link Center Street and Canal Street to Bridge Street east of the Derby Silver building.

In order to facilitate this connection, the Chromium Process building would be demolished and replaced with 52 parking spaces. Water features and landscaped plaza space would be developed around the new mixed use building, and the Cel-Lastik site would be converted into park space and an amphitheater. Finally, the Riverwalk would be completed through this area by way of a wooden boardwalk.

Ryan noted that these plans are, at the moment, merely conceptual.

"This is not a final plan that has been approved but it does give people a sense of what might happen. It’s something everyone should look at so they can understand the progess that's been made and that will continue to happen," he said