The massive First Cathedral in Bloomfield wants to build more than 140 affordable apartments in a series of five-story buildings on its property at Blue Hills Avenue and Wintonbury Avenue.
First Cathedral, which was described as Connecticut’s biggest church when it was built 27 years ago, doesn’t plan to change its operations or its main building, but instead is looking to develop some of the rest of its 40 acres.
In an informal presentation last week to the town’s planning and zoning commission, church leadership and its consultants said they can address community needs by building 146 apartments and a new day care center behind the existing church.
“In Connecticut, there’s an acute need for affordable housing. In Bloomfield, there’s 11% affordable housing but a lot of luxury housing development has been going on,” said Geoffrey Person of Grow America, a national non-profit organization that’s working with the church.
Pastor LeRoy Bailey III said church members have talked for the past five years about the best way to use the land to the south of the church. First Baptist Church of Hartford bought the property in the 1990s and built a 53,000-square-foot church in 1998.
The building has since been expanded, and leaders now say it has 11,000 members. There is seating for more than 3,000, and services are livestreamed and also shown on YouTube.
A rendering of one of the three-story apartment buildings that First Cathedral Church wants to build on its Bloomfield land. (Courtesy of Town of Bloomfield)
“When we bought the property we bought 40 acres of land,” Bailey said. “We wanted to build a future and develop it.”
Francis Vaca, an engineer with BSC Group in Glastonbury, told the town that First Cathedral will seek a zoning amendment to allow its project to go forward.
He said of the three five-story apartment buildings, the one closes to neighbors and the road would still be set back about 250 feet behind a tree buffer.
The architects described the style as “lively colors and warm tones that blend in well with the natural surrounding with pops of blue to identify the entrances,” according to Vaca.
“The design breaks down the size and creates visual interest by varying the planes of the facade with projecting bays, so in other words it doesn’t look like one great big giant factory,” Vaca said.
The steeple at First Cathedral Church in Bloomfield. BETTINA HANSEN | bhansen@courant.com ORG XMIT: 10014826A
Person said his organization, which works with community groups planning affordable housing or similar projects, is fairly confident that financing can be arranged for this project.
“We have a very good relationship wtih the Department of Housing. We’re looking at 146 units altogether in two different phases,” he said, with 101 apartments in two buildings slated as the first phase. The rest would be built along with the day care center in the second phase.
“We’re looking at restricting them to all 60% of average median income and below, so we’re talking about true affordable housing here with folks typically making less than $70,000,” he told commissioners.
Grow America has helped coordinate affordable housing projects in Hartford, New Britain and elsewhere in Connecticut, he said.
The church would need to formally apply for a zoning amendment and a site plan approval before the project could advance.
