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Washington Village Improvement Plan Set To Move Ahead

NORWALK, Conn. – A major improvement project to renovate the Washington Village housing complex on Day and Water streets continues to move ahead.

Washington Village, located between Day and Water streets in Norwalk, is slated to be rebuilt under an ambitious redevelopment plan.

Washington Village, located between Day and Water streets in Norwalk, is slated to be rebuilt under an ambitious redevelopment plan.

Photo Credit: Alfred Branch

City officials hope to begin submitting funding applications for the multimillion-dollar project to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development this summer, under the Choice Neighborhoods grant program.

The city is seeking $30 million under the program and will seek additional funds throughout the project’s development. The renovation to townhouse-style homes, which will also be fortified against flooding, is expected to cost more than $100 million.

Boston-based developer Trinity Financial is slated to build the project, with help from the Norwalk Housing Authority and the Norwalk Redevelopment Agency, among others.

Officials have been planning the project for years, and they hope it will be a model for urban development initiatives not only in Norwalk but throughout the region and United States. It calls for the creation of a mixed-use, mixed-income complex that will feature educational programs and job-training efforts for residents. Norwalk Community College will be involved in crafting the education component.

Current residents of Washington Village, one of the oldest public housing complexes in the state, support the overall plan, and several participated in a public hearing about it earlier this month.

“The proposed plan lays the framework for a sustainable mixed-income development that will transform Washington Village from an aging and obsolete public housing site into an integrated and contributing part of an economically diverse, high-opportunity neighborhood,” said MaryGrace Weber, special projects manager for the Redevelopment Agency, in a statement.

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