The Main Street Homes at Storrs Center are located just behind Royce Circle and are filled for all but 11. (Jackson Haigis/Daily Campus)
The Main Street Homes at Storrs Center are quickly filling units after starting sales earlier this year. The plan is to build 42 residential homes on the property and as of last week, the development only has 11 more residences left to sell, including traditional and condominium-styled layouts.
“The Main Street Homes are an important component to the larger Storrs Center Project,” said Matthew Hart, Mansfield’s Town Manager. “It should help complement the overall project.”
Storrs Center Alliance LLC led the project. They are an associated company of Leyland Alliance LLC, which is based out of Tuxedo, New York.
The downtown plan is also managed by Mansfield Downtown Partnership, a non-profit organization with representatives from town government, local businesses, and the University of Connecticut.
“The original vision for Storrs Center always included a mix of housing, both rental and for-sale with a range of sizes and price points,” said Monica Johnson, the Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Leyland Alliance LLC. “Main Street Homes fulfills the housing neighborhood component of the vision.”
The neighborhood is located behind the buildings on Wilbur Cross Way just south of the Greek Orthodox Church. The central location is part of the intention to offer a close residential neighborhood to downtown Storrs Center.
“We felt this location offered the beauty of the surrounding woodlands with easy convenience to the heart of Storrs Center.” Johnson said.
This new neighborhood project is looking to attract a wide variety of people, and the recent buyers show this trend.
“I think they’re attracting a good mix,” Hart said.
The residents will represent a multigenerational community from Generation X to the Silent Generation. They expect to see more Millennials buying homes on the project soon, Johnson said.
“Just like a downtown community that has evolved over time, the buyer for our Main Street Homes residences reflect a wide age demographic,” Johnson said.
It’s the location that connects people.
“What they have in common is a desire to live in a walkable neighborhood that is close to stores and shops where they can purchase items needed for daily living, enjoy a nice cafe or restaurant, or attend an interesting lecture, performance, or celebration,” Johnson said, “this is life in a downtown.”
Downtowns do not just pop up in a few years. The Storrs Center project was planned far in advance to make sure that all the preparation was done ahead of time.
The Storrs Center project saw its first stages of community development in 1999, but construction did not break ground until 2011, Hart said.
“We entered into the first of 31 contracts in November 2014,” Johnson said, “We anticipate all will be sold by the time construction is completed.”
The Main Street Homes development represents the vision for a tighter-knit residential neighborhood in Storrs’ growing downtown.
“It’s a great opportunity for those who want to come here, who already live here. It fits in well with the larger Storrs Center project,” Hart said.
Mike Tommins is a campus correspondent for The Daily Campus. She can be reached via email at michael.tommins@uconn.edu.