As Connecticut looks to spur economic growth on the Waterbury commuter rail corridor, one of the Bridgeport area's most active developers is proposing more than 250 apartments and condominiums in Ansonia along the Naugatuck River.

Primrose Cos. owns more than eight acres of land across the Naugatuck River from the Ansonia station of Metro-North, where a public housing project once stood. Primrose CEO John Guedes confirmed plans to CT Insider for 152 apartments and another 100 condominium units in three buildings he wants to build at 31-165 Olson Drive.

Guedes has focused on Shelton in recent years with multiple apartment developments on Canal Street including the 250-unit Avalon, and said he believes Ansonia is similarly ripe for revitalization.

"You have to bring people into the environment, create the environment," Guedes told CT Insider. "Go to downtown Shelton now, to Canal Street — you'll see that there's a different feel. There's bakeries opening up, there's restaurants opening up, there's all this vitality that didn't exist 15 or 20 years ago. I envision that ... for downtown Ansonia."

In a report this week, the Regional Plan Association listed the Ansonia station as closest to Metro-North's main trunk that is ripe for "near-term" residential development, of three branch rail lines extending north and the Hartford Line.

Ridership on the Waterbury Branch totaled roughly 120,000 trips in 2024, an increase of just 5.6% from the prior year that was among the lowest annual gains across the Metropolitan Transportation Authority footprint in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

Gov. Ned Lamont hopes to boost those numbers with state support. The Ansonia station is undergoing a $29 million upgrade that will add better shelter against the elements, and extend the platform to accommodate more rail cars. In mid-July, Waterbury Branch service switched to buses to speed platform, bridge and signaling work along its length over the coming 10 months.

Primrose had originally planned a soccer training complex for the site, but hit delays in having to perform environmental cleanup work with assistance from the state of Connecticut.

Amid a continuing hot residential real estate market in Connecticut, Guedes credited Mayor Frank Tyszka for nudging him to consider shifting to apartments and retail for site, along with condo units to promote home ownership across from downtown Ansonia.

"He saw this as an opportunity," Guedes said. "He asked me if there was something better that could be done here to help revitalize downtown."

Metro-North's Ansonia station is less than a 10 minute walk from the Olson Drive property, with a Target store located just beyond that includes a food section. ShopRite currently operates the closest supermarket on Pershing Drive in Derby, a mile south of the Olson Drive site where Primrose wants to build, but Key Foods has plans to take over Big Y's former space at the Ansonia Shopping Center opposite Target.

Through a limited liability company in 2022, Primrose acquired the 8.6 acre parcel at 31-165 Olson Drive for just over $500,000.

The Riverside Apartments had been located previously on the property, with the public housing project opening in 1962 and demolished in stages between 2009 and 2017 to clear the land. Townhouses and a mid-rise apartment building were envisioned initially for the site, and later a police headquarters, with those plans never moving forward.

Ansonia has several smaller developments in the works, ranging from the conversion of a former police station at 2 Elm St. into a dozen apartments, which was approved this week by the Ansonia Planning & Zoning Commission; to a third and anticipated final phase of Bella Vista Apartments at 501 E. Main St. Bella Vista currently lists two available units, a studio priced at $1,525 a month and a one-bedroom at $1,600.

Includes prior reporting by staff writer Brian Gioiele, Paul Hughes and Luther Turmelle.

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