After years of delay, a Connecticut town’s biggest new mixed-use project in recent memory is taking shape in its center with nearly 100 apartments expected to be finished this year and about 140 more to follow. Contractors started clearing the long-empty Elmcrest Psychiatric Hospital grounds last year, and are now putting up the first of several buildings on the site. “It’s one of the biggest development projects in Portland in many years, and it’s going to create a huge economic spike,” he said. Danbury-based Bright Ravens Development Group and The DiMarco Group from Rochester, N.Y. are jointly developing Brainerd Place, a project they envision having retail and commercial businesses including a restaurant, a Starbucks outlet and medical offices along with 240 apartments. Contractors are putting in the foundation for a second apartment building, which will be the next phase. That will probably have its first tenants moving in by mid-2025, Bertram said. The third phase is a large commercial building, and the specifics of that are still being revised.
Large mixed-use project with 100 apartments and retail to replace CT vacant hospital