by Laura Glesby The New Haven independent
The Board of Alders signed off on a 17-year tax break for a nonprofit claiming to be on the brink of converting the luxury Winchester Lofts apartment building to primarily below-market-rent housing.
Alders passed the tax agreement amid a dispute over whether the building is even up for sale, noting that the tax break will only take effect if the nonprofit indeed purchases the building by the end of 2025.
The Board of Alders voted to approve the agreement at its most recent full board meeting on Monday evening. Fair Haven Alders Frank Redente and Sarah Miller cast the sole votes against the agreement.
Alders held a public hearing on the item in late August to discuss a tax break for The Mary Fund Inc., the Norwalk-based nonprofit that has stated an intention to purchase Winchester Lofts. Frank Farricker and Suzanne Cahill appeared before the committee as representatives of the organization.
Summarizing the hearing in remarks to his colleagues on Monday, Tax Abatement Committee member and Dwight Alder Frank Douglass stated that the developer and other tax abatement seekers “all meet the requirements” for a tax agreement.
The vote took place two weeks after the building’s property manager, Krystal Amaker, circulated an email denying that the building is even up for sale.
“To avoid any confusion, please be assured that the ownership group has not authorized a sale of this property. Winchester Lofts is not for sale, and no discussions or negotiations to sell have been approved by the investors,” that Aug. 29 email read. It was signed by “Winchester Lofts Ownership Group.”
Neither Farricker nor representatives of the current owners responded to requests for comment for this story. Property manager Krystal Amaker stated on Tuesday, “I do not have any comment. To my knowledge, the property is not being sold.”
The property is currently a 159-unit luxury residential building, which opened in 2015 in the old Winchester Repeating Arms factory building at 275 Winchester Ave.
Farricker told the Independent in August that the Mary Fund “has an agreement” with the building’s owner, Winchester Lofts Ventures LLC, a New Jersey-based company controlled by Shloime “Steve” Rosenberg and Sol “Shlomo” Katz that bought the property in 2022. “We fully expect the seller to resolve its internal issues and move toward a closing in December,” Farricker previously told the Independent.
He had submitted a “letter of intent” addressed to Rosenberg, one of the principals of Winchester Lofts Ventures, stating an intention to purchase the building for $32 million. The letter was signed by Farricker and appears to include a signature by a representative of Winchester Lofts Ventures LLC.
If the purchase does indeed go through, the city has agreed to reduce taxes on residential units designated to be “affordable” down to a base tax of $2,000 per unit, per year, for a period of 17 years. That amount would increase by 3 percent annually after the agreement’s second year. (The building’s current local real estate tax bill amounts to $917,035.)
Per the Mary Fund’s tax abatement application, the organization intends to lower rents for a majority of tenants. Currently, the apartment complex has about 10 percent below-market-rent units. The prospective buyer has committed to restructuring rent so that 120 of the housing units are “affordable,” with 39 units remaining market rate.
Specifically, the new below-market-rent units are proposed to be affordable to tenants earning up to 30, 60, or 80 percent of the federally determined Area Median Income — which in New Haven translates to a single-person household earning up to $23,900, $47,760, or $63,700, respectively, according to 2025 calculations. Tenants in those units will have to meet specific income qualifications.
Farricker told the aldermanic committee in August that the Mary Fund believes that most current tenants at Winchester Lofts already meet those income qualifications, even though most are currently paying high monthly rents.
Winchester Lofts’ website currently advertises studios costing nearly $2,000 per month, one-bedrooms going for $2,180 to $2,600 per month, and two-bedrooms renting for up to $3,510 per month. The Mary Fund’s tax abatement application to alders indicates an intention to rent out below-market one-bedrooms for $639 to $1,913 per month, depending on the designated income limit. Farricker told alders that the Mary Fund anticipates that only “two or three people” will be kicked out of their homes due to the income limits.
Since Monday’s vote, Upper Westville Alder Amy Marx, who serves on the Tax Abatement Committee and who questioned this displacement estimate at the time, said she has heard further concerns from tenants who currently live in the building. “Mr. Farricker stated that only a few of the current tenants would be over income for his proposed affordable housing development,” she said. “It appears that this statement to the committee is likely untrue and that there are many, many tenants in the building who are over income and are now feeling scared and vulnerable.”
“If we [and the city] were lied to,” Marx said, “then remedies will be pursued.”
Marx and other committee alders noted that the agreement passed on Monday is conditional; it won’t take effect unless the Mary Fund purchases the building by Dec. 31, according to the agreement.
Dixwell/Newhallville Alder Troy Streater, who represents the ward that includes Winchester Lofts on the Board of Alders, said he isn’t sure what to make of the letter informing tenants that the building was not for sale. “I see a lot of landlords selling and not being honest with their tenants,” he said, noting that it’s unclear which party is presenting an accurate picture of the legitimacy of the sale.
“I just hope that they’re not wasting our time,” Streater said. He noted that there’s no financial benefit to obtaining the tax agreement unless the purchase actually goes through: “What would they get out of going down there, playing games, if they’re not looking to purchase?”
His colleagues reacted similarly.
“If this was not a real purchase, it would be disrespectful to our process,” said Marx, who said that “we are not in a position to decide the facts” of the sale.
“Don’t play games with us,” echoed her fellow committee member, Beaver Hills Alder Brian Wingate.
The alders said that they voted to support the agreement despite uncertainty around the sale and its ramifications on tenants because they seek to promote affordable housing.
“Affordable housing is always needed,” Streater said.
The Mary Fund was incorporated in 1979 by a man named Richard Farricker with a stated purpose “to raise money specifically to help provide and obtain home care for terminal cancer patients and thereby permit them to live at home and eventually die in the heart of their family,” as well as “to help any organizations that provide for this type of care.”
Frank Farricker, meanwhile, successfully applied for 501(c)(3) status for the organization in 2019. Since then, the organization attempted to purchase at least two New Orleans properties. NOLA.com reported in 2024 that The Mary Fund backed out of those purchases, alleging that the prospective seller misrepresented revenue and legal issues associated with the building.
According to 2023 tax records published by ProPublica, The Mary Fund reported $75,000 in revenue and $76,300 in expenses that year, along with $34,800 in total assets.
Farricker’s history of government and political involvement in Connecticut includes serving as the chair of Greenwich’s Democratic Town Committee.
He served as president of the Connecticut Lottery Corporation from 2011 until resigning in 2017. He later agreed to pay a $5,000 penalty and an additional $6,300 in restitution after using state funds to purchase home internet, high definition cable with HBO and regional sports, personal phone bills, and mileage expenses, according to the CT Post.
According to Farricker’s personal website, he is also the founder and principal of a marketing firm called Lockwood and Mead Real Estate, which the website states is “involved with around 2500 housing units in the last two years alone.”
Correction: This article has been updated to reflect that Alders Sarah Miller and Frank Redente voted against the agreement in a voice vote.
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