Key Points
- Kennedy Wilson says demolition will begin in August on the approved 208-unit apartment development at 15 Old Danbury Rd., with site work expected to begin in 2027.
- The Architectural Review Board unanimously approved minor changes to the project’s retaining wall design to accommodate an existing state-owned retaining wall.
- The development, approved by Planning and Zoning in February 2025, will become Wilton’s largest residential apartment complex when completed.
Why It Matters: One of Wilton’s most debated and consequential development projects is moving from approvals to construction, marking a major milestone for the town’s transit-oriented housing plans and the future of the area surrounding the Metro-North station.
Nearly a year-and-a-half after receiving approval from Wilton’s Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z), work on the controversial apartment complex at 15 Old Danbury Rd. is scheduled to get underway in August. At 208 units and five stories, the pair of multifamily, transit-oriented apartment buildings will be the town’s largest residential complex and one of its tallest structures when completed.
Lisa Feinberg, attorney for the developer Kennedy Wilson, announced the schedule during the Thursday, July 9 meeting of the Architectural Review Board (ARB).
“Since [receiving P&Z approval in February 2025], the team has been actively working on construction drawings with plans to begin demolition in August and hopefully site work in the fall of next year,” Feinberg said.
Late last year, following P&Z’s approval of the project, Kennedy Wilson acquired Toll Brothers’ apartment living group including its assets, staff, and nearly 30 residential projects in various stages of development. As GOOD Morning Wilton reported, the town granted a demolition permit for the site, the former home of the investment services firm Commonfund, in mid-December. The following month, Kennedy Wilson completed the purchase of the property for $14.5 million.
ARB Approves Changes to Retaining Wall Design
The redevelopment project, which went through multiple rounds of design review by ARB and P&Z over a period of two years and generated significant public comment along the way, came before ARB again on Thursday because the developer sought approval for changes to the retaining walls along the periphery of the project and near one of the residential buildings.
Craig Flaherty, president and senior engineer at the consulting firm Redniss & Mead, explained that the change was necessitated by the proximity of the corner of the southeast retaining wall to an existing reinforced concrete wall along a right of way owned by the State of Connecticut.
Although the plans originally called for a reinforced concrete wall along that portion of the property, Flaherty explained that such a wall would require excavation that could not be done in such close proximity to the state’s concrete wall. Instead, Flaherty proposed a segmental block wall that would require digging a much shallower foundation that would not cross the “zone of influence” of the other wall.
The facing of the new wall would consist of interlocking precast blocks with a rough-hewn face simulating carved stone. For visual consistency throughout the site, Flaherty proposed using the same construction method for the retaining wall along the northeast corner of the property as well as the two 3-foot walls located alongside the northern apartment building. Landscape architect Eric Rains explained that the two walls flanking the building will have planting beds atop them with dwarf climbing hydrangeas.
“Honestly, I think that’s probably nicer than the flat concrete that was proposed previously,” Flaherty said.
The reinforced concrete retaining wall along Station Pl. will retain the stone veneer facing proposed in the original design, Flaherty noted.
The design also calls for a black metal fence to be installed around the dog run next to the northern building.
“I think it makes sense why you need to change to this,” Commissioner Kathy Poirier said. “I get what you’re up against in terms of that [southeast] wall. And then it makes sense that you’re trying to … match the walls that you’ll see as you drive into the property.”
ARB Chair Kevin Quinlan agreed with Poirier, calling the plan “well thought out and well done.”
“I think the strategy of not undermining the existing state wall footing is imperative and it was creatively navigated,” Quinlan said. “And I also agree that I think you’ve picked some really nice plantings for the walls, and the [dog run] fence also is attractive.”
The vote to approve the changes was 4-0, with ARB Vice-Chair John Doyle absent.
Another Wilton Center Apartment Project Also Gears Up for Demolition
The Kennedy Wilson project is not the only residential apartment project gearing up to break ground in Wilton. On Apr. 30, the town granted a demolition permit for the four-story, 20-unit, mixed-use apartment complex at 118 Old Ridgefield Rd.
Like the 15 Old Danbury Rd. project, the proposed development, which was the second to be approved as part of the then-new Wilton Center Zoning Overlay, generated debate among residents and commissioners — some of it heated — and was subjected to multiple rounds of design review by the ARB and P&Z.
GOOD Morning Wilton has reached out to Town officials and the developer about when demolition is scheduled to begin and will update the story accordingly.
