A sketch of the “Cottage Village at Glendinning Place,” with 14 houses, proposed for 3.7 acres of the former Bridgewater Associates campus, according to documents filed this week with the Planning and Zoning Department.

By John Schwing

WESTPORT — The new owner of the former Bridgewater Associates corporate campus is proposing to build 14 houses on the property in the northern section of town.

An application filed Sept. 5 with the Planning and Zoning Department proposes constructing “14 detached single-family homes in the northwest portion of the property abutting deed-restricted open space,” according to a letter from land-use consultant Rick Redniss on behalf of the owner, Glendinning Westport LLC.

One of the principals of Glendinning Westport LLC is David Waldman of David Adam Realty in Westport.

The town’s online land records database shows the roughly 16-acre property was acquired for $10.6 million by Glendinning Westport LLC on Sept. 1.  

“This is truly a one of kind, never to be replicated property which we are all very proud be working on,” Waldman said Wednesday in comments to the Westport Journal. His associates in the venture are Eric O’Brian, a managing partner, with Urbane New Haven, and Sachem Capital, the capital partner. They also have collaborated on the Bankside House condominiums on Wilton Road.

The corporate campus was created in the 1960s by Ralph Glendinning, and later was home to the world’s largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, which has relocated its offices to the Nyala Farms office complex in Westport.

“The property provides a rich and colorful history and quality pedigree,” Waldman said. “We are excited to take it to the next level and bring it to market.”

Aerial view of the Glendinning Place corporate campus. The site where 14 homes would be built is at the upper-left section of the map outlined in bright yellow.

About 3.7 acres would be set aside for the proposed houses, according to the proposal.

To move forward with the plans, the developers are asking the P&Z to approve a text amendment to the town’s Design Development District regulations, which currently apply to the corporate campus.

Sketches of the project — named “Cottage Village at Glendinning Place” —  filed with P&Z officials depict a clustered development of houses set back from the office compound.

Floor plans for homes described as both “market rate” and “affordable” also accompany the filing — 10 of the homes would be sold at market rates and the remaining four would be deed-restricted as affordable under state criteria. The affordable homes would be sold to buyers whose income, at 80 percent of the state median, qualifies for “affordable” housing in the state.

Although plans envision both types of homes with three bedrooms, the affordable houses would have roughly half the total square footage of the market-rate dwellings.

To accommodate the homes, the developers plan stormwater-management and septic systems for the project. There also will be a community garden and composting, Waldman said.

The houses, according to the Redniss letter, would be at least 330 feet from the single-family home nearest to the Glendinning property.

As for the 48,000-square-foot office building on the property, Waldman said the partnership plans to transform the corporate center into a “premier” multi-tenant facility, with one lease already signed. Adam Klimek of Cushman and Wakefield is representing the owners for leasing arrangements.

The Glendinning campus is surrounded on three sides by property managed by the Aspetuck Land Trust. 

The Saugatuck River’s west branch “connects with the main river at the southwest portion of the site,” the applicant’s feasibility narrative states. “There are wetlands and steep slopes on the property. The property lies within the FEMA flood zone as well as within the Aquifer Protection Overlay Zone.”

A traffic survey prepared for the applicant by the firm, Kimley-Horn and Associates, projects the 14 homes would add about 10 trips during peak hours weekday mornings and 13 trips during peak weekday afternoons to area roads.

John Schwing, the Westport Journal consulting editor, has held senior editorial and writing posts at southwestern Connecticut media outlets for four decades. Learn more about us here.