By Thane Grauel

WESTPORT — Site preparation work has begun for a four-building complex off Post Road East that will include affordable housing units.

The project at 785 Post Road East was proposed in 2016.

After years of wending its way through the approval and permitting process, demolition of a building between New Country Toyota and Splash Car Wash was recently completed and site preparation work on the nearly 2.5-acre lot has begun.

The irregular lot includes some frontage on the Post Road, and behind that, a wider area with some hilly terrain that abuts back yards on Roseville Road.

The hilly area, formerly with trees, brush and bramble, and the flatlands, have been cleared of vegetation.

The mixed-use project will include a two-story commercial building, with a retail/food use on the first floor, and office space in the basement, part of the first floor and on the second floor.

There also will be three residential buildings, with 14 units in all. Three of them, or 21 percent, will be designated affordable, including a one-bedroom unit and two two-bedroom units.

Thane Grauel, executive editor, grew up in Westport and has been a journalist in Fairfield County and beyond more than three decades. Reach him at editor@westportjournal.com. Learn more about us here.