Condo Development Under Way

Newport Daily News - February 16, 2005
By Sean Flynn/Daily News staff

The developer of Coddington Point Condominiums, a 41-unit gated community under construction in the north end of the city, is hoping buyers can move into their new homes beginning in June.

A former apartment building on the 2 1/2-acre site at 231 Maple Ave. was being demolished on Tuesday to make way for the project. The building once housed a tuberculosis clinic, according to the developer.

J. Michael Hill, president of F.M. Properties, said eight buildings positioned around a large central courtyard will house two- and three-bedroom condominiums. Six of the buildings will be three stories tall; the other two will be two stories. The quick construction schedule is possible because the units are being modularly constructed off-site, he said.

"Each of the condominiums will have a patio or deck, and a nice view of the water," Hill said. There are other gated communities in the city, but they typically are found in the Ocean Drive-Harrison Avenue section of the city, such as Bonnie Crest and Beachbound.

This gated community is just east of the East Bay Community Action Program Head Start and day-care center and north of Newport Heights, the new mixed-income housing development that is replacing Tonomy Hill. Maple Avenue connects Connell Highway and West Main Road and crosses the Newport-Middletown line.

"The projects fits nicely with the city's master plan for that section of the city," Hill said. "I think it's quite phenomenal that nearly four years ago, that whole area was still in the planning stages," said Paige Bronk, the city's director of planning, zoning, development and inspections.

"There are several redevelopment projects, private and public, either under construction or recently completed," he said. "Now, we see this condo project. The spin-off effect is quite impressive."

The new campus of the Community College of Rhode Island is nearing completion, Phase I of Newport Heights was completed last summer and Phase II is now under construction, and the new day-care center opened in 2003.

Bronk said the city still has an undeveloped five-acre parcel on John Chafee Boulevard that is commercially zoned, which the city plans to sell for non-retail development. "There is great interest in that parcel," he said. "I've received a lot of calls on it."

Hill said the Coddington Point Condominiums will be sold for prices beginning in the "low $300,000 range."

He said each of the units will have two master bedroom suites, with a full bathroom and a walk-in closet in each suite.

"A lot of people have a hard time finding a home in Newport County they can afford," Hill said. "The two master suites in each unit will allow two friends to share the costs. They will be great for single people." He decided to make the development a gated community because of the added privacy, reduced traffic and additional security, he said.

The exterior of the buildings will be a combination of shingles and clapboard, and will feature "lots of windows," he said.

Hill has built other condominium projects, or converted buildings to condominiums, in Middletown and Newport, including converting the former Potter School on Elm Street in Newport into condominiums.