A Meriden factory, where the world’s first prominent player piano was manufactured, will receive new life in the form of affordable housing.
The Aeolian Company factory opened on Tremont Street in Meriden in 1887. It made self-playing pianos, before the record player took over.
With demand dwindling, the company left its Meriden factory in 1930. Since the 1930s, the factory changed hands and saw many uses.
Construction is underway to convert the building into 82 one- and two-bedroom apartments, developed by Trinity Financial.
It’s part of a revitalization project in Meriden outside the city’s center, Dan Drazen, Vice President of Development at Trinity Financial, said.
“There's been a fair amount of investment in activity in downtown Meriden,” Drazen said. “This is a part of the city that hasn't really seen that same level of investment.”
Features of the nearly 150-year-old factory will remain in place, but the space will be adapted for everyday use.
“You can see from the smokestack outside that this was the boiler room that powered the facility, historically, and this portion of the complex we’re sitting in, standing in now, is going to be the amenity space,” Drazen said on a recent site tour.
The $56 million project was largely funded by low-income and brownfield remediation-specific grants.
As a former factory, the Aeolian site required some remediation to make the building safe for future residents, Senior Project Manager for Enterprise Builders Wayne Czarnecki said.
“Predominantly, it's the lead remediation that has to take place. There really wasn't a whole lot of asbestos, surprisingly, in this building,” Czarnecki said. “We're performing a sandblasting technique, which uses glass beads to blow all that paint off of the wood. It's on the columns, beams and ceiling, and once that's down, it gets cleaned up and disposed of to a proper facility.”
Meriden’s affordable housing
Of the 82 units, 11 will be market-rate. The majority are designated affordable, with 28 units reserved for residents earning up to 50% of the area’s median income (AMI) and 17 units for residents earning 30% AMI.
The complex will also include a community room, indoor play space for children, fitness center and indoor bike storage room.
Rent for two-bedroom apartments range from $1,890 for market rate and $783 for 30% AMI residents.
Meriden is one of the few communities in the state that meet the mandated requirement of 10% housing affordability. As of 2023, the city surpassed the minimum, with 17% of its housing stock being deemed affordable, according to Connecticut affordable housing data.
