A month after West Hartford rejected its proposal to build 150 apartments, Vessel Technologies has sued the town —- the fifth Connecticut community it has taken to court since 2023.
And last week, Trumbull’s zoning board may have set up another court conflict when it turned down Vessel’s request to build 120 apartments there.
Trumbull became the third community in western Connecticut to turn Vessel away, but the company is suing Newtown and recently reached an out-of-court settlement with Bethel that allows it to get its first foothold in pricy Fairfield County.
The West Hartford and Trumbull developments underscore turbulence surrounding Vessel’s unique plan to put up modular, nearly identical apartment buildings across Connecticut.
By offering to set aside nearly a third of the units as affordably priced, Vessel is able to use Connecticut’s 8-30g law as powerful leverage to get those plans approved — especially in affluent suburbs unaccustomed to large-scale apartment complexes with modernistic architecture.
Vessel contends it’s giving towns a quick, reliable way to address the housing crisis that is particularly acute for families or individuals making less-than-average incomes. The Manhattan-based company proclaims that assembling apartments with pre-manufactured panels allows efficient, fast construction that keeps prices down.
But critics call it a predatory business using 8-30g to force its way into desirable communities. It sets rents for 30% of its apartments at affordable levels, but gets to charge market rates for the other 70%. In some towns, it has pledged to set standard rents below full market rate.
West Hartford has become one of the most challenging towns for the company.
When Vessel approached several communities, the zoning boards heard from angry homeowners who complained its buildings wouldn’t fit in with the character of their neighborhoods. Typically those towns had remarkably limited affordable housing anywhere else.
But in West Hartford, Mayor Shari Cantor and the town council approved more than 300 new affordably priced apartments and condos in the past two years — making it hard for Vessel supporters to dismiss opposition as merely another wealthy enclave exhibiting NIMBYism.
Vessel showed up in late 2024 after negotiating a contract to purchase a vacant nursing home at 29 Highland St. It proposed putting up one of its signature complexes, this one with two four-story buildings holding 108 apartments. Nearby homeowners balked, some warning of increased traffic and others panning the architecture, which critics have called brutally modernistic or depressingly cold.
In April 2025, Vessel surprised the town by withdrawing that plan. It returned in November with a new design for the same site, this time with 120 apartments spread between twin five-story buildings.
The version never got to a hearing: Town Planner Todd Dumais turned it down Jan. 16, saying the plans were incomplete and left too many safety questions unanswered.
That’s different than the story in several towns where zoning boards based their opposition to Vessel on density, community complaints, or stark architecture, none of which carry weight in 8-30g cases.
Instead, West Hartford has focused on fire safety and building code issues with Vessel’s unique design and construction materials. The company maintains it meets all codes and is misunderstood simply because its structures don’t employ traditional materials.
Vessel hopes to demonstrate that to a judge; its suit claims West Hartford didn’t show a specific safety hazard that could not be dealt with later when the company had to obtain building permits.
“Defendant did not identify a substantial public interest in health or safety at risk with approval, or a conditional approval,” according to the suit.
The town, however, laid out an extensive list of what it called faults in Vessel’s zoning application.
Vessel’s suit asks a judge to order the town to approve its zoning permit with reasonable conditions.
In Trumbull, the zoning commission on Thursday night unanimously rejected Vessel’s permit request, saying there is a compelling public interest in first seeing complete drainage plans, environmental assessments and proof of approval for sewer connections.
Overall, Vessel’s reception around Connecticut has been mixed. It is operating a complex in New London, preparing to lease units at another in Cheshire, and is in various stages of construction in Simsbury, Avon and Rocky Hill.
The company went to court with Rocky Hill and Simsbury, though. As with Bethel, it negotiated a settlement with Rocky Hill; it also won a court-ordered compromise in Simsbury.
Vessel is awaiting an Appellate Court decision in its lawsuit against Glastonbury, and is pursuing cases against Newtown and now West Hartford.
Previousy it pitched plans in Hamden, New Haven and Manchester, but never proceeded. Residents in Granby came out in force against its plan to build there, and the company simply walked away.