This story has been updated to correct the name of the construction company, which is Hudson Meridian Construction, and corrected the value of the building as it was appraised by the City of Stamford.
STAMFORD – When Larry Heyman stood in front of the now completed 18 Dock luxury apartment building in the city’s South End on Wednesday, he thanked many people on his team as well as Mayor Caroline Simmons and his family who were all on hand. But he led with the biggest thanks of all to his late father Sam Heyman.
“My father in blessed memory, Sam Heyman, believed in the promise of this neighborhood and the great city of Stamford for which had such great affinity,” said Larry Heyman, the head of The Heyman Enterprise. “I feel this project is a fulfillment of his legacy. He was a great father and corporate business titan, tremendous philanthropist and great benefactor to many Stamford institutions.”
The 395-unit, 675,000-square-foot 18 Dock luxury apartment building was appraised by the City of Stamford at $133,096,530 in 2024. A large portion of the appraisal takes into account $128,288,570 in improvements made to the property in 2024. And the owner of record is listed as First National Joint Venture LLC of 707 Summer St. in Stamford, which has owned the property since 2001. A search for the LLC on the state Secretary of the State website shows that LLC is c/o Heyman Properties LLC, 667 Madison Ave. Floor 20 20, New York, NY.
It officially opened with a ribbon cutting Wednesday. The apartment building actually opened for tenants on a rolling basis earlier this year paying rents starting at $2,936 for studios and up to $6,860 for three-bedroom units. The studios are about 500 square feet while the biggest apartments are more than 1,600 square feet.
The project, which was more than a decade in the making, was put together with The Heyman Enterprise as developer and investor, HLW as architect, Hudson Meridian Construction Group as builder, and Rose Associates as property manager and leasing agent.
“We have been owners in this community for a very long time,” Larry Heyman told the Fairfield County Business Journal in an interview before the ribbon cutting. “What you are seeing is the culmination of almost a decade process of evaluating the highest and best use for this particular building.”
18 Dock was built on the site of the historic Yale & Towne Manufacturing Co., the inventor of the tumbler lock. The Heyman family has owned the property for 25 years. It now sports a 20-story luxury apartment complex that includes such amenities as an outdoor pool, 4,000-square-foot gym, a private movie theater, a golf simulator, resident lounge, chef’s kitchen, co-working space, and library lounge. There will also be retail on the ground floor.
“This is really a fully amenitized luxury high-rise apartment building that is located close to major transportation hubs making it even more convenient for tenants,” said Adam Popper, managing director and head of real estate at The Heyman Enterprise.
Matthew Izzo, vice president of Hudson Meridian Construction Group from White Plains, described how the three-year construction process worked.
“When we started driving piles to today it’s been about three years,” Izzo said. “We have a multi-phase construction turnover here, where its phased occupancies. We broke it up into three parts: the Podium (floors 1-7), East Tower and West Tower.”
That meant that tenants were able to start moving into the building four to five months earlier than when construction on the towers was complete, according to William Cote, owner of Hudson Meridian Construction.
Izzo explained how the apartment building was constructed abiding by the City of Stamford’s sustainability requirements.
“The building is one of the highest rated in the City of Stamford for sustainability,” he said. “It’s not quite LEED certification. (But,) Stamford uses what they called Sustainability Chart in terms of recycled material content, low VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds), etc. As far as design and design selection, there were low VOCs that were carefully selected by the design team.”
While the construction took three years, the prepping and design work started five years ago with HLW drawing up designs in the middle of the Covid pandemic in 2020, according to Ed Shim, HLW managing partner. And the road to acquiring the exotic finishes for the kitchens, floors and tiles was a bumpy one.
“In terms of the finishes, the project consists of finishes from all over the world,” Izzo said. “The kitchens came from Italy, the flooring came from Portugal, the tile came from Spain.
There was a lot of coordination in getting the product here. We (even had to deal) with slight issues with port strikes in California.”
As for the tenants, Heyman said the units are renting at a healthy pace to people from all walks of life.
“We are seeing students from young renters to those who have just finished college to couples with children and some empty-nesters who want to sell their home and look for a more comfortable, stress-free living,” Heyman said.
The Heyman Enterprise was borne out of Heyman Properties, which was started by Sam Heyman when his family lived in Danbury. It has grown into a well-known commercial and residential real estate agency based in Stamford. Its namesake was well known for being an American businessman and hedge fund manager best known for his longtime chairmanship of GAF Materials Corp. and International Specialty Products Inc.
It was in his father’s honor that Larry Heyman says he has seen the construction of 18 Dock to its fruition. Sam Heyman died in 2009 at the age of 70.
“I don’t do a lot of development,” Larry Heyman said. “Our history is buying property and redeveloping it. I take a lot of pride and making sure this project is something I am proud to put my name on and the community can be very proud of.”
