Building with a Vision
as published by The New Canaan Advertiser, 03/27/2003

“You have to have a vision for the site, “ states Randall M. Salvatore, owner of the Stamford-based RMS Construction, LLC. Salvatore is referring to his construction company’s latest venture, the development of “The Village at River’s Edge” townhome condominium community on the grounds of a former rock-crushing operation in Springdale. But his statement could just as easily serve as the motto for a firm that has made something of a specialty of turning unlikely properties into award-winning residential communities.

Randy Salvatore first envisioned himself as a real estate developer as a Wharton School of Business graduate in 1991. But lacking either the contacts or the backing to make his dream an immediate reality, Salvatore sought entry into the business by selling and leasing commercial space, first for William Pitt Real Estate and then Grubb and Ellis Company. As soon as he could afford to, Salvatore began to purchase property of his own. He started with a lot on High Ridge Road, where he put up a modular home. “I’m not a handy type of person,” Salvatore admits. “I didn’t know the first thing about construction. But since I grew up in Stamford, I knew a lot of the trades people in town.” His gamble paid off, and Salvatore was able to sell the completed home for close to double the cost of construction.

Salvatore was then able to apply what he had learned while building his own project to his day job as a commercial broker. When one of the landlords that he represented had difficulty finding an affordable contractor to renovate a building for a new commercial tenant, Salvatore stepped in.

“Let me do it,” he recalls saying. “I’ll do it at cost.” He continues, “It went really well. I saw the way the process worked and I said to myself, ‘This could be a good business.’” One thing led to another, and soon Salvatore had founded RMS Construction and was fitting out commercial interiors for high-profile landlords such as New York Life Insurance, the Marriott and Westin Hotels.

Today, the energetic 36-year-old is the head of a broadly diversified construction company with expertise in residential and commercial construction, property management, leasing, and development. His roster of clients includes many of Fairfield County’s major real estate firms, insurance companies, medical institutions, government municipalities and nonprofit organizations. But it is in the area of residential housing that RMS Construction has made perhaps its most unique contributions to the city of Stamford.

“It’s tough to find condominium or townhouse sites,” Salvatore points out. “There aren’t a lot of large tracts of land. So it’s a limited commodity.” Nevertheless, with a little creative thinking and input from architects such as AWA Design of Stamford, he’s been able to build a sizable number of residential units in lower Fairfield County.

A case in point is “Vine Meadows,” Salvatore’s initial townhome development. As fate would have it, the site was once again on High Ridge Road, the location of his first modular home build. In a weed-choked lot that had stood empty for years while warring neighborhood factions argued over how best to put it to use, Salvatore envisioned and eventually built a tidy ten-unity community in an even tidier ten months. The end result was an oasis of New England-style architecture and manicured landscaping that the Home Builders Association of Connecticut named the “Best Small Attached Community” in 2003.

More recently, Salvatore found the perfect spot for RMS’s largest development to date right in his own backyard. From the company’s offices on Camp Avenue it’s a short walk down the block to a nine-acre site that Frank Mercede and Sons had used for many years as a rock-crushing operation. The property is bordered to the east by Darien and the Noroton River, and to the west by Hope Street and the Springdale shopping district. “It’s in the center of this beautiful ‘walk-to’ village,” Salvatore emphasizes. “it has its won train station, movie theater, ice rink, library, banks, restaurants and convenience stores. You have everything right there.”

Salvatore describes “The Village at River’s Edge” as something of a “throwback,” with three different access points for cars and an additional one for pedestrians. The idea behind all that accessibility is to provide for the easy flow of activity between the three-story townhomes and neighboring businesses. But with planned amenities including a pool, a clubhouse, an exercise facility and walking trails along the river, the residents might have a hard time convincing themselves to leave the grounds.

The 170 two- and three-bedroom homes will be available in three styles: “the Cosmopolitan,” “the Metropolitan” and “the Waterford.” “We’ve gone with a mix of some smaller units,” Salvatore explains, “because we saw a great demand to create entry-level housing.” In certain units, Salvatore has also factored in the city’s growing population of “empty nesters” – retired couples who would like to downsize. As a result, a good percentage of Waterford units will have private elevators as a part of the standard package.

The overall architecture of the development, suggestive of a charming New England town, will feature clapboard and fieldstone fronts, private balconies, and shingled roofs. Inside, the design elements couldn’t be more up to date. “We have a lot of luxury items,” Salvatore notes. “Crown moldings, oak hardwood floors, granite countertops – and we do it all as standard.” Other expected amenities include walk-in closets, ceramic tiled and marble bathrooms, plush wall-to-wall carpeting, and handcrafted cabinetry. Residents will also be provided with grounds maintenance, snowplow and landscaping services, trash removal, and insurance coverage for an annual fee.

Salvatore’s ability to deliver high-end features at no additional cost convinced local hedge fund trader Gary Lifiewski that purchasing a Metropolitan unit was too good an opportunity to pass up. “you really can’t find anything else like it around here,” Lifiewski claims. “RMS always puts a good product out there.” It’s little wonder, then, that potential buyers were lining up before ground was even broken on the site.

Despite his continued success, Randy Salvatore continues to be particularly sensitive to the whims of the marketplace as a commercial real estate broker. It’s an awareness that has served him particularly well as RMS Construction has evolved as a business. “If you’re strictly a builder of ‘this’ or a builder of ‘that,’ you’ve narrowed your focus too much,” Salvatore feels. “If you stay flexible, you can always react to changing markets. It’s all about delivering value to the buyer.”