Connecticut's largest housing co-op starts its handover back to residents — with the steam pipes still failing
Connecticut's largest housing co-op starts its handover back to residents — with the steam pipes still failing
2026-09-09 · Connecticut · Compliance
Success Village, the 924-household cooperative straddling Bridgeport and Stratford and Connecticut's largest common interest community in court-ordered receivership, has begun the transition back to resident control. Judge Dale Radcliffe ordered the creation of a seven-member resident advisory board, with a first meeting set for September 15, 2026. The receiver expects to exit within six to twelve months.1
It is the closing chapter of the most consequential Connecticut community-association story of the last two years, and it is not a tidy one.
How it got here
Built in 1941 and governed as a housing cooperative, Success Village went into Superior Court receivership in 2024 after a governance and financial collapse that left residents without reliable heat and hot water. Attorney Barry Knott was appointed receiver — an extraordinary intervention into privately owned housing.
In his own account of the appointment: “It's unusual for a court to take over ownership of private property. Judges don't like to do that. Especially 924 households.”1
What the receivership did
In March 2026 Knott closed a $6 million loan from the Connecticut Department of Housing — sixteen years at 0.5% interest, with one year of payments waived — and used it to clear the community's municipal debts: roughly $3 million in delinquent Bridgeport taxes and interest, $965,000 to Bridgeport's Water Pollution Control Authority for sewer, and $422,515 in back Stratford taxes.2
He also did what any receiver eventually has to do. The average monthly common charge rose 20%, from $550 to $660 — the first increase in five years — and a special assessment was imposed specifically to absorb an insurance increase: a one-time $300 payment in July, then $100 a month for three years.2
On May 27, 2026, FBI agents spent hours at a unit listed to the co-op's former board president, bagging evidence for an unspecified investigation. He maintains his innocence through counsel.3
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Related Connecticut HOA Topics
- CT's Success Village begins transition back to resident control, CT Post (September 9, 2026) ↩
- Troubled Success Village co-op pays Bridgeport, Stratford debts, CT Post (March 6, 2026) ↩
- FBI raid reinforces concerns behind Success Village takeover, CT Post (May 29, 2026) ↩
- HB 5500 (2026) bill status and complete history — passed the House April 22, 2026; died on the Senate calendar ↩
- Joint testimony of the mayors of Bridgeport and Stratford in support of HB 5500, City of Bridgeport (March 11, 2026) ↩
- Bridgeport Council Approves $437K Refund for Success Village Residents, CT Examiner (June 2, 2026) ↩
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