Developer touts ‘hidden little treasures’ and ‘cool features’ of downtown Danbury apartment project 

Rob Ryser  

DANBURY - A 149-unit complex under construction on Main Street could begin renting apartments with a downtown view by the winter holiday season.

“The pandemic is definitely making construction across the country difficult, but our partners at DiMarco Group are doing a great job dealing with the challenges,” said Dan Bertram, the Danbury-based developer of the city’s most anticipated residential development since Kennedy Flats. “We feel we are well in position to deliver this building by the end of the year.”

Rents, which would range from $1,450 for a studio to $2,600 for the most expensive two-bedroom apartment, would represent the first downtown units to come online since the 2016 completion of the 374-unit Kennedy Flats complex across Main Street.

The idea is not only to market the apartments to the wave of New Yorkers relocating to Fairfield County in search of less coronavirus stress, but to test research suggesting the demand for retail housing in downtown Danbury is growing.

A recent study overseen by a Danbury task force laid out blueprints to revitalize the downtown’s nightlife, rebuild its streetscapes and attract 1,200 new apartments, for example.

“COVID has created a housing demand and a lot of it has to do with this exodus from New York across all categories of residential real estate,” Bertram said. “But we feel confident that we can continue the work we started years ago in downtown Danbury, and we have seen nothing that has happened in the last couple of years to change that.”

Bertram is referring to Brookfield Commons, a 115-apartment building he built on the west bank of Padanaram Brook on Crosby Street, which will connect to the new complex on Main Street with a bridge over the brook and an enclosed skybridge.

The connections would give Brookfield Commons tenants access to amenities in the new building, including a three-season terrace and outdoor pool on the second floor, overlooking Main Street.

“These aren’t inexpensive amenities but the skybridge connecting the two buildings over the brook is one of those hidden little treasures,” said Bertram. “The balconies that all the new apartments will have and the pool are cool features.”

Bertram has not said how much the project costs, except to say that it meets the minimum $13 million investment required to qualify for a seven-year deferral of city taxes on improvements to the building.

In April BRT General Corp. and DiMarco Group were awarded a $24.5 million construction loan for the project, Westchester and Fairfield County Business Journal reported.

After several years of demolition and site work at the former headquarters of The News-Times, construction of the six-story building has begun on the three-acre site at 333 Main St., across the street from Kennedy Flats.

In addition to the ground floor, which will house a parking garage, a retail space facing Main Street, and space in the back of the building for a gym, a community room and a leasing office, builders have begun framing the first floor.

The hope is that when complete, the 160,000-square-foot building will have a relationship with Main Street that will inspire more downtown revival.

“It’s always an attraction that Main Street is not far from I-84, but with this project you do have a walkable experience once you get home, where you can go out and walk down the street and grab a bite to eat,” Bertram said. “It’s only going to get better over time as more and more people with disposable income move downtown.”

Addressing climate change at the local level

Robert Miller  

When a hard rain falls in Ridgefield, First Selectman Rudy Marconi knows where the runoff will overflow the gutters and flow across the backyards.

“We all show up,’’ he said of the other town leaders who go from torrent to torrent, checking out the storm water rush.

These rainy day meetings will become more frequent. Climate change means more moisture in the atmosphere and heavier, more frequent downpours across the state.

For the immediate future, the best thing towns can do is prepare to mitigate those changes. New state legislation may help them do that.

Gov. Ned Lamont has proposed House Bill 6441 - An Act Concerning Climate Change Adaptation. There will be a public hearing on the bill Monday.

There are no overarching state mandates in the bill. Instead it contains enabling legislation that will allow towns to create their own climate change mitigation plans — and fund them — if they so choose.

“In Connecticut, if you want to do something, you have to have the legislation to allow you to do something,’’ said Robert LaFrance, policy director for Audubon Connecticut.

“It’s a huge step forward,’’ said Amy Blaymore Paterson, executive director of the Connecticut Land Conservation Council.

The proposed bill would, if passed, allow the state’s Green Bank to expand its portfolio to fund climate mitigation projects.

It would allow towns to create stormwater districts to address the issue of stormwater run-off and how it sends pollution into the state’s waterways and eventually, Long Island Sound. It would allow existing flood and erosion control boards to address the effects of climate change.

Most importantly, it would allow towns to charge a conveyance fee for real estate transactions. The towns would then set up a separate account for the fees they collect and designate a town commission or organization responsible for allocating the money.

This money could only be used to buy open space if the town meets the state’s housing standards of having at least 10 percent of its housing stock deemed affordable. According to a 2019 state report only six municipalities in Fairfield and Litchfield counties meet that standard - Bridgeport, Danbury, North Canaan, Norwalk, Torrington and Winchester.

Bethel First Selectman said he objects to towns being penalized for not meeting the affordable housing standards.

“But aside from that, that, I like it,’’ he said of the bill. “It’s a shame we don’t have stronger action from the federal government on climate change - maybe with the new administration, we will. But for now, the state has to do what it can.’’

Toward that end, LaFrance said the legislation does give towns latitude on spending the money they collect.

Work could include tree planting; urban forestry; wetland restoration; mitigation efforts to control flooding, including construction of swales and other landscaping designs.

“Let’s say you had a town park that gets flooded regularly,’’ LaFrance said. “The town could use the money to mitigate that flooding.’’

It could also provide a town with matching funds to apply for grants that address climate change or to fund long-term resiliency planning.

“It’s pretty broad.’’ said Catherine Rawson, executive director of the Northwest Connecticut Land Conservancy — the state’s largest land trust

The legislation addresses this simple fact. Climate change is happening and people have to learn to address it.

“I think that’s happening.’’ LaFrance said. “A lot of town are now studying resiliency.’’

Paterson, of the Land Conservation Council, said the state’s 130 land trusts, like towns, are increasingly concerned with not just acquiring open space but in considering climate change in the stewardship of that land.

“They’re considering issues like wildlife protection preserving grasslands, forest preservation,’ she said.

Ann Astarita, executive director of the Roxbury Land Trust, said all land trusts are now thinking in these terms. She points to six acres of grassland the Roxbury trust is now using to provide wildlife habitat and to promote pollinators.

“I think it’s a mission of land trusts in general,’’ she said.

In Washington, Rory Larson, conservation science manager of the Steep Rock Association, said the association is now paying added attention to preserving intact forests and wildlife corridors within those forests.

“We’re doing a lot of work with invasive species,’’ he said.

In Ridgefield, Marconi said the town is now studying issues like the impact of road salt on wetlands.

“We need to take better care of our environment,’’ he said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do.’’

Bridgeport roadwork resumes after delay by FBI probe

Brian Lockhart  

BRIDGEPORT — A long-awaited road project that was held up by a criminal probe of city government is being rebid.

The economic development department is accepting contractors proposals until 2 p.m. March 25 for streetscape improvements along Fairfield Avenue in Black Rock, a commercial strip on the Fairfield border with restaurants, bars and other small businesses.

The plans, funded in part with a $500,000 state grant awarded seven years ago, call for overhauling and beautifying the intersection at Brewster Street and northeast of the Ash Creek Bridge and making the area more pedestrian friendly.

Brewster is a main thoroughfare connecting Black Rock to the Fairfield Metro train station and Interstate 95.

“That intersection could use some love,” said City Councilman Matthew McCarthy, who not only represents the neighborhood but whose brother, Martin, runs the Fire Engine Pizza Company on Fairfield Avenue. “That money’s been sitting there. It’s time to move forward.”

Work was supposed to proceed in 2019 until the construction company hired for the job was named in a subpoena as part of an FBI probe into municipal contracting. Mayor Joe Ganim’s administration paused the project to ensure nothing was amiss.

Nikki Medina owns Sun Kissed Glow tanning salon and heads a group of fellow Black Rock business owners. She said, “We’re trying to make this area turn around and become the destination spot if you want to hang out.”

Noting the new apartments being built in the area, Medina said she hoped the streetscape work would prevent cars from speeding down Fairfield Avenue and make existing patrons and new visitors and residents feel safer.

“It would be nice to have that ‘village’ feel,” Medina said. “People walking and biking and out with their kids and families.”

Medina opened her salon six years ago, a year after then state-Rep. Auden Grogins, D-Bridgeport, secured the $500,000 in state aid.

In early 2019, the city’s economic development and purchasing departments awarded the contract to VAZ Quality Works.

Ganim’s administration decided to delay after VAZ and two other companies that had done business with Bridgeport were named in a federal subpoena issued to City Hall that February. The FBI at the time was probing allegations of contract steering and illicit scrap metal sales within the public facilities department, and the subpoena sought four years worth of documents and communications involving the trio of contractors.

Neither VAZ nor the other two businesses were ever accused of or charged with wrongdoing, and by last year, City Hall concluded the streetscape effort could resume.

A VAZ spokesperson did not return a request for comment about the rebid and whether the company remained interested in the job.

Courtney Hartl said she has been awaiting the road and intersection overhaul since opening her Source Coffeehouse on Fairfield Avenue in 2014.

“I happen to live across the avenue from my shop. I cross multiple times a day, sometimes with my dogs and 2-year-old, and sometimes have people look me in the eye and blaze right past me at very high speeds while in the middle of the road,” Hartl said. “And for my customers, if you’re coming from the other side, I don’t want you to take your life in your hands to get a cup of coffee.”

She said the aesthetic improvements are also much-needed during the coronavirus pandemic since shops and eateries are struggling to attract customers while adhering to health guidelines.

“We really would love to see Fairfield Avenue developed into a place that is pleasant to walk and sit on a bench and be outside, bopping from business to business,” Hartl said. “Especially now ... in the COVID era. We’re anxious for anything that can build up the business in our neighborhood.”

Spinnaker eyes $63.3M mixed-use redevelopment of downtown Hartford’s 55 Elm St. office building

Greg Bordonaro  It’s been just over a year since Spinnaker Real Estate Partners acquired the historic 55 Elm St. office building -- and nearby parking lots -- across from downtown Hartford’s Bushnell Park for $6.8 million.

Now the Norwalk-based developer is moving forward with plans to redevelop the property, formerly home to the Attorney General’s office and other state agencies. 

Spinnaker, which is also in the process of developing the $26 million residential mixed-use apartment project at the intersection of Park and Main streets in Hartford, has submitted plans with the Capital Region Development Authority to redevelop the 300,000-square-foot office building at 55 Elm St. into 164 residential units as well as co-working space and a restaurant. 

Up to 70 units of the $63.3 million project will be constructed so they can be made available for hotel rooms, if the market justifies the need, according to a project proposal submitted to CRDA, whose housing committee has approved the plan. 

Spinnaker is asking CRDA for $13.5 million in support, including a $7 million construction loan and $6.5 million historic tax credit bridge loan.

The rest of the project financing includes: a $32.5 million conventional mortgage; $7.3 million in equity; and $10 million in federal historic tax credits, records show. 

Eighty-percent of the units will be market rate while the rest will be affordable units, according to CRDA.

CRDA’s full board of directors will consider the proposal later this month, according to Executive Director Michael Freimuth. 

West Hartford’s Simon Konover Co. was originally a partner in the project, but is no longer involved; Spinnaker bought out their holdings,  Freimuth said. 

The land holdings include a trio of nearby parking lots at 71 Elm St., 94 Hudson St. and 108-110 Capitol Ave., for about $967,000, records show.

Spinnaker co-partner Matthew Edvardsen told HBJ a year ago the firm was planning  to renovate the offices hotel, office and retail use. 

Spinnaker inked a purchase-contract on the building in the summer of 2019 after Simon Konover put the historic limestone building on the sales block in spring 2018.

The building was entirely occupied by state employees until the majority of workers relocated in late 2019 to the newly renovated State Office Building on Capitol Avenue. 

S. Windsor’s Kaz Equipment bought as Maine firm moves into CT market

Liese Klein  Chadwick-BaRoss (CBR) Inc. of Westbrook, Maine, announced Wednesday that it had acquired South Windsor’s Kaz Equipment, a heavy construction equipment sales and service company.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but CBR said it would retain all Kaz employees in South Windsor. 

“Kaz Equipment has been a respected name in the Greater Hartford region for the past 15 years and their team has done a tremendous job of building a great local business with a loyal customer base. We look forward to integrating them into our CBR family and learning from the knowledge and experience that they will bring to our operations,” said CBR President Jim Maxwell.

With the acquisition, CBR will operate eight locations in New England focusing on construction equipment sales and leasing.

“CBR is a growing brand in our business, and the addition of a site in a major metropolitan area like Hartford fits with that growth strategy,” Maxwell said.

New Naugatuck Valley development agency seeks millions in state backing

Michael Puffer  WATERBURY – Waterbury officials are asking state lawmakers to give millions of dollars to a new quasi-governmental development agency devoted to partnering Waterbury and other area towns on large-scale economic development projects.

The new bill due to go before the General Assembly’s Commerce Committee next week, would have the state match dollar-for-dollar funding put up by economic development agencies focused on the Naugatuck Valley.

The proposal was forwarded by Thomas Hyde, the CEO of the newly formed Naugatuck Valley Regional Development Agency.

The agency is a retooled version of the former Naugatuck Valley Redevelopment Corp., which had handled large-scale building and development projects in the city before responsibility was handed to the Waterbury Development Corp. in 2005.

Mayor Neil M. O’Leary and others formed the NVRDC last year with the hope of working with other municipalities in the region on collective economic development efforts. So far, only Naugatuck has signed on to the project but Hyde said he’s talking with officials from other communities.

City officials plan to use up to $5 million either held by, or owed to, the WDC and NVRDC to draw an equivalent state match. The resulting pool of money would be lent out at low interest to attract developers, Hyde and O’Leary said.

This loan pool is also meant to tempt nearby towns to sign onto the regional economic development agency. Under the proposed legislation, the NVRDC would have to sign up at least five communities before reaching out to the state for dollars.

State Sen. Joan V. Hartley, D-15th District, – co-chair of the Commerce Committee – said the proposal has a strong appeal for a cash-strapped state looking for cooperative efforts among municipalities. The fact state funds would be matched locally is another big selling point, she said.

“I like having municipalities work together on economic development,” Hartley said. “It does nothing but build up our strength.”