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The What

The What: An April Recap; More Budget Moves; School Construction Updates; and more

The What is your look around southwest Connecticut for the week of April 27.

The What: An April Recap; More Budget Moves; School Construction Updates; and more
This week, it's gonna be May! (Photo by Kelly Prinz)

Monday, April 27

Happy Monday! Since it’s the last week of the month, we thought we’d take a look back at some of our reporting from April and get you ready for the week ahead. Take a look.

Highlights 

This section gives a brief overview of the key items in the newsletter.

Spotlight

This section features our main reporting each week.

Here are a few highlights from our April reporting: 

SoNo Collection is up for sale

When it was under construction in 2017 and 2018, some joked that the SoNo Collection would be “the last mall built in America.” Now about seven years after it opened its doors in 2019, the mall is up for sale. 

The property, located just off I-95, includes about 12 acres and about 738,800 square feet of “leasable area.” JLL Capital Markets, which is advising on the sale, said the property has a “compelling tenant mix,” and an occupancy rate of 86%. 

“The property presents an exceptional opportunity for a new owner to acquire a dominant retail destination at a compelling basis, while executing a thoughtful re-merchandising strategy to unlock embedded value across the remaining vacancy and property,” a statement from JLL reads.

Read more.

Inside the Office-to-Residential trend in Lower Fairfield County

With two new approvals—for 101 and 201 Merritt 7 in Norwalk and 177 Broad Street in Stamford—we're diving back into the office-to-residential trend taking place across lower Fairfield County. We explore how many of these offices came to be, why these conversions are happening, and what they mean to our area.

Watch our video.

Build It and They Won’t Come: Local Businesses Make Way for Empty Space in Lower Fairfield County

For Anne Grossman, the owner of Rebel Daughter Cookies in Norwalk, all of the issues started about a year ago. It began with one the roads to her business being closed. Then came the construction noise, followed by equipment taking up designated parking spots—all of which led to frustrations from customers. 

After months of this, Anne officially announced her decision to close Rebel Daughter Cookies, at least at its current location.

And she’s far from the only one. 

A few miles down the road, the building of the locally beloved distillery 1420 SoNo is also scheduled to be demolished within a year to make room for 32 apartments. 

Just a few towns over in Fairfield, at least three businesses—Las Vetas Lounge, Catch a Healthy Habit Cafe, and the Fairfield Barbershop—have to move from their location on Unquowa Road to make room for a 50-unit residential building.

But at the same time, as these new mixed-use developments pop up around the region, they’re adding commercial spaces that sit vacant sometimes for months. 

Read more or watch our video reporting.

This Week at a Glance

This section includes a list of meetings, events, and programming happening around southwest Connecticut each week.

Bridgeport

Featured Meetings: The Budget and Appropriations Committee has multiple meetings this week to review budget items and plans to vote on the capital budget on Saturday, May 2 at 9:30 a.m. Also, the Board of Education has a special meeting on Monday, April 27 to vote to add plans for a pool complex at Central High School, in addition to a regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. where it will receive a budget update.

Stamford

Featured Meetings: The C.H.E.S.S. Committee is meeting on Thursday, April 30 at 6 p.m. and will vote on authorizing a labor agreement for the Roxbury School construction project. Also on Thursday, April 30, the Fiscal Committee will deliberate on the budget at 6:30 p.m. 

Norwalk

Featured Meeting: The City Council will meet on Tuesday, April 28 at 7:30 p.m. and review multiple items including voting on the maximum limit for the budget. 

Fairfield

Featured Meetings: The Board of Education is meeting on Tuesday, April 28 at 7 p.m. to review multiple items including voting on the educational specifications for the Early Childhood Center at Fairfield Warde High School. In addition, the Representative Town Meeting will meet on Monday, April 27 at 8 p.m. and discuss any proposed reductions and reasons behind them.  

Greenwich

Featured Meetings: The Planning & Zoning Commission will meet on Tuesday, April 28 at 4 p.m. and review plans to convert an office building at 1 East Weaver into 44 residential units. (Learn more about how this trend is playing out across Lower Fairfield County.) Also, the Budget Overview Committee will meet on Thursday, April 30 at 7 p.m. and receive a presentation from the Board of Estimate and Taxation on the proposed budget. 

Darien

Featured Meeting: The Planning & Zoning Commission will review an application from St. Luke’s Episcopal Church on Tuesday, April 28 at 7 p.m. to construct a new two-story addition to the Person-to-Person food pantry.

Westport

Featured Meeting: The Planning and Zoning Commission will review an application for a fenced dog area at Winslow Park at its meeting on Monday, April 27 at 6 p.m. 

Stay in touch!

As we continue to grow and evolve, please join us! You can do that by:

Please note: All of these agendas and information here are current as of Sunday night. Meeting times and agendas may get adjusted throughout the week.

Have a great week,

Kelly Prinz

Founder, Reporter at Coastal Connecticut Times

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