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The What

The What: How Office Buildings Could Become Housing, Budget Forums, and more

The What is your look around southwest Connecticut for the week of January 5.

The What: How Office Buildings Could Become Housing, Budget Forums, and more
Happy first week of January! Hope 2026 is your best year yet. (Photo by Kelly Prinz)

Monday, January 5

Happy Monday! Happy 2026. Hope you all had an amazing holiday season. We are back and busier than ever. Let’s dive right into what’s happening around southwest Connecticut. 

Highlights 

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

Spotlight

This section features our main reporting each week.

What happens to an office building if its businesses leave? Many across southwest Connecticut could have a second life, as housing. 

In Stamford, Norwalk, and beyond, property owners are proposing to turn vacant—or nearly vacant—office buildings into housing, primarily apartments. Some developers are literally converting the existing building into apartments, while others are tearing down old complexes and building new housing in their place. 

Converting a vacant office building, and even building on an existing office site, can have many benefits for a community, but as more of these are proposed, communities are concerned about the implications, wondering what it means for their economies as well as their local infrastructure and neighborhoods.

This trend has started to accelerate with multiple projects either approved or proposed in communities like Norwalk, Stamford, Fairfield, and Greenwich. 

For example, there’s a proposed project to convert two buildings in Norwalk’s Merritt 7 office park into housing that will go before the Planning and Zoning Commission in January. And recently, the Stamford Zoning Board approved a plan to convert the former WWE building into an 84-unit residential apartment building.

See what this trend means for our region and keep an eye out for part two next week focuses on office parks that are being torn down and replaced with residential housing. 

You can also watch our video exploring why this matters to southwest Connecticut.

This Week at a Glance

This section aims to highlight the most important meetings and news taking place each week. 

  • In Bridgeport, there will be a Board of Education Budget Forum on Saturday, January 10 at 10 a.m. for residents and community members to get a look at the 2026-27 budget. Last year, Bridgeport and other districts faced multiple challenges with their budgets. 
  • In Stamford, the Board of Representatives will meet on Monday, January 5 at 7:30 p.m. and vote on a variety of items including an additional $500k to address some unforeseen construction complications with the Perna Lane sanitary sewer project. The board will also review four mayoral vetoes, including an ordinance that established a comprehensive tree preservation and urban forestry program and an ordinance that regulated the sale of cats and dogs in pet stores.
  • Also in Stamford, the Board of Finance will meet on Thursday, January 8 at 7 p.m. and review and vote on numerous items including a request for a $336,000 contract with Sitestream which will implement and manage the city’s automated speed cameras.
  • In Norwalk, there will be a special organizational meeting of the City Council on Monday, January 5 at 7 p.m. where new mayor Barbara Smyth will announce new city staff members and ask the council to reappoint four city division department heads. 
  • Also in Norwalk, there will be a Joint Finance and Claims and Board of Education Finance Committees meeting on Thursday, January 8 at 6 p.m. to discuss budget-related topics between the city and school district.
  • In Fairfield, the Board of Education will meet on Tuesday, January 6 at 7 p.m. to review and discuss the superintendent’s proposed budget for the 2026-2027 school year.
  • In Darien, the Planning & Zoning Commission will meet on Tuesday, January 6 at 7 p.m. and continue the public hearing on a proposal to redevelop the property at 90, 100, and 188 Heights Road with ground floor commercial and 20 residential units. 
  • In Westport, the Planning and Zoning Commission will meet on Monday, January 5 at 6 p.m. to review a proposed text amendment to the Mobile Home Park District (MHPD) that would permit expansion of single-family homes. 
  • Also in Westport, the Board of Education will meet on Friday, January 9 at 8:30 a.m. for an “all-day work session” to review the superintendent’s proposed budget. 
  • And in Westport, the Representative Town Meeting will meet on Tuesday, January 6 at 7:30 p.m. and vote on approving $3.5 million for Board of Education building projects, among other items. 

Plan Your Week

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

Bridgeport

Stamford

Norwalk

Fairfield

 Greenwich

Darien

Westport

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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