Hopefully it will get approved after Thanksgiving. Stamford desperately needs more housing. The NIMBYs are the worst, I’m so tired of listening to them air their endless grievances.
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Sadly the zoning board denied the application to convert an old office park on Long Ridge Road into apartments. The NIMBYs won. I wonder if developers will think twice about trying to invest in Stamford in the future. The zoning board even cited the potential demolition of horrible architecture as a reason to deny the application.
- Though the proposal would retain the existing parking garage, it “ignores the site’s history as an office park” and contradicts a Master Plan policy of preserving historic buildings. The old Combustion Engineering building on the site – “one of the few examples of brutalist architecture and mid-century office parks in Stamford” – was to be torn down.
The arbitrary and capricious decision opens the municipality to serious legal liability, especially since the zoning board declined to follow its own rules regarding debate. I am sure decades of litigation will follow, with taxpayers footing the bill for the city to hire outside counsel.
Zoning Board members came into the meeting with the Resolution for Denial of Application prepared, and there was little discussion before voting
.
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Thanks for reporting, Waymond. You are 100% right on target. Sad.
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Waymond, how could you say that? It’s so far removed from the “downtown”, this is clearly at tyrannical imposition on the gentle yeomen Newfield, and offends their delicate sensibilities.
P.s. Ya its a bunch of nonsense, when development effects people with pools it becomes an affront to god. When it displaces urban poor it is the will of the almighty.
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I completely agree with you. I hope this doesn’t hurt future development in Stamford.
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I saw a comment on The Stamford Advocate in which someone was claiming that if the development was built it would bring “crime and violence” to the area. Meanwhile the renderings I saw looked great. What a shame, this would have helped so many get decent housing.
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I said what I said. It’s not in downtown but next to the parkway along a busy state highway. If the municipal leaders want Long Ridge Road to be lined with vacant office parks they should make that clear. Instead they’re sending mixed signals, as the article suggests:
The four-story complex was the inaugural proposal under a zoning district created to allow obsolete corporate campuses to be rebuilt for housing.
What’s the purpose of the new zoning district if appropriate applications will get denied? Do they want the office complex to be turned into singe-family residential? Do they know how much money it costs just to demolish the office buildings and carpark? What do they expect to replace them?
I would expect these types of amateur hijinks from a small-town inland wetlands commission, but Stamford is supposed to be a grown-up city (I think it used to market itself as “The City that Works”) with professional-grade zoning boards. How do they expect anyone to take them seriously after they declined to have a proper debate?
Look at Norwalk - they took their old corporate park in the north end of town (“Merritt 7”) and added lots of high-density residential, and it all worked out fine. I haven’t heard anything about crime or traffic.
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There were other big projects in Norwalk like Washington Village redevelopment, Waypointe, and the SoNo train station developments and crime in Norwalk has stayed around the same
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Why do you think Stamford has become so provincial?
Municipal organs seem to be rejecting developments left and right.
Here’s an article about a proposed development on the east side of Long Ridge Road, just south of the Merritt Parkway (across from 900 Long Ridge Road, which I discussed above).
STAMFORD — The Planning Board on Tuesday night rejected a developer’s pitch to amend the city’s master plan and build 12 townhouses at the intersection of Long Ridge Road and Wire Mill Road, adding to a wave of denials issued by land use boards this week.
…
The site currently has two structures, both used for commercial purposes whose nonconformance was grandfathered in. In the back, there is a large asphalt area that is used as a staging area for vehicles.At the initial hearing, attorney Joseph Capalbo, who represented Horn & Hoof, discussed plans to build 19 townhouses on 2.58 acres of property. But backlash from neighbors during a public hearing prompted Capalbo to ask officials for a pause to conduct community outreach. He proceeded to hold multiple meetings in North Stamford, bringing pizza for attendees.
By Tuesday night, the developer had whittled the pitch down to 12 townhomes. Capalbo estimated that the units would each sell for more than $800,000.
The article makes it clear the board was swayed by the angry NIMBYs.
Though the Planning Board’s initial reaction to the changed proposal was lukewarm, they had soured on it by the end of the meeting.
I just don’t get it. Whoever is the loudest prevails? Is that how zoning and planning boards tend to operate in other cities?
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The Stamford Rite Aid (used to be a Brooks pharmacy back in the day) on Hoyt Street will close.
It would be nice if this is leveled, rezoned and redeveloped as high-density residential, as it is ridiculous to have sad-looking single-story retail so close to downtown. But this building was built in 1964 (https://gis.vgsi.com/stamfordct/Parcel.aspx?pid=1039), meaning the Zoning Board will decide that it is a rare example of mid-century modern that must be preserved.
Soon to be empty:
Alexander Soule/Hearst Connecticut Media
Source: Rite Aid to close three more CT pharmacies under bankruptcy plan
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Stamford development is slowing down
Photos and information from this article
The Asher
150 Broad Street
The Asher apartment complex at 150 Broad St. in Downtown Stamford, Conn., photographed on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023.
Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media
- “will open up ‘a certain number of floors’ to tenants at the start of the year, developer Randy Salvatore said”
- 228 apartments
- “[a]bout 35 units had been rented as of early December, Salvatore said”
The Lafayette
821 East Main Street
Construction continues on The Lafayette apartment complex at 821 Main St. on the East Side of Stamford, Conn. Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023.
Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media
- 130 apartments
- “could open to tenants ‘towards the end of the summer,’ Wellbuilt co-founder Mitch Kidd said”
1 Atlantic Street
The One Atlantic apartment complex and shops at 1 Atlantic St. in Downtown Stamford, Conn., photographed on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023.
Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media
- converted bank building
- 77 luxury apartments
- start of leasing on May 1, 2024
777 Summer Street
Construction continues on the 777 Summer apartment complex in Downtown Stamford, Conn. Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023.
Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media
- 355 apartments
- “expected to begin leasing in the spring and open to occupants in the summer, according to a statement from Bryan Oos, northeast regional director for developer Toll Brothers Apartment Living.”
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The lawsuit has been filed over the denial of the residential redevelopment of 900 Long Ridge Road.
These types of lawsuits usually take 30-36 months to wind their way through Connecticut’s judiciary system. So we won’t see any construction on this largely vacant office park until at least 2028 or so.
STAMFORD — The Stamford Zoning Board denied a proposal from Monday Properties last month for a variance that would allow them to turn part of an office complex into housing. Now, the developer is taking the board to court.
The New York and Virginia-based developer, owners of a half-vacant office complex at 900 Long Ridge Road, filed the lawsuit Dec. 12 at the state Superior Court in Stamford. They are appealing the Zoning Board’s Nov. 27 decision to deny their request for a special permit to convert the office park, located just south of the Merritt Parkway, into a new apartment complex.
In the complaint, attorney Peter Nolin, of Stamford law firm Camrody Torrance Sandak & Hennessey, claims board members “failed to specify how (the) design might be changed or how it failed to comply with the city’s sustainability guidelines.”
“Our zoning regulations require ‘excellence of overall design.’ The board believed that this project did not meet that requirement due to the proposed size, scale and arrangement of the buildings,” Stein said. "It’s too large for this site. This site should have smaller buildings and a more suburban feel.”
The city’s corporation counsel had no comment on the suit.
The property owner’s attorney lays out their view of the public record.
It includes a staff report from the city’s Land Use Bureau, which recommended approval of the applications. It also references favorable reviews by the Engineering Bureau; the Transportation, Traffic and Parking Department; the fire marshal; the Environmental Protection Board; and the Planning Board. Additionally, it references Connecticut’s housing shortage and the city administration’s stated goals to help address it.
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66 Stillwater Avenue
“18-unit deeply affordable supportive residential building”
source: https://www.stamfordct.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/32499/638399557947854564
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Bump to allow you to post more updates.
74 Broad Street update
As a reminder this is the old Caldor building that has served as a Burlington Coat Factory for the last twenty years. As Burlington will be moving to a new location in Stamford, the building is expected to be torn down and the site rezoned to allow construction for up to a 150-foot residential building. No concrete plans have been presented yet.
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This project has been withdrawn, possibly due to the developer’s insistence on contributing to the city’s affordable-housing trust instead of providing some or all of the required affordable units on-site.
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