{"id":3813,"date":"2021-12-04T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-04T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/CBMiXWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRoZWhvdXIuY29tL2J1c2luZXNzL2FydGljbGUvV2hhdC10b3ducy1hbGwtb3Zlci1DVC1uZWVkLXRvLWhhdmUtY2FuLTE2NjczOTI5LnBocNIBAA"},"modified":"2021-12-04T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-12-04T08:00:00","slug":"what-towns-all-over-ct-need-to-have-can-darien-blueprint-be-duplicated-thehour-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/?p=3813","title":{"rendered":"‘What towns all over CT need to have’ \u2014 can Darien blueprint be duplicated? – Thehour.com"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As he readied for his final semesters at Norwalk Community College, Andre Denunzio took a job this past September moonlighting as a cashier at Whole Foods Market in neighboring Darien.<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old will soon move to Darien himself, one of the most affluent towns in America \u2014 and one that has handed other Connecticut towns a potential blueprint for how to go about mixed-use downtown redevelopment with a blend of old and new, and perhaps a bigger mix of people from differing walks of life.<\/p>\n

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If completed as planned under developers David Genovese and Penny Glassmeyer, the Corbin District will transform downtown Darien, on a far smaller scale but with the grand intentions as Building & Land Technology\u2019s remake of Stamford\u2019s South End, where it created the Harbor Point luxury high-rise neighborhood from scratch.<\/p>\n

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While other Connecticut towns have seen big developments in their downtown districts the past few decades \u2014 Bedford Square in Westport, Storrs Center in Mansfield and Blue Back Square in West Hartford to name a few \u2014 the Corbin District is notable for its scale, with 11 new buildings and a town green on seven acres requiring extensive demolition and site preparation for new construction.<\/p>\n

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In Connecticut, which saw renewed appeal<\/a> during the COVID-19 pandemic has New York City renters moved to the suburbs, could the Corbin District model serve as a template for other towns? David Lehman thinks so in his role as the state economic and community development commissioner under Gov. Ned Lamont, and before that as a real estate and municipal finance expert with investment banking firm Goldman Sachs.<\/p>\n

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\u201cTransformational is a word you hear a lot from politicians, and I think that\u2019s an overused word \u2014 but here it is absolutely appropriate,\u201d Lehman said last week at a ceremony in Darien marking the start of construction. \u201cWhen I think of the impact that the Corbin District will have on the town of Darien, this is exactly in my mind what towns all over Connecticut need to have, in terms of investment and bringing mixed use and residential and retail \u2014 more vibrancy in downtown.\u201d<\/p>\n

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More Business<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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\u2018Nobody does that\u2019<\/h2>\n

Genovese was himself previously a real estate investment banker, with Credit Suisse. He created Baywater Properties 20 years ago alongside his father Rocky, who ran Genovese Industries in Stamford\u2019s South End. O&G Industries acquired the firm in 1996.<\/p>\n

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In a nod to the Corbin District\u2019s potential and Baywater\u2019s other projects in Darien, in 2018 the Connecticut Main Street Center handed Genovese its annual \u201cFounders\u201d award recognizing major achievements in downtown revitalization. He remains the lone private-sector developer to receive the award in its two-decade history, among a parade of urban planners and advocates.<\/p>\n

Connecticut Main Street Center\u2019s interim CEO Kimberley Parsons-Whitaker says the Corbin District is \u201ca unique situation\u201d in her words, given the challenges in getting Darien residents to embrace a denser downtown.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Corbin District represents a paradigm shift in thinking in the community,\u201d Parsons-Whitaker said in an email. \u201cWhat is more common (and for good reason) is the incremental: the challenge of bringing individual buildings and sites back to life, redeveloping bit by bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Steve Olvany, chairman of Darien\u2019s planning and zoning commission, perhaps the most surprising element of the project is the efforts by Genovese and Glassmeyer to assist current tenants by finding them temporary quarters while their buildings are razed in the coming years for Corbin District replacements \u2014 an incremental process in its own right.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese guys are spending so much money moving tenants from the left side of the street to the right side of the street \u2014 and then bring them back to this side of the street,\u201d Olvany said. \u201cNobody does that.\u201d<\/p>\n

It took Baywater Properties and PG Properties 16 years to assemble the properties through land purchases or roping in landowners to its partnership team for the project, and to win approval from Darien\u2019s planning and zoning department.<\/p>\n

Genovese is quick to credit Glassmeyer, whose PG Properties built the Grove Street Plaza just off the Boston Post Road opposite The Corbin District\u2019s footprint. On days the weather cooperates, Grove Street Plaza\u2019s courtyard is a magnet for people lingering over coffee or lunch.<\/p>\n

\u201cPenny was the pioneer for the revitalization of downtown Darien,\u201d Genovese said. \u201cPenny set the bar very high.\u201d<\/p>\n

The test of time <\/h2>\n

More than 1,000 Darien residents and business owners attended meetings or otherwise weighed in with opinions on the project over the years, according to Genovese. He said Baywater adjusted its plans repeatedly based on feedback from the public and town officials, including adding more street-level parking and concealing a four-story garage inside the orbit of an outer ring of apartments and retail buildings.<\/p>\n

Beinfield Architecture produced the designs for the buildings and streetscapes.<\/p>\n