Continuing to develop downtown Danbury as an attractive site for businesses and visitors alike is the center of a new marketing campaign announced July 7 by CityCenter Danbury, the partnership between the city, property owners, businesses, nonprofits, cultural arts and others.
Calling CityCenter “literally and figuratively the heart of downtown Danbury,” CityCenter Danbury executive director P.J. Prunty said the downtown district features “the lowest rental rates in the area” and “a job market that is the envy of the region and the state.”
The marketing campaign will include a video featuring various Danbury personages ”“ including Mayor Mark Boughton, Union Savings Bank employees, Western Connecticut State University staff, and members of the Danbury Titans ice hockey team ”“ centered on the “We are downtown Danbury” message. The video, as well as still photographs, logos and other media were scheduled to start showing up July 11 on such online outlets as Google, YouTube, NBC Universal, and ABC News, Prunty said.
A targeted Facebook campaign to lure small businesses, start-ups and entrepreneurs will also be part of the digital marketing blitz, designed to “increase the overall visibility of our marketing efforts,” he added.
Boughton, who said the CityCenter efforts are “reaching critical mass,” noted that Danbury will also begin repairing and replacing sidewalks throughout the downtown area, a project that will include repaving all of Ives Street with cobblestones. He added that the long-in-disrepair Tarrywile Castle, originally built in 1895, will likely be torn down and replaced with a large garden.
“We are standing in $75 million worth of investment in our downtown,” the mayor said, referring to the event’s site at One Kennedy Flats, a major addition to the downtown area that offers 365 market-rate apartments, where some construction is still ongoing.
The mayor further noted that new Police Chief Patrick Ridenhour, formerly chief of police in Stratford, will work with the city to add foot patrols in downtown to increase security and visibility of officers.
Boughton concluded the event ”“ also attended by the city”™s business advocate Roger Palanzo and Tom Devine, chairman of the CityCenter board and owner of downtown”™s Two Steps restaurant ”“ by declaring, “Are we open for business or what?”
