A 4.3-acre hole in the ground on Tresser Boulevard that has blighted the heart of downtown Stamford for 20-plus years has been sold.
The co-developers are Stamford-based F.D. Rich Co. and Hoboken, N.J.-based Ironstate Development Co. No figure was placed on the purchase, which capped two years of negotiations, but developer Thomas L. Rich, president and CEO of F.D. Rich, called the figure “a fair price that allows us to build an economically viable project.”
Milstein Properties of Manhattan had been the owner for more than 20 years. In a circuitous coincidence noted by several dignitaries who presided over a press conference beside the hole, Milstein had bought the dug-out, but undeveloped, parcel from the F.D. Rich Co. The press conference was in the municipal garage next door and attracted 100 residents, developers and politicians eager to hear the news.
Construction is expected to begin within a year. The cost is pegged at “north of $100 million.”
The parcel”™s infamy as a hole in the ground has earned it many sobriquets, none flattering. Even the city called it “The Hole in the Ground” in announcing the sale. It was briefly considered for a wetland designation because its bowl-like nature so often filled with long-lasting puddles. Its official designation is the Area 51-like Parcel No. 38.
Early-stage plans call for 800 housing units and 50,000-60,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space. There will be on-site parking.
Developers Rich and David Berry, president of Ironstate, declined to name a possible hotelier that might be interested, but plans call for a 150-room hotel. About half the site is to remain green.
More than a hole in the ground, Rich said, “This site is the hole in the doughnut of the great things that have happened all around here.” His father, now deceased, dug the foundation hole in 1989 before selling the parcel to Milstein. “Now, all the stars are aligned. This time we”™re really going to see this happen.” He and others in attendance praised Laure C. Aubuchon, director of Stamford”™s Office of Economic Development and Intergovernmental Relations, for helping to shepherd the deal to fruition.
F.D. Rich has developed more than 50-million square feet in half the states in the U.S. and is well known in Stamford across 45 years of transforming the city”™s skyline and through the Rich Foundation, which supports local arts, education and health initiatives.
Outgoing Mayor Michael Pavia called the development, “the end of a decades-old blight” and the fulfillment of one the five most prominent concerns voiced by the electorate when he first won the mayor”™s seat in 2009. “I am proud to announce today the hole in the ground has been sold,” he said to applause.
