CityCenter Danbury, the organization charged with revitalizing Danbury”™s square-mile downtown, sees the city at a tipping point.
Much has been accomplished, according to a recent seven-person panel assembled by CityCenter Danbury Executive Director P.J. Prunty and Managing Director Pat Hembrook, including an expanded downtown farmers market and increased cultural offerings. The panelists dissected both the pluses and minuses.
City Center looks to build on what is already afoot with a directory of vacant downtown spaces on a soon-to-arrive website called DowntownDanburyListings.com. The directory will feature images and square footage of available properties.
“Gone are the days when people drove down the street looking for signs in the window,” Prunty said. “Millennials have done a tremendous job of bringing back the urban core as the place to be. We”™ve got Naugatuck Valley Community College in the heart of CityCenter that is now expanding and taking space that has been empty sometimes for 20 or 30 years. And now we have 374 luxury rental apartments downtown, 1 Kennedy Flats.”
Will Hennessy, a lawyer who practices finance and who grew up in Danbury, attended the meeting at CityCenter”™s invitation because of those bona fides and because he left Danbury for the big city ”” Fordham University followed by professional life in Manhattan ”” and then came back.
“I wasn”™t alone,” Hennessy said. “I noticed childhood friends returning, too. I think we”™re attracted to the city”™s positive attributes. We also want to see a better downtown with a bigger restaurant scene.”
He cited the dinner-and-a-movie equation is now stymied by the presence of just one theater. “There used to be five.”
“It”™s a great commercial real estate market,” Prunty said. “Our commercial rents are lower than southern Fairfield County and Westchester and they”™re proving attractive to those who might want to move here.” He said inquiries also arrive from just across the New York border in Putnam County. And when interest appears, “Our City Hall has been phenomenal. New zoning regulations put the CityCenter applications at the top of the pile.”
“It”™s a unique place,” Hembrook said. Regional transportation ”” including a New Haven division train station and a bus system ”” is good and getting better, she said. “I came from Pittsburgh where no one drove, but I”™ve remained open-minded to how people get around,” she said. “Danbury”™s transportation is not as good as Boston”™s or Pittsburgh”™s, but it”™s good. It”™s not hard to use.
“My husband and I are city people who are used to public transportation,” she said. “That”™s what we wanted and it”™s what the kids want today. If it snows, I can still walk to a restaurant or public transportation gets me there.”
Alicia Ghio is principal of Rmedia, a video production company on Main Street, and served as a panelist. She said, “We”™ve been in Danbury since 1999 and we moved to the CityCenter two years ago. We were on the North End and we just thought it was cooler down here.”
“The cool factor is critical,” Prunty said. “There is no harm in recognizing success and SoNo” ”” the hip neighborhood in south Norwalk ”” “is a good example.”
Manny Carreras, CEO of MAC Development Group, a restaurant development company, ticked off a number of needs, including transportation and java, toward sustained economic growth.
“There are a few opportunities here for businesses that would be really appealing,” he said. “A coffee shop is urgently needed. It”™s where people like me do business.
“We need a car-sharing service, like Zipcar. You can”™t live in this region without a car. You have to make that growth possible. We have a train station and buses ”“ that”™s a boon. You have to make growth possible.”
Carreras also said more variety of restaurant fare would be another welcome addition.
“As the county”™s northernmost city, we can appear to be a little detached,” Prunty said.
The accomplishments that can serve as anchors and as magnets for others are in place, including the Farmers Market, The Palace Danbury, The Danbury Library, Heirloom Arts Theatre, A Common Ground, Escape the Arts, Danbury Museum and Historical Society, Danbury Railway Museum, The Cultural Alliance of Western Connecticut, Danbury Ice Arena, Westerners Baseball and the Danbury Innovation Center. The city is home to Western Connecticut State University”™s downtown campus and a short drive to the main campus and the new visual and recording arts center there.
A downtown deli is soon to arrive, owing to the efforts of Joel Peralta, owner of Hat City Market since November when, as he said, “It looked like a great location. I knew it was there and I knew it was an opportunity, including the opportunity to do a lot of things. There is good traffic flow.” Peralta”™s in-store deli is expected to open in several weeks. “People were telling me, ”˜You guys should do a deli,”™ so we”™re doing one.” He said proximity to the Kennedy Flats will help.
Mary Larew, principal of Danbury Music Centre said, “Arts for the business community means we are able to offer quality-of-life issues.” She told of a pharmaceuticals executive who continued to play the cello through her organization. And that executive is not alone. “All the major corporations are involved.”
