Mention “The Village” to most Connecticutians a year ago and you”™d likely drum up images of Greenwich Village or cult TV series The Prisoner.
Today, however, The Village can mean only one thing to state residents: the massive 133,000-square-foot facility at 860 Canal St. in Stamford, which in less than a year has become exactly what the man behind it, Brent Montgomery, said it would: an indoor-outdoor work-play environment designed to bring together companies representing content and media, brands and marketing, social and experiential and finance and investment in one central hub.
Not only that, but with the early November lease-signing of MillerKnoll, a recently formed collective of modern design companies, the complex is now 100% occupied.
Montgomery, CEO of the Wheelhouse media conglomerate, laughed when asked facetiously by the Business Journal what had taken so long.
“It”™s been four years in the making, though we only opened last year,” he said. “And I have to say, they went fast.”
Nearly as fast as the available spaces. In addition to Wheelhouse and MillerKnoll, the Village is home to ITV America, Cisco Brewers, investment companies Avesi Partners, TSG Consumer Partners, and Jadian Capital, along with staffing firm Insight Global.
There are also branded restaurant The Wheel, a pop-up innovation center called The Pop-Up Shop, a 1,000-foot walkable marina, and a rooftop garden, among other amenities.
Montgomery said the entire complex is built on the philosophy that “we want to tell stories ”” and if we tell a good story, it makes everything easier. That”™s what helps build a vibrant, entrepreneurial spirit.”
He also credits Covid-19 for having a positive effect. “People who were living in San Francisco or New York or Miami have come back to be closer to where they grew up, or to their families,” he said. “The fact that so many people are working remotely now, or are only going to the office two or three days a week, also helps.”
Further benefiting The Village”™s pull, Montgomery added, is the fact that “we have a mix of companies that have not been in the state of Connecticut before. Now they”™re looking to grow their footprint in the state and in the county.”
Then there is the perhaps not surprising government support. Montgomery cited recent visits by Gov. Ned Lamont and Mayor-elect Caroline Simmons as helping to build buzz.
“We wanted to create a place to have interesting conversations,” he said. “Someplace that can cater to the businesses, brands, and the people who are here as well as those who are coming to Connecticut.”
A concert series and various workshops to help budding entrepreneurs are a part of that ethos, he said, noting that a workshop aimed at children is in the works. “We want to provide some impactful stuff to underrepresented groups,” he said.
Being “right in the middle of Fairfield County” ”” specifically, in the fast-growing Stamford ”” has been the boon that he expected, Montgomery said.
“We get plenty of people from in and around Stamford, but we”™re seeing a lot of people from all over the county and even Westchester too,” he said.
Wheelhouse expects to ultimately erect similar near-universally appealing structures around the county, Montgomery added.
“The main goal of The Village is to be an incubator for ideas, business, brands and people,” he said. “And I think we”™re accomplishing that.”
