Planning officials on Tuesday night received updates on two of New Canaan’s most widely anticipated projects downtown: the Post Office and Gates.
Planned Post Office for 18-26 Locust Ave. in New Canaan. Rendering by James Schettino Architects
New Canaan’s Richard Carratu, developer of the Post Office, told members of the Planning & Zoning Commission at their regular meeting that he’s contractually required to “hand off” the building to the U.S. Postal Service at the end of August.
“The plan is they take two to three months to do the interior—they want it open by Christmas—so hopefully they will have it open by Thanksgiving,” Carratu told P&Z at the meeting, held at Town Hall.
The New Canaan Post Office site, under construction, on Jan. 10, 2016. Credit: Michael Dinan
Asked by P&Z Commission Chairman John Goodwin whether he has a “high confidence level” that he will meet that deadline, Carratu responded: “If I don’t I think the penalty is $550 a day, so we are highly motivated.”
The Post Office is taking shape opposite Joe’s Pizza on Locust Avenue, in what had been two separate buildings—the former Carpe Diem restaurant and (going way back) former Nicoletti’s Market.
(Carratu, represented by his attorney Michael Sweeney of Stamford-based Carmody Torrance Sandak & Hennessey LLP, was appearing before P&Z to request a small alteration to his site plan.)
New Canaan Chicken, which took over the Chicken Joe’s space on Elm Street, received unanimous approval from P&Z at its Jan. 26, 2016 meeting. Credit: Michael Dinan
P&Z during the same meeting unanimously approved outdoor signs for New Canaan Chicken—now open in the former Chicken Joe’s space on Elm Street—and Gates, which has been closed since last April and is undergoing an extensive renovation (sneak peek here).
P&Z on Jan. 26, 2016 unanimously approved this sign for the exterior of Gates.
Originally Gates had been targeting an end-of-January opening. P&Z commissioners pressed a representative from the restaurant’s new ownership, Courtney Dumais, for a prospective opening date. Commissioner Elizabeth DeLuca asked whether the restaurant would open this week and Dumais responded with a definitive ‘No’ to that.
“If I had a date, I would give it to you,” Dumais said. Goodwin pushed further and, after the meeting, Dumais told NewCanaanite.com that Gates would open “very soon” and “in the coming weeks.”
The Gates sign itself is compose of individual metal lettering, 12 inches high and coming to about nine feet across altogether when mounted on the wall.
The New Canaan Chicken sign is 16 inches high and 13 feet across, P&Z records show.