Business

SLIDESHOW: Plans Filed for New Post Office, Mixed-Use Structure on Cross Street

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[acx_slideshow name=”16 Cross Street Proposed Mixed Use Structure”]

[Editor’s Note: The images in the slideshow above—you can pause it by hovering over an image with your mouse—are from plans for a mixed-use retail-and-residential structure, filed Oct. 6, 2014 with the Planning and Zoning Department by New Canaan’s Karp Associates for the property at 16 Cross St.. The architect is S/L/A/M Collaborative of Glastonbury and land surveyor Rocco V. D’Andrea Inc. of Riverside.]

Tree-lined and Colonial in style, with underground parking, space for a newly relocated New Canaan Post Office and topped by three floors of residential units, site plans this week were filed for the development of 16 Cross St., sketching a streetscape and larger vision for a section of downtown that officials have called “ripe for change.”

A proposal aligned with the recently updated Plan of Conservation and Development that dovetails with recent discussions about the area of Cross and Vitti Streets, the proposed 3.5-story, mixed-use structure would include 7,000 square feet of first-floor commercial space, with residential units on the second, third and fourth floors, totaling about 18,000 square feet, according to a letter filed by property owner 3M Capital Trust LLC in support of a special permit for the project. (A special permit is needed to construct dwelling units in the “Business B Zone.”)

“The property owner is currently negotiating with the United States Postal Service to lease a significant portion of the building as the new location of the New Canaan Post Office,” said 3M’s letter. “A Post Office is delineated as an ‘anchor use’ in the [POCD].

Business

Cross and Vitti Streets: ‘Ripe for Change’

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Calling the area of Cross and Vitti Streets a largely neglected section of downtown New Canaan that has potential to serve the community better, officials on Tuesday sketched out a plan to re-imagine its use, density and streetscape, possibly even introducing a newly defined business zone. As it is now, most of the businesses on either side of Cross and Vitti are part of “Business Zone B”—a designation that allows for heavier-duty commercial use such as for garden supplies, hardware and lumber. But the way the area has developed—in some ways, as a kind of industrial park within New Canaan, with repair shops, car washes and print businesses—may not be just how it would be mapped out given a choice now, Town Planner Steve Kleppin said at a subcommittee meeting of the Planning & Zoning Commission. “It’s ripe for change,” Kleppin said during the meeting, held in the Sturgess Room of the New Canaan Nature Center. “It’s the one area that I don’t know if there is anything that couldn’t change over there at some point in time, and there’s already talk of some new development over there, so I think it’s a good idea for us to be out front and really decide how do we want this area to look in the future, what’s the potential of it.”

Kleppin said he has money in the budget now to bring in a planning/design consultant to sketch out some designs and then oversee a series of public meetings and workshops for feedback from residents.

Local People

CT Challenge Bike Ride: New Canaanites Ride for Cancer Survivors

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The NewCanaanite.com Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Baskin-Robbins, Connecticut Sandwich Co., Joe’s Pizza and Mackenzie’s. The first CT Challenge bike ride for cancer survivors took place one decade ago, and New Canaan’s own John Murphy—who participates in honor of his sister, nephew and many friends—has been involved since its inception. Mr. Murphy, current captain of the New Canaan Riders for Survivors bike team that participates every year in the ride, credited his teammates with doing “an incredible job” in raising more than $23,000 to date for the special ride. “Many of the team members are Road Warriors (riders who commit to raising a minimum of $3,000),” Mr. Murphy told NewCanaanite.com. “Everyone rides for family and friends who are struggling with cancer, and they are true spokespersons for the groundbreaking support CT Challenge provides.”

A fundraiser for services and grants that support cancer survivors, the race begins at the Interlaken Inn way up in Lakeville and ends in Fairfield after miles of picturesque Connecticut countryside. This year’s ride will take place across two days (July 25 and 26) and up to 100 miles (or however far participants choose to ride). There also are options for more leisurely Saturday-only rides of 10, 25, 50, 75, or 100 miles, as well.