Arnold Karp

‘Your Records Need To Be Better Kept’: God’s Acre Builder Criticizes Appointed Body at Contentious Hearing

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During a contentious hearing last week, two appointed officials abstained from voting to accept the final re-construction of a prominent God’s Acre home. In voicing concerns about the material used for the roof of a portico at 4 Main St., Historic District Commission members Carl Rothbart and Mark Markiewicz drew criticism from the builder who has overseen the widely publicized rebuilding project. 

Arnold Karp of Karp Associates Inc. told them he’s had as many as 3,000 people come through the home since its unveiling in September as the “This Old House” 2019 Idea House. 

Many of those visitors “are architects or people who are involved in historic preservation or architecture in general, including an [American Institute of Architects] event this evening,” Karp said during the Commission’s regular meeting, held Thursday at Town Hall. “And not a single person has commented to us on, Geez that is an issue, and we have heard all sorts of comments on the house,” Karp said. According to Markiewicz, members of the Commission in meeting about the project at Karp’s office “discussed about doing a flat roof” there rather than one with a metal standing seam. Rothbart said, “You have done a really nice job in restoring the house and the thing that really stands out—this is why we are making an issue of it—I mean, if you showed that standing seam roof on the drawings and we approved it, so be it.

Arnold Karp

‘Merritt Village’ Developer: First of Four Buildings To Start Going Up This Week

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Construction is progressing apace at the ‘Merritt Village’ redevelopment, and the frame of the first building in the apartment-and-condo complex will start to go up this week, according to the project’s owner. The widely anticipated 99-unit project on time and on budget, Arnold Karp of property owner M2 Partners LLC said Monday during a walkthrough of the site at Park and Mead Streets. “As developers that’s always the part that you worry about,” Karp said. “With the weather we’ve had different issues but we’ve luckily figured all that into our timing.” When the complex is completed in 2021 it will consist of four buildings, Karp said.

Arnold Karp

Newfound Praise for ‘Merritt Village’ Retaining Walls As Landscaping Goes In

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Once assailed by certain neighbors, passersby, zoning officials and opponents of the landmark building project, the Merritt Village retaining walls fronting Park Street now are drawing praise. In the three days since long-planned plants, ivies, shrubs and trees have materialized—hiding the retaining walls as well as breaking them up and distracting from their poured concrete appearance—the developers of the 110-unit condominium-and-apartment complex say they’ve seen a dramatic shift in tone. “The sun is shining, people have three meals a day and everybody has housing,” Arnold Karp of Karp Associates, developer of Merritt Village, told NewCanaanite.com when asked about reactions to the newly landscaped area. “It amazes me now much people have commented and that they actually feel free to comment on something on our project,” he added. “It is absolutely amazing to me.”

They’ve been commenting since last fall, when the first retaining wall appeared along Park Street.

Arnold Karp

Did You Hear … ?

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[Note: This article has been corrected to reflect the accurate vote count on a plastic bag ban ordinance.]

In an updated complaint that forms part of a lawsuit filed last year, the owner of a commercial property on Main Street said former tenant Garelick & Herbs now owes $173,225.80 in unpaid rent. The gourmet market and caterer’s New Canaan location has been closed since last summer. ***

First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said during a Feb. 21 media briefing in his office that he’d spoken with his Wilton counterpart six months ago about joining up to create a shared firing range for the towns’ two police departments. ***

Longtime and beloved New Canaan High School English teacher Ben Gordon died Feb.

Arnold Karp

P&Z, Merritt Village Developer Reach Accord on More Robust Landscaping To Hide Retaining Walls

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The developer of a widely discussed 110-unit condo-and-apartment complex to go up on the edge of downtown New Canaan is earning praise from town officials after agreeing to pursue a more robust landscaping plan that will effectively hide a series of retaining walls that some have criticized as unattractive. The retaining walls fronting Park Street will see a combination of plants that will hang down over a lower wall—itself to receive a treatment that will develop moss and so break up its monochromatic appearance—and ivies that will grow up other walls, as well as junipers and other trees, according to Arnold Karp of Karp Associates, developer of Merritt Village. “What we are going to look at it is things that cascade down over the wall that is against the sidewalk and things that will grow up on what is the second wall,” Karp said Tuesday night during a regular meeting of the Planning & Zoning Commission, held at Town Hall. 

“There has been some confusion about those walls. Those walls have always been in the design. The only change was that after the hearing was closed, one of the 65 conditions was that we put in a sidewalk, but it was always considered that we would leave space, so there was always a question about the height on those walls.