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.

Around Town

Annual Fishing Derby Set Postponed to April 27 at Mill Pond [UPDATED]

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Update Thursday April 18

Due to expected poor weather, the Fishing Derby has been postponed to Saturday, April 27 at Mill Pond. Original Article

One of New Canaan’s most unique and beloved community events is set for Saturday morning. 

Registration for the New Canaan Annual Fishing Derby will start at 8 a.m. at Mill Pond, with the derby running 8:30 to 11 a.m., organizers say. Held in memory of George Cogswell, a former New Canaan Police officer, the free Fishing Derby has been held each year—primarily at Mill Pond—since the 1980s. “It’s been going on for so many years, people just know about it and it’s something kids do with their dad,” said Jenny Esposito, president of the Kiwanis Club of New Canaan, an event sponsor. “It brings the townies together and it’s just really sweet, with the police, the firemen, the town, the Chamber.”

The pond will be stocked with 370 pounds of rainbow trout and prizes are awarded for participants 15 and younger in categories such as first boy and first girl to catch a fish, largest fish caught and smallest fish caught.

Around Town

Annual Fishing Derby Set for Saturday at Mill Pond

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New Canaan’s young anglers will descend on Mill Pond Saturday morning for one of the town’s most cherished community traditions—the annual fishing derby. Registration will start at 8 a.m. for the popular free event—a competition for special prizes—and fishing will start at 8:30 a.m. The fishing derby is open to kids 15 and younger, and 10-and-unders must be accompanied by an adult.

“We are always so thrilled to see so many families come out together to take advantage of such a beloved event,” said Tucker Murphy, president of the Kiwanis Club of New Canaan. “We really want to thank the Police Benevolent Association. They really stepped to help pay for the re-stocking. Without the help of police, fire and DPW, this event would not happen.

News

Condo Sales Surge in New Canaan

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New Canaan in 2014 saw what experts are calling a record number of condominiums and cooperatives sold, and those that came in at above-asking price increased ninefold over the prior year. In 2014, New Canaan saw 79 condos sold (the figure includes 10 non-MLS sales)—a 25 percent increase from the prior year, according to a local Realtor who’s been tracking MLS and non-MLS sales data since 1989. And among those 79 units, nine were sold above asking price, compared to just one in 2013, said Jeanne Rozel of Halstead Property, a New Canaan resident for 40 years. They’re statistics that Rozel said “shocked” her when she compiled the data. “I can’t figure this out,” Rozel said.

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].