GGP reps assure Norwalk: It will be a high-quality mall

NORWALK, Conn. — Norwalk Council members got their first meeting-associated feedback from Norwalk citizens about the proposed mall at 95/7 Monday, with a plea from David Westmoreland that a deal should not be struck with General Growth Properties until the city wrestles a deal from the state, and a request from Diane Lauricella that a traffic study be done.

Full-fledged public comment is invited next Monday evening in City Hall at an “informational meeting.”

The small public hearing-preview at the meeting of the Planning Committee resulted in Redevelopment Agency Executive Director Tim Sheehan emphasizing that a traffic study for the mall would be done as part of the Zoning process. The meeting also featured Bruce Kimmel (D-At Large) asking GGP representatives if their second anchor store would be as high-falootin’ as its first announced anchor store, Nordstrom’s.  Westmoreland’s comment drew no response.

The actual specifications of the proposed Land Disposition Agreement (LDA) for GGP’s property, parcels 1,2 and 4 of the Reed Putnam Redevelopment Plan, which were worked out by the Joint Committee, did not get any comment. Planning Committee Chairman Doug Hempstead (R-At Large) suggested that committee members read the “encyclopedia” in their hands before next week’s hearing.

“We are not under any, I think at this stage of the game, under any legal obligation to provide a public hearing. It’s more for informational purposes, to get public input,” he said.

Kimmel asked for the mall industry’s definition of “high quality anchors,” which Sheehan said was already planned for the LDA.

“Logically, what would be a down side of having up-scale and mid-scale anchors? Would that attract more, a more diverse group of shoppers?” Kimmel asked Doug Adams of GGP.

“When we say high quality, I am not thinking of what I would call mid,” Adams said. “Maybe we need to have a little more definition. But it’s typically not an off-priced or discount type of anchor.”

Kimmel asked if it had ever happened that GGP could not get two anchors for a mall.

“If we don’t get two anchors we don’t build the center, and we are comfortable with the definition of a high-quality anchor,” Adams said.

Westmoreland’s comments began the meeting.

“I support the mall 110 percent; I think it would be a really good thing for Norwalk,” he said. “However, I urge the committee not to approve the LDA changes until we have nailed down an economic development package from the state of Connecticut. Because once the LDA is done, in my view, whatever leverage we have is gone. The project is basically approved and then we’re down to, you know, Zoning arguing over whether the sidewalk should be five feet or six feet and what color the bricks should be.”

It’s a no-brainer for Gov. Dannel Malloy to support the mall, he said.  “It’s $21 million a year in sales tax revenue to the state of Connecticut that does not come back to Norwalk. If this project were happening to Stamford I would guarantee you there would already be a $200 million or $250 million development package in place well before the LDA was changed. We all know that and I don’t know why we’re not doing that, and maybe we are and maybe that’s great.”

If the mall sends $21 million in sales tax revenue to the state every year, then a conservative estimate over the life of the mall would be $450 million to the state, he said.

“Get on the phone with the governor, get on the phone with DECD,” he said. “… Once it’s approved, that’s it, a done deal.”

Lauricella said changes to the LDA should not be approved until an independent traffic study is done. She suggested a special appropriation to get an “independent-minded traffic engineer” to do a traffic review because, “as we all know, there is almost never any impact when applicants do a traffic study.”

City officials have said that a traffic study cannot be done until the mall is actually designed. GGP is considering a tunnel from the southbound lane of West Avenue to the underground parking garage. Until that is worked out, as part of the zoning process, a traffic study is not possible, they say.

“Clearly Zoning is going to want to have a traffic study, as is the state Traffic Commission, with regards to this project, so I think the referenced issues on traffic will be fully vetted before the project is able to advance into construction,” Sheehan said. “But we are a long way back from that in terms of what was reported out by the committee.”

The proposed LDA calls for a mandatory 5 percent of the space to go to public realm, plus a minimum of two uses selected from this list:

• 85,000 to 625,000 square feet of Class A office space
• 75,000 to 750,000 square feet of retail space, with a maximum of 10 percent of that going to restaurant uses, and anchors of high quality
• 60 to 350 residential units, with 15 percent affordable.
• 85,000 to 175,000 square feet of hotel space, with at least 150 rooms and upscale facilities

The site could also have 5,000 to 25,000 square feet of institutional space, which may be used by Norwalk Community College. That is in addition to the above uses.