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Norwalk 2.0: Tell us what you really, really want

October 9, 2014
–
Mark Chapman
2.0
Take the 2.0 downtown survey!

NORWALK, Conn. – Norwalk 2.0 wants to know what you want Downtown Norwalk to be. To that end, co-founder Jackie Lightfield is asking NancyOnNorwalk readers to take a survey to give the organization some guidance.

Lightfield wrote:

“Ever wonder how Norwalk 2.0 got those great stats to make the video about Norwalk? We started with a simple survey. We listened, we compiled and we launched the results so people could see, not just read, about who is Norwalk. Now we are back, listening, but more importantly hoping you’ll tell us what to do. We realize that there’s always a ton of stuff to do, but we wanted to prioritize the list a bit. Help us get there by taking the survey.”

To take the survey, click here.

For more about Norwalk 2.0, click here.

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9 responses to “Norwalk 2.0: Tell us what you really, really want”

  1. EveT

    At the end of the survey, do you have to click “Done”? If you click instead on the link to http://www.norwalk2.org, will your survey responses be lost?
    I thought you could click http://www.norwalk2.org and it would open in a new window, but it doesn’t. It navigates you away from the survey so you cannot go back and click “Done.”

  2. Michael McGuire

    Hi Jackie, I’m glad you put this survey on NoN for a broader search for ideas. Along those lines I’d like to share what I believe downtown Norwalk has the potential to become with just a few small changes. I apologize in advance for being long winded but there is a lot to say.

    Downtown Norwalk is essentially bounded by Cross Street (Rt 1) to the north, I-95 in the south, Rt 7 to the west, and the Norwalk River to the east (but includes Knight Street/High Street/Main Street). This is a very walkable downtown historic neighborhood that most people would agree has loads of potential. But it is also plagued by tired buildings, frustrated retailers, poor parking management, blight (one standout in particular), and trash, among other issues. From most peoples’ point of view this is low rent district.

    Downtown Norwalk has around 80 building with 1.1 million square feet of retail space. Notably, this area has large floor plate retail spaces in a distinctive, historic downtown setting with a river running through it. Lots of character to work with and it’s pedestrian friendly. With approximately 700 new housing units going in we are pretty well covered with mid to upper level housing when you add in Avalon.

    The office market here has over 600,000 square feet of office space focused on the small office user. This is the equivalent of two Merritt Seven office buildings in shear rentable area. And it’s one of the stronger office markets in Fairfield County due mainly to catering to small office users with low rents.

    The raw material is here to make a wonderful, vibrant, mixed use community. So why has this taken so long and what happened to make this the low rent district? Mainly because since the flood Norwalk was focused on other areas – the downtown retailing market was first eclipsed by the Westport Avenue retail corridor (1960-1970) with its new retailing format (at that time) comprising smaller strip-shopping centers. Westport Ave was later eclipsed by the big box era (1980’s – 2010) clustered along the Connecticut Avenue section of Norwalk. And of course SoNo needed its attention throughout. Add to this some significant planning issues being discussed in other parts of NoN (parking, planning, POKO, blight, etc.), and the interest by retailers in the revitalization of the other downtowns of Westport, New Canaan and Darien is it any wonder this place has dragged. However, I don’t think Downtown Norwalk would be in its current position had Norwalk given half the attention it lavished on SoNo – but that’s water under the bridge.

    Today, many retailers are looking to locate into the classic small town downtown which features a diverse, walkable and scalable downtown market that hosts not only retail but office and residential as well. Ironic, just what downtown Norwalk is, ditto for SoNo.

    Now is the time for Downtown Norwalk. Why? Because first and foremost every other major retail area or district on the I-95 corridor has been largely completed. Downtown Norwalk is the last “district” on the I-95 corridor that has not been redeveloped other than South Stamford which is a different animal ( I would be happy to explain why in another letter). Today, retailers are looking for themed or destination districts in which to locate. Furthermore, the Northeast economic growth will be largely be driven by small business development, much of it office oriented. The confluence of these two trends is the driver for revitalizing Downtown Norwalk.

    First the retail side. Norwalk overall has a very strong “home furnishings” segment of the retail market largely due to its significantly lower cost for large floor plate space vs. our surrounding communities, or anywhere in southwest Fairfield County along the I-95 corridor for that matter. When you take into account the anchor draw factor of a Lillian August or a Klaffs, or a Connecticut Design Center you begin to see that infilling around these “anchor” tenants with like kind retailers is a distinct possibility. Big ticket, destination type retailers like to cluster together.
    Downtown Norwalk is just too far out of the way to be mainstream enough for standard retailers that need high traffic volume. But, when you consider a destination retailer, or a destination retail district, you begin to see the potential for Downtown to be just that – a destination retail district. In this case, with our classic, walkable downtown, multiple large floor plates of inexpensive retail space, coupled with notable major category retailers (Lillian August, Klaffs, Stark etc.) we have the makings for SW Fairfield County’s premier retail home furnishing and design center district – Norwalk Downtown Design District (Norwalk 3D). With one or two other notable home furnishing anchors to complement Lillian August it would not take much to see a host of other support retailers – lighting, upholstery, kitchen & bath, flooring, custom furniture, arts, music, galleries, and craftsman and creative shops etc. – infilling the area.

    This in turn attracts restaurants, coffee shops etc. and drives the office component as we see more design and creative office users moving in to revitalize office space at rents high enough to warrant fixing up the older worn out office buildings. Go to YouTube and type in “64 Wall Street, Norwalk” in the search bar to see a short video about what is possible here for office users and office building owners.

    The City can provide a very simple and low cost boost to help foster the revitalization of Wall Street by making Wall Street one-way (West to Main only) with angled metered parking at a fee structure and enforcement protocol that would encourage visitors. In addition, the City should create a blight ordinance to provide a level of protection, for business and property owners willing to invest, from deadbeat landlords who allow their buildings to fall into disrepair. Simple changes but big effects. I think it will be a real challenge to attract retailers with such prominent blight in plain sight – our leaders need to act fast on this.

    The final piece of this puzzle is having a major anchor to draw people to Norwalk. This is key to initially attracting the interest of destination retailers to consider Downtown Norwalk. The anchor would be 95/7 developed in a format that embraces SoNo’s unique character and Downtown’s destination retailing where one becomes and extension of the other. The 95/7 development should not be a stand-alone entity. By combining the three parts together – SoNo, 95/7, and Downtown – you create a very unique shopping, entertainment and live/work district the likes of which are largely unknown in the tri-state region outside of NYC.

    This is how to attract business, revitalize Downtown, increase the grand list, and put Norwalk on the map as more than a big box shopping experience.

  3. WOW just WOW

    I am a bit confused what Norwalk 2.0 is and what if any purpose it serves?????..

    1. Mark Chapman

      @WJW

      http://www.norwalk2.org/about.php

  4. Lisa Thomson

    Michael McGuire – Great ideas! At last, somebody who has a sense of the bigger picture AND a plan!

  5. Kathleen Montgomery

    Makes a great deal of sense, Michael McGuire. A themed, destination district sounds exactly right. The draw from the tri-state area would be significant I would think.

  6. Mike Mushak

    Good work, Norwalk 2.0!

    Mike McGuire, imagine if we hadn’t suffered 36 years of Mike Greene’s lack of vision and real planning credentials while also running the P and Z Department into the ground. He also was responsible for turning the Planning Commssion into a hollow shell of what it should be by law, which is to be the main entity in Norwalk to COORDINATE ALL DEVELOPMENT as described in the Norwalk city charter and CT state general statute. When Greene thinks our Master Plan is useless and professional planning is a joke, is it any wonder the concept of PLANNING anything in Norwalk is dead? What a waste of decades and millions of potential tax revenue.
    .
    I love your ideas for Wall Street, and agree that a regional retail anchor at 95/7 is smart. But you know this already from another article, that despite the fact that I agree that on-street parking is vital to create a successful retail environment, I have concerns that the roughly 11,000 cars a day (ADT, or Avg Daily Traffic) as counted by the CT DOT on Wall St, will not be able to navigate around a one/way Wall St you want to create with angled parking without creating major conflicts on Main St ( by McMahon Ford) and on Burnell which has the Pulse Point, as well as on the 2-lane Cross St (route 1) which now strains under a staggering load of 14,000 ADT with backups at peak times, not to mention the obsolete at-grade rail crossing with about 2 dozen closings a day to let trains pass.

    These other roads weren’t designed for huge amounts of thru-traffic, which is what Wall St handles as the first connection over the Norwalk River north of 95 and the Stroffolino Bridge in SoNo. In a city that dates from the 17th century and has a river and harbor cutting it in half, we have unique challenges to creating a one way Wall Street as we do not have the abundance of alternate routes like a typical city laid out in a grid pattern would have.

    One thing to consider: you might be able to still have angled parking from West Ave to Commerce and keep the two-way traffic, by reconfiguring the ridiculous highway style intersection at Wall and West (already recommended in 2 expert studies), and having reverse angle parking which is popular around the world now (and I just saw it in May on the vibrant South Congress St in Austin TX). It is much safer than straight in angled parking, and allows for safer bike lanes to be located on the outside of the angled parking as they did in Austin. There is a learning curve for sure, but I think Norwalk residents and visitors are smart enough to figure out a new way to park that is proven to work around the world. We can’t possibly be that dense! Just food for thought.

    So, whatever layout is worked out, if it can be supported with traffic studies based on future projections, I say go for it! That one issue shouldn’t discourage you from pushing all of your other great ideas.

  7. Mike Mushak

    Here is a link explaining reverse angle parking on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HddkCbsWHlk

  8. Michael McGuire

    Mike Mushak, great video on the back in angled parking – I like it. Either way the key component of this is having parking available for customers on the street right in front of the retailers. I know its not a huge amount of spaces but its sufficient to send a clear message to the market place that Downtown Norwalk is open for business. And its so inexpensive to do by the City. In fact a number of prominent urban planers over the years have suggested this very thing.

    When we bought our building on Wall Street in 2001 it was after a 2 year search on the I-95 corridor. At that time, as with today, I saw the Wall Street area as a diamond in the rough and could not believe that an area like this surrounded by such wealth could be so stagnant. In fact it took me over a year of analysis to finally pull the trigger.

    I worked with the City on a number of occasions to help foster a better working environment both here and throughout the City. With Knopp’s selection of planners, two parking “task forces” one under Knopp and one under Moccia which recommended some good things that never got implemented.

    I would read all these great analysis done for Norwalk on the RDA web site, but so little of it gets done. I finally figured it out last a week ago which lead to my speaking at the CC planning meeting. It’s the lack of planning you’ve been so vocal about.

    What people don’t see is that changes in a real estate market don’t take place over-night, its a long slow process that can take a decade to see the effect.

    We really need a blight ordinance. How am I and my neighbors to protect ourselves from property owners like Ganga Duleep who have single handedly taken down the value of every property on Wall Street with her burned out building that has not even been correctly mothballed. It’s four years later – what are we to do!?

    I would encourage everyone in the pubic who reads this to respond with their demand that the City take action.

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