This piece ran in the Connecticut Post this week. I'l glad that we'll finally have people living in the Citytrust Tower, as well as in the great new projects under development downtown (including the condos that are a part of our new home, the Bijou Square project).
TENANTS BEGIN MOVING INTO CITYTRUST UNITSPAM DAWKINS pdawkins@ctpost.com
Connecticut Post Online
BRIDGEPORT — Hey, you late-night downtown revelers, you folks who drive along Main Street with the volume up — take it down a notch: There are people trying to sleep here.
After years of planning and building, and four months of delays, tenants of the redeveloped Citytrust property on the corner of Bank and Main streets started taking possession of their keys Friday.
Some planned to spend the night.
It was late Thursday when the city issued a temporary certificate of occupancy for the 117-apartment building, removing the last barrier to residency. This was a large project for the city and "the folks in charge of the approval process were very, very careful," said Eric Anderson, of developer Urban Green Builders.
So far, about 83 of the units are leased. And while there's been no formal announcement, Citibank has signs up on the windows of a ground floor site, announcing plans for an office.
Anderson said Friday he hopes to announce soon plans for a grocery store; he's in talks with a couple he won't identify, other than to say they've run a grocery store with a restaurant function in New York for more than 20 years.
"They could not have a better reputation," he said.
He and Anthony Ancona, the owner of Fat Cat Joe and Fat Cat Pie — the coffee shop and pizza restaurant slated for the former bank location on the ground floor — are already planning to open a "beergarden" atop the former Arcade Mall building, which is also under redevelopment.
Ancona didn't have a specific opening day for the Fat Cat restaurant. However, he said, now that the residential portion is ready for occupancy, he expects the construction workers can concentrate on the restaurant site.
"We learned a lot from this experience, and the next building we do we're going to be a lot better at it," said Nancy Hadley, director of Bridgeport's Office of Planning and Economic Development.
Hadley's interest in the project goes well beyond the official; she moved some of her furniture into a two-bedroom, corner unit back in May but had to wait until Friday to actually spend the night. The Bank Street leasing office was busy Friday afternoon, as a stream of tenants came in to pick up keys.
"Being from New York, we want to be around things, life," said Fitzroy Daley. He and his wife, Kumiko, spent the past year in another unit, and plan to eventually move into the new apartments under development at 144 Golden Hill St.
He works in Shelton and Kumiko commutes into New York.
"Actually, all of our stuff's over there," Fitzroy Daley said, explaining the one-bedroom units in that location have tubs; only the two-bedroom units in Citytrust have tubs.
Tom Canfarotta, a teacher at the Bridge Academy, is also making Citytrust his temporary home. He's purchased a condominium in the 881 Lofts project on Lafayette Boulevard and needed a place to stay until it opens.
"They're saying February," he said.
"This is so much fun," Hadley said Friday as she lugged a mirror and box from her City Hall Annex office, across Broad Street, down Bank Street and then through the parking garage to the John Street entrance for the freight elevator.
The contractors are still replacing the parts on the main residential elevators, so everyone's using the freight elevator.
According to Hadley, the need to come up with a system for that elevator was one reason for the delay. The elevator will be staffed all day and night, and the telephone system wasn't enough. So until the main elevators are on line, residents use an intercom hookup on each floor to call the attendant.
For Hadley and other tenants in the eight-story "Liberty" building (named for the former tenant, Liberty Bank), this means a trek through the adjacent 11-story Citytrust tower.
On Friday, she passes the open door of Manuel Aranda, who's waiting for the cable guy.
Aranda spent the past 10 years commuting from Brooklyn to Stamford and his father's Aranda Carpentry Corp. Since his father drove, Aranda said, he didn't really mind the travel. But they recently moved the company to Bridgeport and his father announced his upcoming retirement. That made the decision for Aranda, who on Friday was dealing with a gas leak in the stove of the one-bedroom apartment he'll share with his wife, Vanessa.
But the bed was made, clothes were hanging in the closets and he already knew where the dresser, bench, television and desk were going to go.
They picked this building because "It's beautiful the view, and my wife loved it."
Hadley based her apartment choice on the view.
For $1,300 a month, she has two bedrooms, "closets galore" and views of the Pequonnock and Steel Point development sites, as well as the Barnum Museum.
She plans to use that view to entice other developers.
"The issue in Bridgeport is you've really got to get up to see it."
Her view pales in comparison to what can be seen from the penthouse unit at the top of the Liberty building.
That's where Anthony and Suzanne Ancona were Friday, cleaning their new apartment, which is really two units turned into one. Anthony Ancona, when asked about the rent, would only say he's a good negotiator, and that the deal was a bit complex, since they're involved with the commercial projects, too.
"We're dedicated and we're not going anywhere," Suzanne Ancona said. "It's totally exciting. We've always tried to live where we work Why don't you want to do that?"
Their apartment comes with a wraparound patio, with the aforementioned views, on which Anthony Ancona said they plan to create a home for bees, whose honey they will sell in the restaurant. The pair own the Fat Cat restaurant in Norwalk, as well as two wine and liquor stores.
"I love Bridgeport," Anthony Ancona said, pointing to the sites and the proximity to the bus and train stations. He's already discovered a $1.50 bus ride will deliver him to the doorstep of the Norwalk restaurant. "This is a real city."
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