Stamford’s South End has seen a revitalization, changing the area from a gritty, rundown industrial section into a bustling waterfront, home to luxury residences and new office space.
Despite that, there is still work to be done in this once-seedy section of Stamford, known for being close to New York City and home to the world’s largest trading floor.
Vacant retail storefronts dot the streets of the South End, although city economic development officials could not say exactly how many empty stores are there.
That has driven Fernando Luis Alvarez to open a branch of his eponymous art gallery at 100 Washington Blvd., one of the vacant stores among the gleaming new office buildings and luxury apartment towers Building & Land Technology (BLT) has built at Harbor Point, a redevelopment project over 80 acres costing more than $2 billion. The company has built more than 1,300 apartments and brought in new restaurants to the former manufacturing center.
There are several reasons Alvarez cites for moving into this newly created portion of the city. For one, Alvarez says it’s surrounded by very high net-worth communities, which house many serial collectors, what he called the “market-makers” of the art world.
Then there’s the fact that, well, there just aren’t a lot of galleries around.
“The issue with Stamford is we’re blessed, and not blessed, by being 35 miles from New York City,” said Laure Aubuchon, director of economic development for Stamford. “There are a lot of people who go into the city for the symphony and Broadway shows. That’s a plus.”
Look To Your Own
Stamford has its own symphony, as well as seasonal arts events around town. But proximity to NYC can also mean art collectors aren’t necessarily scoping out Stamford for its fine art. However, according to Alvarez, that’s offered him the opportunity to really carve a niche in an underserved city for those with an arts appetite.
To help whet that appetite, Alvarez is launching “Sprouting Spaces 1,” which will turn the vacant commercial space at 100 Washington Blvd. and transform it into an active studio for the next 12 months. The space will house contemporary painter William Nelson, one of the Alvarez gallery’s professional artists.
“BLT has courageously and innovatively transformed Stamford’s South End,” Alvarez said. “With innovation of this caliber, there undoubtedly come friends and foes. Yet, in the long term, BLT will provide something that benefits the community at large. So, it is through Sprouting Spaces that we wanted to create that dialogue now, in a space where it can be represented from all sides.”
Some of BLT’s most outspoken foes in Stamford are the city’s boat owners angered over BLT’s demolition of a historic 14-acre boat yard, where BLT is planning to build an 850,000-square-foot headquarters for massive hedge fund Bridgewater Assoc. on the former site of Brewer Yacht Haven West.
The project’s opponents maintain the developer tore down the original boat yard without permission from the city’s zoning board. However, the developer built a temporary facility elsewhere.
Now, BLT needs a licensing agreement with the city before it can proceed to build a new permanent boat yard elsewhere. Only then can the developer approach the city with the site plan for the Bridgewater project, which still needs approval from the planning and zoning boards
Email: jcronin@thewarrengroup.com
