Most Significant Development 2008 - [7]

The Eastside Commons & Glenview House are in many ways a metaphor for how Stamford is trying to reinvent itself as a whole. Both mixed use developments in walking distance of a theoretical train station replaced car lots and are the first steps in the stated goal of transforming a street currently all but dedicated to servicing the automobile into a transit oriented community.

Stamford has batted around the idea for close to a decade that East Main St would be a nice spot for an urban village - a distinct walkable community where residents lived over ground floor retail and were just steps along an attractive streetscape from both their very own train station and the downtown. And for close to a decade that has remained a nice thought as the business owners have failed to get their BID off the ground and the road remained as the New York Times commented "a district whose primary economic activity now appears to be serving people whose cars have broken down". Some may have a hard time put their imagination to work on an area that is adjacent to the freeway and often a spill over for the day labor No Hassle Zone. Completion of Glenview House and The East Side Commons this year stand as examples of what some have had in mind all these years. Both mixed use buildings replaced car dealerships with attractive buildings, hundreds of units of housing, retail space, an improved streetscape, and largely out of site parking – what one could argue a vast improvement for a growing city over the sea of pavement and used cars that once stood in their place.

If both developments fill both their housing and retail, down the road there are more dealerships, parking lots, and garages waiting for similar treatment. 914 East Main is already approved for a 11 story mixed use complex – which some are arguing is out of scale. The fate of the proposed train station can also be the gas or the breaks for future transformation of the East Side. Hundreds of people walking to the train is a big difference from the same number getting in their cars on an already congested road.

Glenview & The Eastside Commons have ramifications beyond being a catalyst for the new East Side. If successful, the strip could set a president for other areas in Stamford to establish their own dense neighborhood centers reinforcing themselves as distinct communities. Then again, they can remain sentinels on the fringe of downtown, and continue to be known as “those buildings you can see from the highway”.