Most Significant Development 2008 - [6]

In the the 1600's, in a span of only a few years, two men, Isaac Newton & Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, working countries apart independently developed the theories of modern calculus. In 2008, in the span of weeks, two separate comedy clubs, Treehouse & Catch a Rising Star, opened blocks apart in Stamford.

Both clubs aren't permanent establishments, Treehouse is squatting weekends in the Hibernian Club and Catch a Rising Star is in the basement of the Marriott. Both though have been putting on consistent shows with quality acts bringing a new dimension to what can be a one dimensional nightlife in Stamford. The downtown can't live on pints and proximity to the train station alone.

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”.

Most Significant Development 2008 - [8]

2008 - The year Alive at Five blew up. For a few years this has been building as the concert series has been booking more well known acts. In fact the event reaching critical mass probably was deferred a few years when a transformer blew the day of the Hootie gig and wiped power out to the entire downtown. This year the hook brought us back in extra numbers and packed Columbus Park. A few incidents raised security questions and had some wondering if the event was getting too big for its britches. Parents were shocked that their kids wouldn't be treated to unobstructed stage views by young adults attending an event encircled by bars. With larger venues currently unavailable, particularly in walking distance of the businesses the event is meant to bolster, it will be interesting where Stamford's premiere event goes from here. Does anyone think the DSSD would purposely downplay the event or book less popular acts in an effort to decrease crowds?

Photo courtesy of Stamford Talk.

Most Significant Development 2008 - [9]

#9...My failed bar tour. Really I tried. I actually went to more bars than I wrote up. I never ran out of bars, but I ran out of interesting things to say about most of them. I even had to resort to recounting my vague recollections of Gameboy games to distract people from noticing. The fact I couldn't achieve the stated goal of drinking more often in the summertime set the bar low for Blog Stamford and diminished our ability to champion more noble causes. Sorry Stamford.

Most Significant Development 2008 - [10]

Poor Highgrove. A flashy brand and more prominent location from Trump Parc has sucked nearly all the air out of the room for this 18 story luxury condo development on Forest St. That's not to say the Highgrove is not significant to the new face of Downtown Stamford. On a purely surface level it adds an new building designed by renowned architect Robert Stern that is attractive to both the downtown skyline and streetscape. With prices upwards of $3MM, the Highgrove (if it actually sells!) could represent an entirely new class of affluence typically reserved for other parts of town. Most importantly though, the Highgrove, which finally went vertical in 2008 after years of pushing dirt around in an empty lot represents that large scale developments can actually come to fruition even after extended delays. (Chin up Park Square West Phase II)

Most Significant Developments of 2008

Its that time of year again, where every content provider phones it in with countdown lists of the past year and Blog Stamford is no different. Much ado has been made about Trump Parc as the Viaga that has given Stamford a giant boner and new direction (to bang young cities perhaps?). We'll look at the top 10 most signifigant developments that shaped or are shaping Stamford and see if Trump is actually #1.

Might as well add now that I'm cheating and using a couple thing that technically finished in 07 and some that aren't technically done, but look damn close.

$2 Happy Hour Milk Specials

Photo of season Stamford Advocate.

I saw the bar hoping Santas yesterday making their way down Bedford. It put a smile on my face and looks of confusion and bewilderment on the little faces of some street side tykes. Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus... and he wants to bum a smoke.

Tigin gets my nod for best pub in Stamford to warm yourself during a cold winter mess. Between training it to work Friday to avoid snowy roads or walking across the street to drink Guinness by the fire, I'm Stamford's poster boy for Transit Oriented Development.

Anyone else have a favorite winter hunker?

Jacksonville is Watching

Here's an outside look at Stamford from another Urbanism blog, Metro Jacksonville.

Mr. Himes Stops Goes to Washinton by Way of Stamford

Jim Himes is in Stamford tonight at the Yerwood Center (90 Fairfield Ave) from 6:30 - 8:30 asking what issues & solutions he should focus on in Washington.

Something New on Summer?

I noticed some work being done to the plaza level of the YWCA building on Summer St between Coromandel (formally Dakshin) & Dragonfly. The space has been advertised as a "prime restaurant location" for some time. I wonder if its a effort to spruce it up for lease or if some new restaurant or bar is primed to go in. I heard rumors a year ago that someone from Brother Jimmys in Manhattan was interested in the space for a bar. I'll ask my inside guy, a Jewish man who lives in the Young Woman's Christian Association if he has heard any rumblings.

The AV Club

Watch for Falling Watermelons & Poo

"The watermelon shoot is set up at the YMCA"

In the winter months where my movements are restricted to fast paced hustles to my car with my head buried in a coat collar my girlfriend, with her CTW based place of employment, is my eyes on the street. Apparently I once announced my desire to her to drop some watermelons down one of those yellow garbage shoots that hang off the side of buildings in construction.

The YMCA is under reconstruction that will turn the upper floors into a hotel and keep the bottom as a reorganized YMCA.

Hopefully they will do something about the outside of the building which exudes all the charm only a concrete shoe box can. I'm not sure what happened, but for a few decades there seemed to have been an unspoken agreement to build every building to look as absolutely depressing as possible.

My friend told me a story about his boss having a smoke outside the Stamford YMCA at the exact moment a guest several stories up thought it an opportune time to empty the bucket he had been shitting in over the course of the week out the window onto the aforementioned smoker's head. Now if ended up the poop head, I would have saved RMS Construction the effort and promptly ripped the building down by hand.

I first talked to my girlfriend in front of the YMCA. I managed to pull it off against the backdrop of 60's concrete modernism/ pre fancy hotel refurbish. We were a relatively safe distance away from any window trajectory though.

Dakshin --> Coromandel

Stamford's most popular downtown Indian Resteraunt, Dakshin, is rebranding as Coromandel to match it's SoNo and Darien brothers. The new name is coinciding with a swanky refurb of the interior. I'm no great connoisseur of Indian food, but I have enjoyed Dakshin. I usually ask the waiter with as much dignity as I can muster for "a plate of chicken in the red sauce and a plate of chicken in the yellow sauce."

With Coromandel, Meera, and Oceans 211's "Indian Cuisine" replacement all within feet of each other should we start calling The Summer/ Broad corner Little India?

Down Goes the Luxe

Unlike a number of construction projects in limbo around town, you can put the Luxe officially in the dead pile. After toying with a downsized version of it, the building is officially off the FD Rich website and no longer in development.

The intended lot on the corner of Main & Greyrock is nestled in by the L of the AT&T building and is surrounded by a rather pedestrian unfriendly streetscape that is framed by several poor examples of urban planning, from the Mall's dead wall, to "the hole's" crappy... hole. While it is probably one of the less significant of Stamford's missing teeth, this forgotten corner of downtown could have used a vibrant new building.