‘ A godsend for the neighborhood’
New development proposed in Stratford
STRATFORD — The owners of Ryders Landing want to put a new coffee shop on Main Street as the first phase of a development that could ultimately include retail and office space, a restaurant and a 105- room riverfront hotel.
“Those properties are a diamond in the rough along the river,” Robert Rosati, a lawyer representing the property owners, Robert and Martin Sbriglio, said. “There’s so much potential.”
The Sbriglios own five properties totaling roughly 5.5 acres off Main Street immediately south of the Ryders Landing development. The Sbriglios also own the nearby Lord Chamberlain nursing home and rehabilitation center and several
other nursing homes statewide.
Plans submitted to the town include a possible 4,000- square- foot restaurant, a 14,800- square- foot retail and office building and a 103,400- square foot, threestory, 105- room hotel.
The development is called “Parkway Plaza.”
However, they are first seeking approval only for a 2,475- square- foot coffee shop with a drive- thru. A public hearing on the proposal is scheduled for 7 p. m. Feb. 24 before the Zoning Commission.
“At this stage, there’s going to be no development along the Housatonic River,” Rosati told the Planning Commission last month. “That’s all reserved for future development.”
Rosati said Friday it’s unclear when the Sbriglios would look to ultimately build out the development completely.
“With COVID, that’s hard to predict,” he said.
However, if the coffee shop plans get approved, he said they’d want to start construction soon.
“I think the plan is to start building in the spring and then get up and running as soon as possible,” Rosati said.
The property sees high vehicle traffic from Main Street, the Exit 53 ramps of the Merritt Parkway and nearby Sikorsky.
Rosati said the plans to be reviewed by the Zoning Commission would incorporate recommendations from the state Department of Transportation and the town.
“It’s going to be designed to alleviate traffic and with safety in mind,” he said. “It’s a great amenity to the town and a great gateway to the town.”
At a meeting last month, the Planning Commission unanimously approved a request to abandon three dirt roads bordering the properties — Charlotte Street, Leslie Street, and Oronoque Place — on the condition that the town have an easement to a roughly 2- acre, irregularly shaped town- owned property along the river.
Rosati described that property as having been deeded to the town in the 1800s. Town property records for the parcel predate those available online.
“Until we did this project, I’m not sure the town knew they ever owned that,” he told the Planning Commission last month. “I’m not sure anybody from the town has ever stepped foot on that property. It’s overgrown and then it leads to a huge drop in elevation down into a brush wooded area and then eventually it leads to the cul- desac on Ryders ( Lane).”
While answering questions from the commission, Rosati said when the rest of the land gets developed, some sort of deal to acquire the land from the town might be possible.
The commission’s chairman, Harold Watson, also noted the town wants to connect its greenway along the Housatonic River to the nearby Sikorsky Estuary Walk someday.
Rosati said those concerns would be addressed — eventually.
“I know there’s a huge concern for the riverwalk and for public access to the river and what are we going to do about developing along the river,” he said. “We get all that, and we will address all that. But not now, because we’re only dealing with this first phase.”
Planning Commission member Dan Senft said he lives nearby.
“That whole area is definitely an eyesore,” he said. “Anything they can do to develop that property I think would be godsend for the neighborhood.”