Office, apartment outlook still unsettled
Long before The SoNo Collection mall was built in South Norwalk on a parcel once owned by his Spinnaker Real Estate Partners, Clay Fowler remembers coming up with a variation of the “live, work, play” slogan in vogue today in real estate development.
Across the river in East Norwalk, the Spinnaker CEO is now putting the concept to the ultimate test with the Brim & Crown — which features a swath of recreational space for tandem use by people who work or live there.
More than two dozen people got the keys this month to move into new apartments in the Crown building that is the second phase of the Brim & Crown development that will total nearly 150 units, with the Brim building having already filled its 40-plus apartments co-developed by
Fieber Group.
A New York City company is set to take office space at the Brim & Crown, but with plenty more space available as businesses continue to delay the decision to ask workers to resume the commute during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“That’s been a vogue of course the past several years, this co-working ... era — the merging of everyday life and work,” Fowler said in a Wednesday interview. “We decided that ... we needed to do something to incent office [tenants] to come to that location. It wasn’t just East Norwalk, it wasn’t just the train station — let’s open up the amenity package to them so they are buying a whole lifestyle.”
Those amenities include large lounges on the bottom and top floors that can be used by both residents and office tenants. The idea is
that the latter group are most likely to use it weekdays, with residents having the run of the place evenings and weekends.
Both spaces are impressive, with the ground level including a living area, kitchenette, fitness center, screening room and meeting rooms. On the top floor, lounge and game space opens up onto a spacious deck with a few of Long Island Sound, with a small pool and plenty of seating.
“It’s a dual use that blends well together — lots of elbow room,” said John Hannigan, a principal with the Norwalk commercial real estate firm Choyce Peterson who is listing a large office available for sublease at the Brim & Crown.
NYC to Oyster Town
Fowler has not ruled out creating a coworking center at the Brim & Crown, whether operated by Spinnaker or another company. And a pizza place is in the works — he did not say the proprietor — with additional storefronts across from the Metro-North station.
Fowler would like nothing better than to see the Brim & Crown become a centerpiece of East Norwalk, with the city having undertaken a study of the optimal mix of new developments. In a nod to Norwalk’s oyster industry heritage which continues today through the nearby dock of Copp Island Oysters, the entry walkway is lined with large panels embedded with thousands of silvery shells.
Spinnaker leased out every apartment in the Brim building, about half of them moving there from New York City boroughs. More than two dozen people began moving in last week to the Crown building, even as the building undergoes final completion work.
“We were surprised how quickly it leased up,” Fowler said. “I think we had a lot of people who identified [the Brim & Crown] with their urban home, with the lofts and high ceilings and big windows. ... Obviously nobody cares about the train right now — but they will again.”
The Brim building has a new commercial tenant as well in GameChange Solar, which from its New York City headquarters has developed “rack and track” systems to keep photovoltaic panels oriented toward the sun to maximize their daily output. The company currently lists more than a dozen open jobs in Norwalk.
As New York City companies continue to evaluate their options as lease expirations loom in the coming few years, Fowler believes many will choose to establish offices along Connecticut’s commuter lines.
The state is currently in the process of building an expanded commuter station on Glover Avenue opposite the Merritt 7 Corporate Park. Building & Land Technology plans to build a swath of new apartment and office buildings along the street to complement its Curb at North Seven apartments nearing completion and The Towers complex it owns next to the Metro-North station.
For its part, Spinnaker is pushing ahead with a 120-apartment building adjacent to the South Norwalk station of Metro-North that will include a small amount of office space, and street-level retail. And last month with Greyrock Homes, Spinnaker filed design plans for a single-family home development along Richards Avenue dubbed The Cottages.
“It’s outperformed our expectations that were tempered by COVID of course,” Fowler said of the Brim & Crown. “We’ve got the South Norwalk job that is in construction. ... People are not going to have to go back to the office every day, so I think there’s a long-term benefit for (construction) in the suburbs — and we’re certainly a beneficiary of that.”