White Barn owners granted extension for housing project
NORWALK — The new owners of the old White Barn Theatre property will have an extra year to build 15 homes on the Cranbury neighborhood site.
The Norwalk Zoning Commission voted unanimously last week to grant a one-year extension to a previously approved special permit application for White Barn, LLC and Able Construction, a Norwalk-based developer.
Attorney Elizabeth Suchy, who represents
the property owners, said the extension was necessary because the permit, originally approved in 2015, is approaching its expiration date.
“This was just a precautionary measure to be prudent and to protect the underlying approvals prior to any expiration,” she said.
Able purchased the 15.4-acre property at 371 Cranbury Road from the Fieber Group for $3.05 million late last year. The sale effectively ended a yearslong effort by the Norwalk Land
Trust to purchase the site and preserve it as woodlands, wetlands and meadows.
The barn-turned-theater and house were once the home of Lucille Lortel, proclaimed the “Queen of Off-Broadway” by the Museum of the City of New York, and a summer theater for 50 years. The once-popular theater closed in 2002 and the barn was demolished in 2017 after falling into disrepair.
The city approved plans for a 15-house development on the site in 2015. But the project was put on hold as a favor to The Lucille Lortel and Waldo Mayo White Barn Theater Foundation,
which had launched a fundraising campaign to buy the site and revive the theater.
The foundation’s fundraising efforts ultimately failed, and a later campaign by the Norwalk Land Trust to purchase the site also fell short of its fundraising goal. The trust was hoping to incorporate the property into a 5.2-acre nature preserve that abuts the site.
Able, which has pledged to protect the property’s wetlands, plans to move ahead with a 15-home development project that will largely follow the plan originally approved in 2015, aside from minor changes to the exterior design of the buildings.
“It is the same footprint,” said Johnny Schwartz, a principal with Able. “We just changed the window style and made it a little more modern.”
Schwartz said construction on the site will begin “very soon.” He said the building process is expected to take roughly 18 to 24 months, and the first homes could be completed by the beginning of next year.
Schwartz noted the one-year extension will ensure work can continue at the property in the event they encounter delays due to the coronavirus pandemic or other unforeseen circumstances.