SUCCESS, SETBACKS ON BROAD STREET
New arrivals find long-vacant sites nearby
Broad Street encapsulates both the strengths and vulnerability of downtown Stamford.
New arrival Blackstones Steakhouse, at 101 Broad, highlights the area’s appeal to new establishments looking to capitalize on the central business district’s residential and commercial growth. But the closing of a Starbucks store across the street and a string of vacancies nearby show that the street, like the downtown as a whole, still grapples with idle properties.
“Being downtown, in the heart of Stamford, is a great location for us,” said Blackstones co-owner Eddy Ahmetaj. “We came here because we believe in Stamford.”
The approximately 8,000square-foot Blackstones succeeds a Del Frisco’s Grille, which closed in June, after a nearly three-year run. It is Blackstones’ fourth steakhouse in the area, joining others in Greenwich, Norwalk and Fairfield.
Blackstones is the first restaurant to open on the street since the debut last year of Italian-American restaurant Bar Zepoli, a block away, at 75 Broad.
The new establishment anticipates drawing heavily from neighboring office blocks and hotels. Surrounding corporate tenants include job-search site Indeed, which employs 850 at 177 Broad and aims to grow its headcount there to 1,200 within the next few years. Across the street from the steakhouse, construction is nearly complete on a Marriott Residence Inn hotel.
“Being near so many businesses is a big advantage for us,” Ahmetaj said. “We think we’re going to get a lot of lunch business from the companies here in the city.”
Empty storefronts
The Starbucks at 96 Broad, inside the Ferguson library, is set to close Monday after a 19-year run. Starbucks officials did not give a reason for shuttering the establishment, but the company had announced in June it would close about 150 stores in the next year as it focused on areas with lower concentrations of Starbucks outlets.
Another coffee shop could succeed Starbucks, but library officials would first solicit community input and send out a request for proposals.
Other vacant storefronts have dotted Broad Street for years. The demise of Wayne Steakhouse, at 5 Broad, in early 2017 exemplified the predicament of many of the independently owned businesses in recent years on the block between Washington Boulevard and Summer Street.
It debuted in August 2016 in an approximately 7,000-square-foot property, but it struggled to fill its sprawling dining room. Six
“Being downtown, in the heart of Stamford, is a great location for us. We came here because we believe in Stamford.”
Blackstones co-owner Eddy Ahmetaj
months after opening, it had shut down.
The block intersects the thriving restaurant row on lower Summer Street and stands a few hundred yards from another bustling dining corridor, on Bedford Street.
But the same section of the street has struggled to hang on to new arrivals. A Brazilian steakhouse, Rodizio Grill, closed in 2014 after a short stint at 5 Broad. The same space briefly housed a Houlihan’s restaurant, which shuttered in 2009, six months after it opened.
Frequent turnover has weighed down adjacent properties, too. Fifty-nine Broad has languished empty for more than four years. It has housed a gym, an Italian restaurant and, most recently, a post office.
University of Connecticut officials considered the property as a site for student housing, but they decided to develop the university’s first dorms in the city at the corner of Main Street and Washington Boulevard. UConn’s main Stamford building encompasses the entire Broad Street block between Franklin Street and Washington Boulevard.
“We’re not exploring leases or purchases of Broad Street properties at this time,” said UConn spokeswoman Stephanie Reitz. “We believe our neighborhood has a lot to offer, though, and look forward to eventually welcoming new neighbors nearby at 59 Broad St., and elsewhere on the block.”
Next to the former Wayne Steakhouse site, several thousand square feet are vacant at the base of the Trump Parc building.
“That particular series of stores, across the street from UConn, continues to be a challenge,” said Sandy Goldstein, president of the Stamford Downtown Special Services District. “But I really do believe that the right restaurant, like a Chipotle, which would cater to the UConn students, would be the perfect restaurant to help enliven that block.”
A message left for Stamford economic development director Thomas Madden was not returned.
Reasons for optimism
Despite the vacancies, a Target store and a Citibank branch remain mainstays on the block between Summer Street and Washington Boulevard. Meanwhile, sustained runs by the neighboring Salon Shahin, Indian restaurant Coromandel and City Furniture show that independent businesses can last on the street.
The continued growth of the downtown residential base also augurs well for the area. In addition to the UConn dorms, apartment towers at 355 Atlantic St., and 1011 Washington Blvd., have opened in the past year.
“We have some really public exciting spaces, including Mill River Park at the west end of the street, and a dynamic downtown population,” said Ferguson Library President Alice Knapp. “There are things can be done and more we can improve upon, but I’m incredibly hopeful.”