More storefronts under construction in Darien as retail district nears full
DARIEN — The forklifts were busy Wednesday morning in Darien, as stacks of fresh lumber and other materials arrived at the new Darien Commons complex set to open in a year, adding new storefronts and apartments.
It is the first major new option for retailers looking to land in one of Connecticut’s wealthiest towns, but more are to follow as Darien’s retail core gets a remake coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Developer Federal Realty Investment Trust announced a quartet of initial tenants for Darien Commons, in the nail salon Glosslab, the Manhattan coffee shop Gregory’s, the Italian restaurant Molto, and Van Leeuwen Ice Cream.
The upper levels of the new buildings will include just over 120 apartments, located steps from the Noroton Heights station of Metro-North.
Darien Commons will have some 75,000 square feet of space across 14 storefronts. Walgreens has already opened at the site, relocating from its former home next door alongside a Stop & Shop supermarket, which was razed for the new complex. The chain retains its Goodwives Shopping Center location just off the Boston Post Road.
Patrick McMahon, senior vice president of regional development for Federal Realty Investment Trust, said the phones began to ring at this time last year nationally from retailers in anticipation of vaccine approvals and widespread distribution.
“It was generally the strongest concepts and the most established brands, that had the resources to begin to look around the corner,” McMahon said. “That has accelerated over this past summer and into the fall, and now the phone is ringing steadily — and certainly that holds true in Darien.”
It is one of two big developments underway in Darien. Baywater Properties is currently doing site preparation work for the first of nearly a dozen buildings planned for its Corbin District remake of seven acres along the Boston Post Road.
More than 18 months after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, all available storefronts are full or reserved in the Post Road shopping district sandwiched between Interstate 95 and the Darien stop of MetroNorth. For the smaller stretch of some 50 storefronts from the north side of the tracks to Goodwives Shopping Center, only four are idle.
Baywater Properties has relocated several retail tenants as it begins site preparation work for its planned Corbin District. If completed as envisioned, it will include nearly a dozen new buildings clustered around a leafy square set back from the Post Road. The development will include more than 30 storefronts, additional restaurants and 116 apartments.
“I think the pandemic really brought to the forefront in people’s minds of really having a vibrant downtown,” said Baywater co-founder David Genovese. “We all had our worries, but what happened was all of these folks were home and suddenly, in my opinion, they came to appreciate their hometowns.”
For The Corbin District, Genovese said he drew inspiration from a number of developments nationally — from the Palisades Village development in Pacific Palisades, Calif., to a Federal Realty development in Bethesda, Md., to the Grove Street Plaza created by his Corbin District co-developer Penny Glassmeyer.
“The trick and the goal — and we are really obsessed with this — is building this in a way that it looks organic, so that the buildings are all different,” Genovese said. “Darien has never been a real pedestrianfriendly downtown. It wanted to be, but it never really has been, and I think that’s the single most important thing that we get to do with this project.”