Wall Street Place to consume Garden Cinemas Theater?

The Garden Cinemas on Isaacs St. on Thursday August 30, 2018 in Norwalk Conn. The Garden Cinemas on Isaacs St. on Thursday August 30, 2018 in Norwalk Conn. Photo: Alex Von Kleydorff / Hearst Connecticut Media Photo: Alex Von Kleydorff / Hearst Connecticut Media Image 1 of / 11 Caption Close Wall Street Place to consume Garden Cinemas Theater? 1 / 11 Back to Gallery

NORWALK, Conn. — In an effort to secure needed parking, the prospective new redeveloper of Wall Street Place could be eyeing the nearby Garden Cinemas Theater.

Richard Freedman, president of Garden Homes Management, which owns the theater at 17 Isaacs St., acknowledged Thursday that people have expressed interest in his property.

“We’ve been talking to people,” said Freedman when asked by Hearst Connecticut Media. “I can’t really comment.”

The theater, which features independent films, has been a fixture of the Wall Street neighborhood for years. It’s located across Isaacs Street from a construction site that’s sat dormant for two years.

POKO Partners, the city’s designated developer for Wall Street Place, halted construction on Phase I — 101 apartments and parking — in the area of the former Isaac Street municipal lot — in mid-2016 amid financing issues with lender Citibank. The bank later bought the properties and has been in closed-door talks with the city, Norwalk Redevelopment Agency and prospector developer John McClutchy of Stamford.

McClutchy didn’t return a call for comment Thursday afternoon.

Lisa Brinton, who ran for Norwalk mayor in 2017 on a platform that included opposition to the city’s handling of Wall Street Place project, on Thursday described the stalled project as a spreading cancer for the theater and other neighboring businesses. She believes McClutchy has made an offer to buy the theater.

“One of the people making overtures is McClutchy and they would level it,” Brinton said. “First, they’d use it for staging to fix Phase I and then they would use it for parking and more apartments.”

Laoise King, assistant to mayor Harry Rilling, said she had no idea whether McClutchy was looking to acquire the theater property but confirmed parking is needed.

“I know that they are looking for other solutions to procure additional parking, but they have not shared with us what their proposed alternatives are,” King said. “They have to provide the appropriate number of parking spaces to comply with zoning and they need to replace 100 spaces that were lost when that parking lot was sold to POKO. If they don’t have control of Phase II, they have to provide the parking spaces somewhere else.”

Two-hundred forty-eight public parking spaces were lost when the city sold the Isaacs and Leonard streets municipal lots to POKO for $1 each as part of Phase I and Phase II, respectively, of Wall Street Place. Under the land-disposition agreement — a tri-party pact between the city, Norwalk Redevelopment Agency and POKO — governing the development, they must be made up during as well as after construction is completed.

“Due to site conditions,” the redeveloper — at the time POKO — acknowledged that it would be unable to provide 248 spaces available to the public during construction. Still, some replacement is required.

“During construction of Phase I Improvements and Phase II Improvements, the Redeveloper shall make available for use by the general public a minimum of one hundred (100) parking spaces,” the agreement reads. “These temporary public parking spaces shall be located on the Project Site, except that with the prior written approval of the Agency, which approval shall not be unreasonably withheld, delayed or conditioned, up to twenty (20%) percent of said temporary public parking spaces may be located off-site provided they are within four hundred (400) feet of the Project Site.”

The city, Redevelopment Agency and POKO had envisioned providing those parking spaces on-site in the area of the former Leonard Street Municipal Lot, but that plan fell through when local real estate developer Jason Milligan purchased from POKO the lot and other properties within the footprint of Phase II.

In mid-May, Milligan announced his intention to buy Wall and Isaacs streets properties and promised to paint and clean the buildings, reopen parking, maintain street-level retail and build apartments above. Milligan, another critic of the city’s handling of Wall Street Place, immediately reopened to the public closed portions of the Leonard Street lot and, more recently, razed the house and cleaned up 21 Isaacs St.

In June, the city and Redevelopment Agency sued Milligan and POKO, alleging that they violated the land-disposition agreement governing Wall Street Place. The plaintiffs maintain that the transfer required agency approval under the agreement.

“The parties have taken an action that will likely cause real and actual damages to the public’s interests in the project and ensure more delay,” wrote Redevelopment Agency Executive Director Timothy Sheehan in a statement released by Rilling’s office upon the announcement of the lawsuit. “The Redevelopment Agency has previously evidenced a willingness to work with parties interested in transferring their development rights, but to do so requires undertaking the public approval process prescribed by the contract.”