ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
The New School
Danbury plans for city within a city at old Matrix building site
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efore 2020, the idea of going to work or school where you live would have seemed like a farfetched idea for a majority of people. In Danbury, town officials and developers have created a plan for a mixed-use city-within-a-city that will feature housing, businesses, and a school for over 1000 students. At the June meeting of the 2020 Danbury Public Schools Task Force, Mayor Mark Boughton along with a team of others, proposed the idea of the Danbury Career Academy with the intent to “connect with various businesses, agencies, and non-profits in Danbury to provide a training opportunity for students, as well as academic classrooms.” Located at the former Matrix building in Danbury, which has been in disuse for years, the building will be able to have space for 1,100 students over 40 classrooms across two “pods.” The proposal describes the location as having room for a
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gymnasium, media center, conference rooms, pupil services, and teacher’s lounge in addition to classroom space. Danbury Career Academy would provide extra classrooms in the City rather than replace an older school. Currently the school population is increasing, with estimates putting the growth at seven percent over the next 10 years. In some of the other pods, there will be space for apartments, a convention center, and more. This can put students in close contact with businesses that are located in the development for internships, hence the name. According to CT Insider, it’s fairly rare for schools to be set in mixeduse developments. In Hawaii there is a plan to build a public elementary school within a mixed-use development, and in New York and New Jersey there are similar developments with charter schools.
This unusual arrangement is suited for a building which has taken on a reputation as an unusual development. The current owners, Summit Development say that the “forward-thinking structure gained immediate global attention when it first opened in 1982, and today its visionaries from Summit Development are reimagining what it means to be an innovative corporate campus.” One hold up in the process is the unique way in which Danbury plans to finance the development. They are looking to purchase the space once it is completed rather than hiring an architect and construction company according to information gather by CT Insider. Because this will save money, Mayor Boughton told the papers that he would be seeking a higher reimbursement rate from the state, but that would require the state legislature to pass a bill.
