2 | SPIRITS COUPLE September 18, 2017 | VOL. 53, No. 38
11 | SPECIAL REPORT
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A mixed-use ‘ecosystem’ takes shape on Norwalk’s Glover Avenue BY KEVIN ZIMMERMAN kzimmerman@westairinc.com
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my next move was going to be. I wasn’t going to jump into a nine-to-five.” The native Canadian had a bachelor of science degree in community development and applied economics from the University of Vermont. But his hockey career kept him from transferring his education into a professional pursuit. Shortly after hanging up his skates, St. Louis sought insight from someone who had been in a similar situation: Jeff Hamilton. Hamilton too was a retired hockey player. He segued into a successful second career as director of Greenwich Realty Capital, a commercial real estate
ould Norwalk’s Glover Avenue be the proverbial next big thing in Fairfield’s commercial real estate market? Several projects are underway that seem to point in that direction. “We’re looking to create a multi-use ecosystem that’s comparable to (Stamford’s) Harbor Point, a 24-hour live-work-play dynamic,” said Ted Ferrarone, chief operating officer at Building and Land Technology, the Stamford-based developer of both Harbor Point and the Glover Avenue properties. The centerpiece of the Norwalk activity is 45 Glover Ave., branded by BLT as The Towers at Merritt River. Built in 2001 as the headquarters for what was then management consulting firm Hewitt Associates — the firm in 2010 was acquired by Aon Corp. to become Aon Hewitt - the eight-floor building grew to house Xerox and offices for Westport-headquartered Bridgewater Associates as well. Both Aon Hewitt - whose technology— enabled benefits and human resources platform was acquired in February by private equity firm Blackstone Group in a deal valued at approximately $4.8 billion — and Xerox relocated to Norwalk’s 201 Merritt 7 earlier this year. Building and Land Technology was left with 173,164 square feet of rentable space available at 45 Glover, including the second, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth floors, the last of which includes a 3,000-square-foot terrace. Simply standing by and waiting for other corporate tenants to move in was not an option, Ferrarone said. Instead, the developer has turned to the New York City office of Gensler, the architecture, design, plan-
» EX-NHL STAR, page 6
» GLOVER, page 6
Martin St. Louis scored 1,000 goals in his 18-year hockey career. Today, he is the co-founder of Seven7.
Ex-NHL star leaves the ice to join a new team BY PHIL HALL phall@westfairinc.com
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fter an 18-year, all-star career in professional hockey that included playing for the 2004 Stanley Cup-winning Tampa Bay Lightning,
Martin St. Louis retired from the ice. It was 2015 and St. Louis found himself in a spot similar to other retired professional athletes: What do you do next? “When I retired, I was 39 turning 40 and I was playing with kids much younger than me,” he recalled with a laugh. “But coming out of hockey, I didn’t know what