Fairfield County Business Journal 111416

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4 | BROOKFIELD REVIVAL November 14, 2016 | VOL. 52, No. 46

YOUR ONLY SOURCE FOR REGIONAL BUSINESS NEWS

Shelton an ‘oasis’ for companies and development

kzimmerman@westfairinc.com

Y

ou wanna go for a drive?” It’s more of a statement than a question when spoken by longtime Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti, who recently began his 26th year in office. Genial but direct, Lauretti worked his Bluetoothequipped phone as smoothly as he did the wheel of his massive GMC Yukon (license plate: 1-SH) while taking the Business

Journal on a guided tour of Shelton’s past — reflected in the ongoing redevelopment taking place downtown — and its present and future with corporate denizens such as Bic, Pitney Bowes, Sikorsky Aircraft, Tetley and Sectra. “And don’t forget Wiffle Ball,” the mayor said as he drove past that company’s headquarters at 275 Bridgeport Ave. “They’ve been here for over 50 years.” Lauretti is proud of his town. He said that approximately 25,000 people commute daily to Shelton, whose population is

westfaironline.com

Bijou Square, Version 2.0 BY PHIL HALL phall@westfairinc.com

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roughly 40,000. “Our planning and zoning meets three times a month — nobody does that,” he said. “The thing I do the most is go to grand openings.” Or perhaps not. A former restaurateur and onetime member of Syracuse University basketball mainstay Jim Boeheim’s coaching staff, Lauretti has consistently focused on blight since taking office in 1991. “You’d drive through downtown and see all these abandoned buildings, which not only weren’t contributing to the tax rolls but were a haven for illegal activity — drug dealing and illegal dumping as well as homelessness,” he said. “I wanted to clean Shelton up, make it more pedestrian- and business-friendly.” Going some way in achieving the former is Shelton’s Riverwalk at Veterans Memorial Park — a handicapped-accessible

o an outsider, it would seem that this has been a tumultuous year at Bridgeport’s Bijou Square development. In March, the popular eatery and live entertainment venue Two Boots Bridgeport abruptly announced its closure, citing an expired lease. In August, the Bijou Theatre posted a closing message on its website, with no explanation of what transpired. But in an exclusive interview with the Fairfield County Business Journal, real estate developer Phil Kuchma, whose Bridgeport-based Kuchma Corp. was the driving force behind the Bijou Square project, said the departure of Two Boots and the situation at the Bijou Theatre should not be seen as evidence of a troubled development. “It was just a timing thing,” he said. “Although Two Boots’ closing coincided with the theater change, it was by design that both changes happen.” In a letter published on its website in March, Two Boots took credit for “jumpstarting the construction of the Bijou.” However, Kuchma noted, Two Boots was originally engaged by Kuchma to manage the theater based on its ownership of the Pioneer Theater in New York City. That aspect of the business partnership changed when the Pioneer closed in 2008 and Two Boots shut down its film exhibition operations; a local startup called One and Only Entertainment took on the theater assignment while Two Boots concentrated on the dining experience at Bijou Square. And while many Bridgeport residents loved Two Boots’ Mardi Gras ambience and live music presentation, Kuchma expressed a growing disappointment over time with how the venue was being managed.

» Shelton, page 6

» Bijou Square, page 6

Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti stands on an abandoned canal lock the redeveloping town plans to add to its downtown Riverwalk on the Housatonic River. Photo by Kevin Zimmerman

BY KEVIN ZIMMERMAN

17 | CYBERSECURITY


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