Town of Greenwich fights to save historic building
The owners of 2 Greenwich Ave. submitted a pre-application to demolish the building and put up a four-story mixed-use project.
More Stories
Residents and officials from the Town of Greenwich are fighting to save 2 Greenwich Ave. - one of the most recognizable buildings in town, which dates back to 1894 and is recognized by the National Register of Historic Places.
"It's definitely the front porch of the town," said Frederick Lee, who represents the area where the building is, as the chair of Greenwich RTM District 1. "It's really a reflection of what the town was, and currently is."
Lee, along with many others in town, were shocked when the building's owners submitted a pre-application to Planning and Zoning to demolish both the building and two next to it, and then build a four-story, mixed-use project.
"It's really disappointing, I think preserving history is so important," said Siobhan McKinley, who works in Greenwich, after hearing the news.
"There's so many properties where you can go and re-develop and make a lot of money," said Greenwich First Selectman Fred Camillo, "why go and pick on something like that?"
Over the phone, a member of the building's ownership group told News 12 that they would love to save but the building, but they believe the combination of age, amount of work previously done, and the fact that it sits uphill from the rest of the block, has left the structure in a position where it will not be functional moving forward.
"This is the first time someone's made an issue of this," reacted Camillo. "You knew this was a historic building when you bought it"
Ownership also says it would try to keep the look and feel of the current building with the new one.
"You look at the picture (of what is preposed), and it's like well 'this is what it is,' and 'this is what you're going to turn it into,' said Lee. "Essentially, you've just made this like a regular street in anywhere USA."
Despite the objections, the town has no power to block the building from being demolished.
However since it is historic, the State could step in, if it determines that demolishing it is not necessary.
"You have businesses there currently, so it's not like a health hazard, so the fact that (ownership is) saying that? They need to prove it," said Lee.
The Connecticut State Historic Preservation Office tells News 12 that because of how many people it has heard from, it has started an investigation, and will be scheduling a site visit soon.
"(Ownership) knows darn well what (they are) proposing here, and (they) knows what it means to the community, and if (they) didn't know before, (they) know now," Camillo said.
"If we can get the rest of the public to really be involved and engaged on this, then it really can make a difference," added Lee.
Ownership tells News 12 they are more than happy to keep having conversations about the building's future and different options to try to save it.
They are scheduled to meet with Camillo next week.
