Come Home to Downtown 2012

The goal of the “Come Home to Downtown” pilot program was to provide Connecticut towns and cities with first rate, practical tools and resources to redevelop vacant and/or under-utilized downtown buildings with a mix of uses including retail, office and residential on the upper floors. Our work included an audit of the municipalities’ assets, challenges, and opportunities that need to be addressed to enable local leadership to prepare strategies to attract and retain successful development. We worked with the CT Main Street Center to identify buildings in Middletown, Torrington, and Waterbury that have strong redevelopment potential and represent typical building types in Connecticut’s downtowns. Our study of these buildings included conditions assessments, feasibility studies for the potential adaptive re-use of the buildings, and statements of probable renovation costs. The final report summarized the team’s findings, design concepts, and recommendations. The Brown Building in Waterbury, identified in these studies, moved forward to complete the conversion of the historic Art Deco mixed-use building into first floor retail and second and third floor dorms for University of Connecticut students.