Fairfield County Business Journal 101716

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2 | GREENWICH AVENUE October 17, 2016 | VOL. 52, No. 42

YOUR ONLY SOURCE FOR REGIONAL BUSINESS NEWS

16 | SPECIAL REPORT westfaironline.com

Mercedes’ demands drive Goldens Bridge dealer to federal court BY BILL HELTZEL bheltzel@westfairinc.com

U SWEET DEAL PAGE 4 Renata Papadopoulos, owner of Lovely Cakes, places a finishing touch on one of her custom creations. Photo by Aleesia Forni.

sed cars and shiny new Mercedes-Benzes crowd the slope below the showroom and cram every niche around the tight property of Estate Motors in Goldens Bridge. That is an image that the luxury brand wants to discourage, so Mercedes-Benz USA has notified Estate Motors that it will terminate the dealership agreement in November. That’s a “death penalty,” the dealership states in a lawsuit that accuses Mercedes of coercion and seeks to block the termination. The dispute goes to the heart of who controls an automobile dealership. Estate Motors was established in Mount Kisco in 1963 and moved to Goldens Bridge in

1970. The dealership’s customers include Mercedes drivers in both Westchester and Fairfield counties. It is positioned on Route 22 along Interstate 684, amidst the wealth of northern Westchester County, where it has served people like the late actor Fred Gwynne — Herman of “The Munsters” television show — Yankees Manager Joe Girardi, and other actors and athletes whose privacy the dealership owner doesn’t want to violate. Mary Higgins Clark, the author of suspense novels, has a heroine in one of her books saying she’s passing the Mercedes dealership on I-684, according to Nancy Buonanno, wife of the owner. Charles Buonanno, an electrical engineer by training, fell in love with Mercedes-Benzes during a business trip to Berlin in 1962. He paid $3,000 to have one shipped » Mercedes, page 6

Brownfields fewer as Fairfield cleans up for redevelopment BY KEVIN ZIMMERMAN kzimmerman@westfairinc.com

M

unicipalities across the state are increasing their rehabilitation of brownfield sites, including several notable examples within Fairfield County. The assessment, remediation and redevelopment of such long-

vacant properties — some abandoned for decades — into usable and taxable commercial and residential parcels has the potential to revitalize previously ignored real estate as never before. On the state level, the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) is taking a leading role, doling out grants and loans to qualifying

towns and cities “to develop specific, actionable plans that will clean up multiple brownfields, leverage private investment, and bring jobs and new economic activity to long-dormant corridors throughout the state,” said DECD Deputy Commissioner Tim Sullivan. “These sites are everywhere,” he said. “We have a process of determining what towns and what projects in those towns qualify" for financial aid. "Generally they apply to us, but if we hear of something that we think we could help address, we’ll get in contact with them.” Stratford is one town that has been particularly busy in this area. “We had a number of large

commercial properties around town that hadn’t paid taxes for over 20 years,” said Stratford Economic Development Director Karen Kaiser. “We were able to apply to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and DECD to help us clean up the sites.” Those brownfield projects include the site of Two Roads Brewery at 1650-1700 Stratford Ave., the former headquarters of machinery company U.S. Baird, now operating in Thomaston. The brewery conducted an environmental assessment and abatement of building contaminants including asbestos and lead paint. The cleaned-up property provides nearly 100,000 square feet

of space in four buildings used for brewing and tasting room operations as well as storage and administrative office space. Work was funded in part by a $500,000 Municipal Brownfield Grant, a $100,000 Small Business Express Grant, and a $1 million Connecticut Development Authority loan. At Mercer Coal Towers, 2350 Stratford Ave., demolition took place a year ago and remediation on the roughly 1-acre site is near completion. Funding included a $200,000 EPA grant and a $200,000 grant from DECD. “It’s down to removing a couple of piles of concrete off the prop» Redevelopment, page 6


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