🔒Downtown Revival: State’s smallest city poised for renaissance amid new projects

It’s no secret that Derby, along with the rest of the Naugatuck Valley, has been stuck in the economic doldrums for years. The humming factories and roaring foundries that once defined the region are long gone, leaving the city and its residents struggling.

But after decades of decline and stagnation, Derby is potentially on the cusp of a turnaround, city officials say. Exhibit A is Trolley Pointe, a 105-unit market rate apartment complex at the east end of Main Street that will break ground in the coming months.

It’s Derby’s largest construction project in years and marks the start of what city officials hope will be a long-awaited revival.

“We’re a diamond in the rough,” Mayor Richard Dziekan said. “We’re just starting to polish the stone now.”

Driving the optimism are three major state-funded transportation projects, including the long-delayed widening and reconfiguration of the Route 34-Main Street interchange set to kick off next month, and a new $25 million train station, Dziekan and Economic Development Liaison Carmen DiCenso said.

Those improvements, along with renovation of the Derby-Shelton Bridge at the other end of Main Street, will open up downtown and the surrounding area to redevelopment, attracting developers looking to build apartments and retail, they said. All of this fits in perfectly with transit-oriented development, a concept pushed by the state that encourages housing and retail around transit hubs, DiCenso said.

“I think as soon as the highway work starts, the developers will be ready to go,” Dziekan said. “What we hope is once we have all the foot traffic, the rest of these vacant downtown storefronts will reopen, and we’ll turn it into a destination location.”

Vacancy land opportunity

Developer Joseph Salemme, whose company is building Trolley Pointe, confirmed that the transportation improvements were the deciding factor in going forward with the project. He is especially excited by the new train station, which will be within easy walking distance of the apartments, increasing the complex’s attractiveness.

“I believe that [the train station] is going to be a major factor in having a successful redevelopment,” said Salemme, who is already interested in developing an adjacent property as well. “All the pieces are coming together. The [city] administration has been working very hard to improve the climate for developers to come in and make this happen.”

Salemme said his firm will begin work in late spring or early summer and hopes to have the complex ready to rent in 16 to 18 months. It will cater to millennials and Gen Zers who work from home as well as empty nesters. It will include amenities such as “Zoom rooms” for online meetings, a conference room and high-speed internet. Thanks to the train station, Salemme said he thinks he may attract tenants who work as far away as New York City.

Perhaps the city’s biggest challenge — and its greatest selling point — is the big chunk of vacant land in the heart of downtown.

Three decades ago, commercial buildings lined the south side of Main Street. Today, they are all gone. Dilapidated to the point of unsalvageable, the city had no choice but to take the structures down, DiCenso said.

Now DiCenso and Dziekan are confident that the transportation improvements will unlock the property, transforming what is essentially a giant vacant lot from Main Street down to the Housatonic River into a highly desirable property. To that end, the city is planning to put out a request for proposals to redevelop the parcel.

Trolley Pointe, located on vacant land once home to a printing company, is the first part of that redevelopment, they said.

“I think the apartments are going to be a big shot in the arm to downtown,” DiCenso said.

The city is taking other steps to goose development, including property-tax incentives and hiring a full-fledged economic development director, Dziekan and DiCenso said.

The transportation projects and Trolley Pointe aren’t the only good news in Derby, city officials said.

Two fuel cell projects are expected to bring in $250,000 a year in local taxes, and the former United Illuminating building downtown is being transformed into 33 apartments.

In addition, the city has parties interested in undeveloped land it owns near the Seymour border, Dziekan said.

Derby, which sits at the confluence of the Housatonic and Naugatuck rivers, has also become a favorite destination for anglers looking to snag striped bass, Dziekan said. To that end, the state is building a fishing pier on the Housatonic that will attract fishing enthusiasts from all over the state, he said.

A bygone era

Unfortunately, Derby’s proud manufacturing heritage is all but gone, Dziekan said. The Farrel industrial site, which originally opened as a foundry in the early 1800s and employed generations of city residents, closed in 2000 and is today a Home Depot.

The city’s biggest employers include Griffin Hospital, the municipal school system, Home Depot and other retailers, Dziekan said. There’s also a craft beer boomlet in town, with two city suds destinations, BAD SONS Brewery — the name is an acronym of Naugatuck Valley municipalities — and the Hops Company, building strong clienteles, he said.

The city also added to its appeal in recent years by building state-of-the-art athletic facilities at the high school thanks to a generous $20 million gift from Joan Payden.

Payden, founder and head of Payden & Rygel, a California-based global investment management firm, made the donation in memory of her father, who attended Derby High School in the early 20th century.

Dziekan and DiCenso thanked both the state and Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments for providing vital assistance to the city’s redevelopment efforts.

“We don’t have the capabilities the state has,” Dziekan said.