Deal Struck to Advance Town's Third Train Station

Town and state officials this morning announced a deal to move forward construction of a $250 million project on lower Black Rock Turnpike that would include the town's third train station, a 1,500-space rail commuter parking lot and up to 1 million square feet of commercial space.

The deal calls for Blackrock Realty, LLC, the private developer, to pay an additional $5.2 million into the public portion of the project and for the town to assume control of building an interior road and drainage system on the 35.5 acres and remediating soil along the shoreline of Ash Creek, according to Jeff Parker, deputy commissioner of the state Department of Transportation, and Town Attorney Richard Saxl.

The town previously agreed to build the parking lot for train station commuters under a tri-party agreement among the DOT, town and Blackrock Realty and also agreed to improve off-site intersections to handle heavier traffic.

The state several months ago agreed to bond up to $19.4 million for the interior road, drainage system and shoreline remediation and the town has about $5 million left of its original $6 million appropriation for the project, which doesn't include a $4 million federal grant that was used by the town to buy the 8.83 acres where the commuter lot will be built.

Most of the remaining $5 million was to go toward construction of the commuter parking lot and improvements to off-site intersections.

"We're in charge of the project," Saxl said. "The state is giving us $19.4 million, the developer is giving us $5.2 million, and the town has its own money."

Saxl and First Selectman Ken Flatto seemed confident this morning that the overall $29.6 million in funding - $19.4 million from the state, $5 million in remaining money from the town and $5.2 million in new money from Blackrock Realty - would be enough to finish public portions of the project that the DOT is not already doing.

The DOT has been busy in recent months building a bridge from Frank and Timko streets, over Metro-North Railroad tracks and onto Blackrock Realty's 35.5-acre property, as well as building train station platforms. The interior road is necessary to connect the base of the bridge to Black Rock Turnpike.

Saxl said the bidding environment was favorable and indicated more negotiations would be necessary if the $29.6 million wasn't enough to complete public portions of the project. "If bids come in inappropriately, we might see if we can force a square peg into a round hole yet again," he said.

Flatto said, "We now have in hand the resources to finish this project right."

Gov. M. Jodi Rell said the deal was signed Wednesday evening. She said the project, known as the Fairfield Metro Center, was important because it would take commuters off Interstate 95, reducing traffic and pollution.

Parker said state and town officials, in the deal, had made "a little bit of lemonade out of lemons, so to speak."

Kurt Wittek, a managing director at Blackrock Realty, said the private development called for five office buildings of about 200,000 square feet each, retail space and a 180-room hotel. He said Blackrock wouldn't start to build an office building until it had pre-leased 80 percent of the space in that building.

"We're kind of at the mercy of the economy and the world, and we're listening to all comers. Right now I think, as of today, we're back in the game, and we're going to be seeking tenants," Wittek said, adding that the Fairfield Metro Center represented "transit-oriented smart growth."

Flatto said the deal struck Wednesday night should serve as a catalyst for the private development. "Where there's a train station, they will come," he said.

Peter Penczer, chairman of the town's Economic Development Commission, said the project would spur commercial growth and improvements in the Commerce Drive area for years to come.

"It's been a long time coming, a lot of work by lots of people, and it's going to be a blessing for the town," Penczer said.

Penczer recalled that the idea for the project was based on the town needing a train station that was accessible to the disabled. He said an alternative plan, discussed about a decade ago, that called for Fairfield Railroad Station to be made ADA-complaint and that included a parking garage in that train station's parking lot would have been "a disaster" because of all the traffic associated with three public schools on Unquowa Road.