Westport’s unemployment rate in March was 6.1 percent, up from 5.8 percent in February, the Connecticut Department of Labor said.
The department said the number of Westport unemployed in March was 749, up from 701 in February.
The March labor force in Westport numbered 12,347, up from 12,106 in February.
There were 11,498 employed in March, up from 11,405 employed in February, the department said. A year ago in March, Westport’s unemployment rate was 5.9 percent.
UPDATE A New York judge today cleared the way for a public offering of shares in the Empire State Building and properties on Westport’s Main Street, including Westport Pizzeria.
New York Supreme Court Justice O. Peter Sherwood denied a motion by opposing shareholders to declare illegal a plan that would allow Malkin Holdings, controlled by the Malkin family of Greenwich, to roll the properties into a real estate investment trust.
The Westport properties include 66-99 Main St., current home to Nike Running, Allen Edmonds, and Theory, and 103 (former home of Kate Spade, now empty), 105 (Francois du Pont Jewelers), and 107 (Westport Pizzeria) Main St.
Under the plan, the Empire State Building—owned by Empire State Building Associates LLC, an entity controlled by Malkin—would join at least 20 other properties in the REIT called Empire State Realty Trust Inc. and launch an initial public stock offering. The IPO could bring $1 billion, according to financial advisers.
The Town of Westport on Monday issued a request for proposal (RFP) from real estate developers to redevelop the Queen Anne-style house known as the Kemper/Gunn House, which has stood since 1885 on Church Lane adjacent to the Westport Weston Family Y. The owner of the house, Bridge Square Associates which is redeveloping the Westport Weston Family Y property, has offered to pay to move it to the nearby town-owned Baldwin Parking Lot. The RFP, which has a deadline of May 30, was developed with a group of preservation advocates and with the support of the Westport Historic District Commission (HDC). It seeks a developer who would be responsible for renovating and adapting the house to new uses that could include commercial use. The town would retain ownership of the land and enter into a ground lease with the developer, who would take ownership of the structure at no cost. Bedford Square Associates has applied for a demolition permit for the house (see WestportNow April 15, 2013), and the HDC can delay demolition for as long as 180 days. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
The shopping strip at 1529 Post Road East at Maple Avenue North has changed hands for $3.45 million, according to broker Jon Angel of Fairfield-based Angel Commercial LLC. The transaction was recorded in the Town Clerk’s office on April 22. He represented the buyer—Post Maple LLC— and the seller, Joseph Rothman Westport LLC. The property on 2.1 acres contains 7,680-square feet of retail space and current tenants include Maple Cleaners, Boat Locker, Dunkin Donuts, Sun Reflexology and Top Drawer. There are no plans to change anything at the premises, other than a general clean up of the property, Angel said. “The seller owned the property for over 45 years,” he said. “It attracted a long list of qualified buyers on an unsolicited basis due to its prime corner location, with traffic lights…and a high traffic count.“ (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
Brandy Melville. an Italian-based chain of young women’s clothing and accessories, has opened at Westport’s 142 Main St. in the street level formerly occupied by Oddz which moved to 139 Post Road East in March. Brandy Melville’s other locations in the northeast include New York City (SoHo), Greenwich, Boston and soon to open in Paramus, N.J. Other locations include San Francisco, Hawaii, Paris, London, Barcelona and Munich (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
Workers are busy at Sunglass Hut, 74 Main St., which will reopen in May, according to an on-site construction manager. “Reconstruction will be completed by May 8, inventory will begin re-stocking immediately thereafter that and we should be ready for business by May 13,” he said. The business, closed since Storm Sandy, also operates in other Fairfield County locations including Greenwich, Stamford and Trumbull. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
Eyeglasses.com, an integrated retail and Internet store, has opened at 147 Post Road East across from the site of the former main post office. Westporter Mark Agnew said he founded the company as an Internet-only business in 1999 shortly after leaving Lehman Brothers where he was an emerging market research analyst.“The 2,000-square foot store is a prototype retail operation which we plan to expand geographically aiming at Greenwich next,” he said. He said the Internet retail concept allows customers to purchase from a range of 250,000 frames which may be purchased as frames only or with a prescription to include lenses. An optometrist is on site two days each week for eye examinations. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
By Dave Matlow
The Fovama Oriental Rugs store, 1385 Post Road East, next to Balducci’s, will close by early July, according to owner Javad Ahmadi.
A presence in Westport for 20 years, Fovama opened in 1993 in the shopping strip anchored by Pier One and in 1997 moved to its current location.
“The economy has changed in the past three or four years,” said Ahmadi. “It’s become difficult for a bricks and mortar business like mine to succeed.”
Ahmadi, who came to the United States during the Iranian revolution in the 1970s, said the concept of owning rugs has changed.
CM Gourmet Market will open in June in the newly constructed Saugatuck Center, 580 Riverside Ave., according to owner Michelle Weber (above) who also owns Cocoa Michelle – which will continue to operate – at nearby 54 Railroad Place. “We’re shooting for mid to end of June to open our new business,” said Weber. It will occupy the entire L-shaped wing on the left side of the new structure and include two sections, a gourmet market and a café with full breakfast and lunch menus, she said. Weber said the cafe chef, Molly Brandt, who was chosen as one of 10 best student chefs by Food & Wine Magazine in 2006, would relocate from Florida. WestportNow reported on Tuesday that Saugatuck Craft Butchery will open in the L-shaped building on the right side of Saugatuck Center, opposite the CM Gourmet Market. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
By Keith M. Phaneuf
Connecticut’s massive long-term debt, deep pockets of poverty and more than 20 years of stagnant job growth threaten to sink the state’s economy for decades unless major reforms are enacted, according to a report today from a national fiscal responsibility group and the University of Connecticut’s economic think-tank.
Comeback America Initiative founder David M. Walker and UConn economics Professor Fred V. Carstensen, who outlined their report at the Hartford Marriott, called for dramatic new reductions on public worker retirement benefits, deeper investments in transportation, education and economic marketing, and an enhanced “culture of transparency” that will drive greater efficiencies in state spending.
Though Connecticut has one of the highest bonded debts, per capita, of any state in the nation, that represents just a fraction of the crippling debt taxpayers must answer for the in near future, said Walker, a Bridgeport resident and former U.S. comptroller general under President Clinton. He launched his Comeback America campaign for fiscal responsibility in 2010.
The picture goes from bad to scary, the report says, when one considers state employee and public school teacher pension funds that have less than half the resources they need to meet future obligations, as well as a state retiree health care program for which government has saved almost nothing.
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