Rob Reeves addressing the Westport Rotary Club today. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
The Westport Weston Family Y, which sold its downtown building to an investor group three years ago in advance of a planned move to its Mahackeno property, has received a five-year extension on its occupation of the 86-year-old building, a Y official said today.
Rob Reeves, chief executive officer, told the weekly meeting of the Westport Rotary Club that the extension was agreed upon by the Y and the building’s new owner, Bedford Square Associates. The group agreed to pay more than $20 million for the 86-year-old building in 2006. (See WestportNow Dec. 12, 2006)
“It was mutually beneficial,” Reeves said.
He explained that litigation by neighbors opposed to the project has delayed the Y’s planned move and at the same time the difficult economy has forced the developer to put its plans on hold. The Y originally had hoped to break ground on the new building this year and move in sometime in 2011.
Reeves said the Y’s revised timetable calls for construction to begin in 2011 and for occupation of its new building to take place in 2013.
He said the extension has allowed the Y to make modifications to its plans and for time to work out traffic issues at the busy Merritt Parkway Exit 41 which is adjacent to the Y property.
The idea of a Y downtown is not dead, as a matter of fact it just took a step closer to actually happening. Time is the great equalizer, it can often overcome insurmountable situations.
We have the time to revisit and execute the right decision for our town. We can move passed the tortured Conservation and P&Z;decisions, which from the briefs filed outline gross and terminal legal faults, and seize the opportunity to unite our town.
Dan Woog