A landlord from Woodbridge wants to convert office space on the second floor of 76 – 88 Main St. into apartments.
Jerry Nocerino controls a limited liability company that purchased the 12,000-square-foot, 94-year-old building, along with five other properties on Main Street, for $1.4 million in February.
His company wants to convert 10 offices on the second floor of 76 – 88 Main St. into five one-bedroom and one two-bedroom apartments, according to minutes from the Ansonia Planning and Zoning Commission.
The proposal was rejected Monday (July 28) by the Planning and Zoning Commission because commissioners wanted more detailed info on where the tenants will park.
However, commissioners weren’t dead set against Nocerino’s plan, and even indicated it would likely get approved, assuming more parking info is submitted.
Nocerino hasn’t returned a Valley Indy phone call in years, including a message left Tuesday.
According to meeting minutes from May, commissioners raised concerns regarding whether there would be adequate parking for residents of the apartments.
The minutes indicate the proposed apartments would require a total of 14 spaces.
Nocerino’s son, Jeremy, told the commission there are 20 parking spots available behind the building, but PZC Chairman Bart Flaherty questioned how much parking would be required when the rest of the buildings the company bought are renovated.
“We need to have a good count on what is going on in those buildings,” Flaherty said, according to the minutes.
The minutes say Jeremy Nocerino told the PZC he would research the parking issue and get back to them.
But the PZC’s meetings in June and July came and went with no word on the project, Flaherty said Tuesday.
The proposal seemed pretty hunky-dory but for the parking space question marks, he said, so the PZC denied the application with the hopes that it may be revived in the future.
“We’re waiting for more information,” Flaherty said. “I’m quite sure that it would be approved. The commission just felt that they wanted the (parking) information.”
He said the city has to be especially mindful of downtown parking as more and more downtown properties are redeveloped.
Second-floor office space is a tough sell on Main Street, as there are already empty retail store fronts on first floors. In addition, there are newer office buildings on Main Street that also have openings for upper-floor tenants.
Nocerino owns a number of commercial properties in the Valley, including Ansonia Commons at the intersection of Main and Bridge streets, as well as the site of the former Valley Bowl in Derby, where a new Panera Bread and Aldi grocery store are in the works.
The six buildings from 36 – 88 Main St. — which house the Ansonia Housing Authority and Massimino’s Pizza, among other tenants — used to be owned by the Main Street Development Corp., which fell on hard times after the economy went south.
Nocerino’s company acquired the buildings through a foreclosure sale organized by Naugatuck Savings Bank, the company through which Main Street Development Corp. mortgaged the property, according to land records in City Hall.
According to the minutes of the May 19 Ansonia Planning and Zoning meeting, Nocerino’s son, Jeremy, described the proposed units as “above average affordable apartments,” and told the PZC that he’d seek rent of $900 per month for the 400-square-foot one-bedroom units and $1,200 per month for the two-bedroom apartment, which would be 652 square feet.
Sheila O’Malley, the city’s economic development director, said Tuesday that Jeremy Nocerino is currently overseas celebrating his honeymoon, and that he’d bring the commission the required parking information when he returns to the country.
She said the company has already renovated several apartments that already existed inside the other buildings bought in February, and said getting the apartments and retail space in them occupied will have “a tremendous impact.”
Minutes from the May 19 PZC meeting are posted below. Scroll to page five to see the discussion of the apartment proposal.
