On Wednesday night the ARC will do an exterior alteration review of Greenwich Plaza’s plans along Railroad Ave.
The applicant proposes to demolish the existing theater building and construct a new one-story restaurant and retail spaces in its place, and make exterior renovations to the remainder of the existing building, including the Greenwich Train Station.
The intent of the exterior renovations is to update the existing building without making significant structural alterations.
Landscaping, including an outdoor seating area adjacent to the restaurant and improved pedestrian access to the surrounding neighborhood are also proposed.
The proposal is less extensive than the previous proposal back in 2019, which received preliminary approval but ultimately was withdrawn.
In February, Greenwich Plaza’s updated application went before P&Z. They talked about upgrading the train station by removing the ticket booth and opening up views of the platform, renovating the existing storefronts at street level, and tearing down the entire movie theater building.
At P&Z there was a significant difference of opinion between the applicant’s architect and the commission on the proposed architecture. The applicant’s architect said the proposed architecture would have a harmonious relationship with the office buildings on the south side of the tracks, which is part of the same development.
The applicant’s architect Frank Prial described the train station as contributing to mid-century Modernism.
The train station was built in 1970. P&Z Chair Margarita Alban said she did not consider 1970 to be mid-century.
She said during the previous iteration of the proposal, the commission had worked with the applicant on having the architecture reflect elements of the buildings on Greenwich Avenue, which is a historic district, and not reflect elements of the office building across the tracks.
For Wednesday’s ARC agenda, meeting materials and link to Zoom, click here.
See also:
AMC Acquires 7 Bow Tie Cinema Locations in CT; Greenwich Bow Tie Theater to Be Demolished April 14, 2022
P&Z Questions New Train Station Plan about Its “Mid-Century Modern” Architecture
February 5, 2022
