Senior Swap Plans Filed

While the fate of a three-way building swap that would net a new senior center in Branford is still uncertain, one of the key players is already making plans.

The Giordano family has filed plans to convert the current Board of Education (BOE) building at the corner of Main and Montowese streets across from the Town Green into offices. In addition, the Giordanos are hoping to renovate their nearby property at 221 Montowese St—which bookends the BOE building—for additional office space.

The Planning and Zoning Commission on Thursday scheduled a public hearing for both projects Sept. 16. The commission is not meeting in August. Plans for the projects were officially received by the P&Z Department July 21.

The proposed conversion of the BOE building hinges on the success of a building swap announced earlier this summer by First Selectman Anthony “Unk” DaRos.

Swap plans call for the senior center to move from the town-owned Canoe Brook Center on Cherry Hill Road to an office building at 175 N. Main Street, which is owned by the Giordano family’s Queach Corporation. The Giordano family would then swap their 14,000 square foot North Main Street commercial building for the BOE building at 1111 Main St., which is owned by the town and currently houses the Board of Education offices. The board’s building, a former town post office, is about 4,000 square feet.  School officials would move to the Canoe Brook Center.

Various other swaps have been suggested over the years in an attempt to replace the century-old Canoe Brook Center, which the senior center programs have outgrown. None of the proposals were successful.  The current swap was approved by the Board of Selectmen in June but faces scrutiny by the Representative Town Meeting and other regulatory boards.

DaRos calls the swap a win-win-win situation—the North Main Street location would be renovated to provide a state-of -the-art senior center, the BOE offices would fit nicely into Canoe Brook, and the Giordano family would receive prime real estate.

Some, however, are concerned that the location of the BOE building is too prime. Kurt Schwanfelder ,a former Republican leader of the RTM for many years, said at a recent RTM administrative services committee meeting that trading 145 N. Main St. for 1111 Main St. is like trading Baltic Avenue for pricey Park Place in the game of Monopoly.

“Why invest in a property of lesser value and give up a shining star in the heart of town? Are you getting value for value?” he asked.

In a subsequent interview, he told the Eagle that while the fair market values of the two properties may appear to be equal they are not, given their respective locations. Other concerns raised primarily by one or two seniors centered on the traffic patterns at North Main Street and the loss of downtown life. 

David Goclowski, the Republican candidate for state representative in the 102nd District, said at the meeting that he took George Dwyer, a Branford senior who spends many hours at Canoe Brook, to tour Wallingford’s senior center. Goclowski said he took photos of the facility to show to residents who showed up for the RTM committee meeting. Dwyer says the new center should be erected near the current community house on Church Street. 

Goclowski, who is running on a platform of fiscal constraint, said the town’s seniors should get a brand new center because they deserve a new center. “Our senior citizens deserve not only to have their needs met, but their desires,” he said. 

DaRos wants the swap so that the project is less costly. The town will pay to transform the building into a state-of-the art center without building a new one. It will also renovate Canoe Brook for the Board of Education facility. 

DaRos told the Eagle last week that getting seniors a new facility has been one of his top priorities. He said the town had experts examine the two acre site at 175 North Main Street for the past year in order to determine if the project could work. . “They said it was very feasible,” he said.

The Queach Corporation, which was incorporated in 1954, is listed as the owner of the office building at 175 N. Main St., which is involved in the proposed swap, and also as the owner of the building at 221 Montowese St.   

Michael F. Giordano and his brother Vincent S. Giordano Jr. are principals of the corporation. The brothers also own the renowned Giordano Construction Inc. at 1155 Main St.; and Branford Building Supplies at 1145 Main St, both adjacent and to the rear of the BOE building. 
Branford Building Supplies has been in operation since the 1930’s, and the construction company since the 1940’s.

If the swap went through and the Giordano family owned two major pieces of property across from the Green, did DaRos envision a time when the Giordanos might own the adjacent Montowese Street properties?  There are currently three buildings owned by others. One houses a dress shop, Coco’s on the Green, a second houses Digestive Disease Associates and the third houses Le Petit Café, along with an insurance firm and a barber.   

DaRos said anything is possible down the road but he thought Branford Building Supplies would likely want to move to a wider lot elsewhere in town, one that would have better access and parking for their construction and lumber business than the space they occupy now. 

The proposed as yet unsigned contract between the Queach Corporation and the Town of Branford places no restrictions on whether the new Queach property building lot is used for office or another commercial use. 

The contract says that “Queach wishes to acquire the 1111 Main St. parcel for office and/or commercial use in a manner which complements the use of adjacent property owned by Queach and/or its affiliates, as well as the downtown Branford vicinity.”

In the paperwork filed with the P&Z, the Giordano family is requesting a special exception and coastal site plan review for 1111 Main St. to change the use from a local government building to a “business and professional office” designation. 

The engineering firm of Waldo & Associates LLC in Guilford submitted the plans which also include improvements to the adjoining parking lot, the addition of landscaping, and access to a proposed ​“small park-like setting.” The proposal calls for reducing the height of a retaining wall from 7 feet to 4 feet. (see sketch photo)

DaRos said Michael Giordano plans to keep the municipal lot next to the BOE building as public parking. ​“Giordano claims he will open up more parking on the property he owns now and move his gate so that he can open up more parking for the public,” DaRos said.

The plans for 221 Montowese St., which is four buildings away from the BOE site, call for interior renovations to convert the space into offices, and also for construction of a 130 square-foot addition. The building recently housed the Presence on the Green gift shop and was the previous location of the former Panache Hair Salon.

The site plans must also be approved by the Inland Wetlands Commission and the Center Revitalization Review Board.

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