Norwalk Innovation Places

South Norwalk, also called SoNo, is Norwalk’s largest and most diverse neighborhood. It is located within Census Tract 441 and is typically described as the area bounded by the intersection of West Avenue and North Main Street to the north, the Norwalk River to the east, Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard to the west and Burritt Avenue, Larsen Street and Belle Avenue to the south (see Figure 1). This area is characterized by a vibrant dining and entertainment district, an authentic architectural landscape, and a transit-oriented neighborhood that is connected to the broader region via the South Norwalk Railroad Station. SoNo is home to Norwalk’s industrial past and boasts factories, mills and forges, many of which have been converted into housing and commercial space. A recent Wall Street Journal article described SoNo as ​“a mini version of Manhattan’s trendy SoHo neighborhood.”

SoNo has been identified as Norwalk’s Innovation Place Impact Area because it has the strongest combination of critical factors identified by CT Next as essential to an Innovation Place: proximity to transit, vibrant urban character, entrepreneurial culture and development opportunity. This location was selected based upon technical analysis and stakeholder input, as described in Appendix A- Opportunities Analysis, and discussed in this Strategic Plan.

Over the past two decades, there has been substantial public and private investment in this neighborhood. When the Norwalk Maritime Aquarium opened in South Norwalk in 1988, the area was home to many vacant warehouses and storefronts and there was little pedestrian activity. Over the last 18 years the Aquarium has been an important anchor for the revitalization of the area, bringing people and spurring redevelopment. It has been a somewhat unseen economic engine for the city and the state, infusing $42 billion per year into Connecticut’s economy. Another key catalyst for revitalization has been the area’s proximity to both transit and the waterfront. At its western boundary, SoNo is served by the South Norwalk train station, which is the area’s transit hub. The station provides access to Metro North’s New Haven main line and to the Danbury branch line, which extends north and serves the city’s larger office parks at the Merritt 7 station. On weekdays, Metro North operates 70 trains between South Norwalk and New York City and 53 trains between Norwalk and New Haven on the main line. On the branch line it operates 14 trains to Danbury and six trains to Waterbury.

On the eastern edge of the neighborhood is the Norwalk River, which provides the public with waterfront access at the Maritime Aquarium and Oyster Shell Park. Many commercial uses along Water Street benefit from access to the waterfront and water views from homes and venues in the neighborhood help to inspire a nautical feel within the neighborhood. Together, these amenities have spurred investment in new retail and restaurants and accompanying streetscape and storefront improvements along Washington and North Main Streets. This thriving district has attracted numerous startups in digital media, marketing and food, including eTouches, Gigmasters, LogicSource, MediaTavern, MediaStrom, SoBe Soda and Spiked Seltzer. And the area has seen significant investment in new residential and mixed use development, including the recently opened Iron Works on North Water Street and SoNo Pearl on Washington Street.

Perhaps the single most significant investment currently energizing the neighborhood is a $30 million federal HUD grant recently awarded to the Norwalk Housing Authority in partnership with the Norwalk Redevelopment Agency and the City of Norwalk through the Choice Neighborhoods program. The grant, which leverages a total of $414 million in public and private investment, will transform the Washington Village public housing site in South Norwalk into a mixed income community. This project repositions the entire Choice Neighborhoods area to provide a range of housing choice for existing and future residents and increases the area’s residential density (see Figure 2). The multiphase project will replace 136 public housing units and create 67 new workforce units and 70 new market rate units on the site, increasing both the density and socio-economic diversity in the area. It also includes significant upgrades to infrastructure, including flood mitigation, pedestrian improvements, broadband infrastructure and a $1 million community initiative to redesign and improve Ryan Park. In addition, the project is funding a cradle-to-career initiative in collaboration with Norwalk ACTS, a partnership of over 100 civic leaders, educators and organizations that is part of the national StriveTogether network. The first phase of this three-phase project broke ground this fall.

In tandem with this grant award, the Norwalk Redevelopment Agency and the City of Norwalk recently completed a South Norwalk TOD Redevelopment Plan, which provides a blueprint for comprehensive transit oriented development (TOD) across South Norwalk. Specifically, the plan calls for a pedestrian friendly, economically and socially vibrant neighborhood with housing choice and quality urban design that leverages proximity to transit at the South Norwalk train station. A key element towards achieving this vision is the adoption new mixed use zoning for the entire neighborhood. While there are currently several zones within South Norwalk that allow for a mix of uses, the new proposed zoning will provide for one, unified mixed use zone for the district and includes urban design standards to enhance the quality and character of the neighborhood. This zoning is currently in the approvals process with Norwalk’s Zoning Commission.

All these investments described above, which have created a vibrant, urban environment that continues to thrive, grow and build on itself, have focused primarily on strengthening the physical landscape of the neighborhood, taking advantage of proximity to the South Norwalk train station and improving quality of life for residents. An important piece of the puzzle that is still unfolding is the neighborhood’s economic future. SoNo boasts a significant array of restaurants and retail uses and attracts large numbers of visitors to the Norwalk Maritime Aquarium, but it hasn’t yet become a regional employment center. While successful startups such as Gigmasters, Mediatavern and eTouches call SoNo home, catalyzing more robust innovation and entrepreneurship activity in this neighborhood is an opportunity in waiting. With the other crucial elements of revitalization firmly in place, the time is right to turn attention towards the economy of this thriving neighborhood so that more people not only live and play in SoNo, but they work there too.

Today SoNo is a place where you can walk to the train station. It is a place where the sidewalks and cafes are full of conversation and where arts and cultural events provide opportunities for the chance interactions and conversations that fuel innovation. You can rent an electric bicycle from Pedego SoNo on Water Street and go on a guided mobile tour of the neighborhood or explore on your own. You can shop with a friend or meet a colleague for happy hour. Now is the time to capitalize on these assets and expand the scope of what SoNo can be- a place of innovation where brilliant people are solving big problems and inventing new technology. CT Next’s Innovation Places program provides the crucial catalyst for SoNo for the next step in the evolution of this dynamic neighborhood. This Strategic Plan lays out an action framework for creating the SoNo Innovation Place whose benefits will extend far beyond the neighborhood throughout the City of Norwalk and the region.