Add one more proposal in the works to the growing list of changes at familiar Wilton Center spots. The Glengate Company, a Wilton-based landscape and pool design company, has submitted an application to convert a visible building on the corner of Old Ridgefield Rd. and Hubbard Rd. into a retail location, showroom and office space.
If the application is approved and Glengate prevails to purchase the building at 47 Old Ridgefield Rd., it will mean the current building owner and longtime Wilton Center mainstay, Bankwell, will be moving out. But whether that means Bankwell is relocating in town — or leaving for good — is still a question mark.
According to the plans submitted by Glengate’s attorney James Murphy, of Gregory and Adams, PC, the company has signed a contract to purchase the property through its affiliate LLC called Jared Martin, EPC. The plan is to convert the first floor into a retail sales center and showroom and use the second floor as the Glengate office. [Editor’s note: there is no connection between the affiliate purchasing the building and the former 2021 candidate for Board of Education of the same name.]
The application will first be considered by the Village District Design Advisory Committee at its meeting on Thursday, March 3. The meeting will be held virtually beginning at 5:30 p.m.
In the application materials on the Planning & Zoning Commission‘s website, Murphy explains that Glengate hopes to make two changes to the building exterior: add a large retail display window at the front of the building facing Hubbard Rd., and change two windows on the side of the building facing Old Ridgefield Rd.
The retail display window will be 11 feet wide by 7 feet high, and Glengate plans to adhere a semi-opaque vinyl decal of its logo on the window that won’t exceed 25% of the window’s area (in accordance with Wilton’s zoning regulations).
The side windows that Glengate seeks to alter are part of two narrow, horizontal window columns on the building’s north side. The applicant wants to replace the lower windows that are split into two panes into a singular rectangular pane. According to the application, the change will better show off planters with plant and floral arrangements that will be placed in the windows to be visible from the outside.
Glengate Company is owned by Wilton resident Jordan “Jordy” Scott. He and his son, Jason Scott, are the two principals of the affiliate actually under contract with Bankwell to buy the building.
According to Glengate’s website, the company’s founding was inspired by the family’s great-grandfather in the 1930s who was “one of Connecticut’s first pool builders.” The services offered by the company include landscape architecture and construction, garden design and installation, pool design and build, and property and pool care.
Bankwell
GOOD Morning Wilton reached out to Bankwell to ask about what the sale of the building will mean for the Wilton branch — will it relocate in town or close altogether? A spokesperson for the bank said she will provide more information on Wednesday, March 2.
UPDATE, 9:40 A.M. — Spokeswoman Lucy French emailed a statement from the bank: “Bankwell consolidated our non-Branch employees into our new headquarters in New Canaan mid-2021 and we no longer needed the large space. We are currently evaluating our options in Wilton.”
Bankwell Bank, a subsidiary of Bankwell Financial Group, Inc., is based in New Canaan and was founded as the Bank of New Canaan in April 2002. The name was changed in September 2013 when it acquired the Bank of Fairfield; two months later Bankwell finalized another merger, this time with The Wilton Bank.
The Wilton Bank was founded in 1987.
Bankwell’s Wilton branch at 47 Old Ridgefield Rd. is one of nine branches currently operated by the bank.
According to the Bank Branch Locator website, Bankwell is the 24th largest bank in Connecticut.
From the renderings of what they are proposing, it looks very nice. Great location and visibility.