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January 8, 2020

Up in the Valley: New businesses get a charge out of Ansonia

PHOTOS | Patricia Villers Diners have plenty of restaurants to choose from along Main Street in Ansonia.
By Patricia Villers

Ansonia’s business environment is undergoing a transformation thanks to an initiative launched in August 2017 dubbed “Ansonia Recharged,” which aims to show companies and developers the city is ready and willing to work with them. 

The strategy seems to be working. So many new restaurants have sprouted in recent months that Main Street is now thought of as a “restaurant row,” for example. 

Mayor David S. Cassetti’s focus is on creating public/private partnerships to attract business to the city, according to Economic Development Director Sheila O’Malley. “The mayor’s philosophy is to do everything to show businesses [we] are willing to bend over backwards for them.”

O’Malley said Cassetti “looks at everything as a partnership, and that’s how we approach each development.”

The growth of Ansonia — incorporated as a city in 1893 — was led by large employers such as Farrel Corp. as well as a major brass manufacturer that traces its roots to the 19th century and most recently was known as Ansonia Copper & Brass. That company has since ceased operations.

With a population of slightly under 19,000, the city is continuing its manufacturing tradition with the Farrel-Pomini Corp., the recent relocation of Rug Pad USA from Bridgeport and Better Packages Inc.’s move from Shelton five years ago. 

But Ansonia has also in some ways shed its decades-old reputation as a mill town and has undergone a business renaissance. 

O’Malley said the “Ansonia Recharged” campaign has yielded great results. An Ansonia Recharged Commission includes among its members both developers and real estate professionals interested in transforming the city. The commission looks at how to better market Ansonia to attract new developers and new development, she said.

Opportunity knocking

Ansonia was fortunate in 2018 to have Main Street designated an opportunity zone, O’Malley said, to help spur business growth. It was one of 27 municipalities in Connecticut to receive the designation, which affords preferential tax treatment to new and expanding businesses within its boundaries.

Many restaurants have opened and thrived downtown. Patrons can choose from among diverse cuisines, including Asian fusion, Polish, Costa Rican, Peruvian, Spanish, Italian, Latin fusion, Thai and American.

Now in his fourth term as mayor, Cassetti says he’s thrilled that the “restaurant row” that has taken shape during his administration has brought new business and new visitors to downtown, a trend he sees continuing in the years ahead.

Among the first of the latest cohort of restaurateurs to open for business downtown during the Cassetti administration was Tom Carney, chef/owner of Copper City Bar & Grill. He opened his restaurant at 82-84 Main St. in 2014. The menu features contemporary American cuisine.

Carney said before deciding whether to open in Ansonia he "scoped out" the area on Friday and Saturday nights. 

“I parked across the street and watched the number of people going into Crave — already a well-established Latin fusion restaurant at 102 Main St. — and counted how many pizzas were coming out of Massimino’s [at 70 Main St.],” Carney said. “I did that for a couple of months and figured it was worth the gamble.”

This past year Massimino Andretta expanded his business and built a much larger restaurant with an upstairs banquet facility at 85 Main St., across from Copper City.

Carney said he was grateful to the mayor for welcoming him to Ansonia with a grand opening ceremony. And he said he appreciated the support he received from Crave proprietress Libby Meissner and building owner Jerry Nocerino, who “sweetened the deal” for him to locate there. “He wanted an anchor restaurant” for the block, Carney said. 

Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce President Bill Purcell applauds the great progress made in Ansonia. He credits Cassetti, the Board of Aldermen and the city's economic development team for fostering a pro-business and “can-do” attitude in the community.

The chamber and the city co-hosted an “Ansonia Business & Economic Development Forum” in September to spotlight some of the economic development projects and initiatives throughout downtown and beyond.

Organic growth

Said Purcell: “Over the past several years, Ansonia has been experiencing an economic renaissance that is truly organic. Building by building and block by block, the city is benefitting from renewed public and private investment that is helping to transform the local economy.”

Purcell pointed to the 2017 opening of Farrel Pomini’s $11 million headquarters in Fountain Lake Industrial Park as a major element of the city’s business transformation. “It’s an extraordinary partnership among a private developer — R.D.Scinto — the city of Ansonia, and Farrel Pomini,” he said.

At the forum O’Malley and city Corporation Counsel John P. Marini outlined several projects. They include: 

  • A downtown police station, which O’Malley called “a great re-use” of a former Farrel Corp. building. The Ansonia P.D. will be housed on the top floor. Each floor has 22,000 square feet and the floor below will be used by the Joseph A. Doyle Senior Center, O’Malley said. The center is located on Main Street.
  • A public/private recreation complex proposed for the former site of the Riverside apartments on Olson Drive.
  • Demolition at the former Ansonia Copper & Brass Co. site. Marini said the city is working to “assess, demolish and remediate” the approximately 40-acre, deteriorated site along the Naugatuck River. He called it “the most difficult but the most worthwhile” project the city has undertaken. 

Purcell said other projects being proposed are redevelopment of an Upper Main Street block by developer Jerry Nocerino. That plan includes construction of a dozen market-rate apartments and street-level retail.

He also noted Antonio Mavulli's plan for mixed-use development on two Main Street properties and redevelopment of the Palmer and ATP Buildings by a private developer.

Said O’Malley, “The mayor loves the city and genuinely feels it has all the potential in the world.”

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