Old Riverview Plaza to Grow Apartment and Hotel Towers

New life and new looks are coming to an essentially abandoned shopping center and office space along the Norwalk River.

Jason Milligan purchased the Riverview Plaza at 24 Belden Avenue in June 2024. The Riverview Plaza was built in 1975, and for nearly a decade, it’s stood almost completely empty. According to an interview with The Hour, Milligan could see the old building from his office and used to daydream about what it could become. Now, he gets to decide.

The 1.43-acre property sits at the corner of Belden Avenue and Burnell Boulevard, and in November 2024, Milligan and his development team submitted a proposal to expand and revitalize the site. According to the official proposal, the building will come back to life with four main components: a hotel, an apartment complex, redeveloped office spaces, and an entire ground-level floor of retail venues.

Rendering Courtesy of Jason Milligan

Instead of being torn down, the existing tower will be reoutfitted to serve as updated offices. It offers approximately 44,000-square-feet of functional space and can support multiple businesses. On the ground floor, retailers will have roughly 30,000-square-feet for varied shops and storefronts.

These proposed uses echo some of Riverview Plaza’s previous offerings. At one point the building was a mall, and as the name suggests, the office tower has long been associated with rented workspaces. While these existing areas will see significant facelifts during redevelopment, the plan highlights expansion.

It’s a case of making new space while keeping the old.

Key to the new layout are two new, five-story towers, one for the hotel, and one for multi-family housing. According to the proposal, these would be built on top of the preexisting single-level infrastructure, framing the existing six-level office tower. One new tower will rise to the east of the existing tower, and the second addition will stand on the west side. To support these towers, the building’s footprint will expand by 2,391 feet.

The proposed hotel would host 96 guest rooms in the new eastern tower. Milligan has said he is in talks with a prominent chain to occupy and run the hotel, according to CT Insider, though he has yet to name the company publicly.

The new tower on the western side is slated to become a 100-unit apartment complex. According to CT Insider, Milligan plans on maximizing affordability through efficiency. This goes beyond the complex’s planned Energy Star participation. Future renters can expect cozy spaces with small cooking surfaces and functional amenities, possibly including murphy beds, in exchange for comparatively lower prices than regional averages.

This new endeavor coincides with the City of Norwalk’s ongoing plans to revitalize downtown, starting with the Wallstreet and West Avenue neighborhoods. In his interview with The Hour, Milligan emphasized how his designs for the rebirth of the old Riverview Plaza would create a kind of gateway to the city’s planned updates. A traffic study attached to the proposal for 24 Belden Avenue’s redevelopment concluded the site wouldn’t significantly impact local traffic or strain existing services. Like the rest of the project, the study was conducted in tandem with city officials, taking current development and municipal concerns into account.

290 parking spaces are included on the property in two underground garages and will remain after renovations. It’s unclear how these spaces will be divided between hotel guests, shoppers, and residents for balanced access if they are designated at all.

The project aims to strike a balance with new opportunities within an existing space. This means not building towers higher than the original elements of 24 Belden Avenue and respecting valuable regional ecology.

The developers make a point in the official proposal to highlight their compliance and alignment with the Coastal Area Management Act’s goals and policies. This is vital because the property sits within a Coastal Area Management Zone bordering the Norwalk River, which flows about 35 feet away. Although the plans require expanding the building’s footprint, construction won’t encroach on the riverbank. Surveys show the new design wouldn’t damage state waterway and coastline preservation efforts, nor would it present a flood risk according to FEMA standards.

This is excellent news for hotel guests and renters on the lookout for a picturesque river view from their accommodations.