Tequilas?!

From the Register Citizen:

TEQUILAS: Maybe the pieces are falling into place to make downtown Torrington known as a place to go out for dinner and drinks. Opening soon will be Tequilas, a new Mexican restaurant owned by the folks who acquired the landmark Dick’s Restaurant but then struggled to hold on to its loyal but aging regulars. Tequilas will be located in the Dick’s space and an adjoining storefront that is being renovated on East Main on a revitalized “restaurant row” next to Bachi’s and The Venetian.

Now nighttime downtown will have excellent Italian food options with the latter two, Mexican and several solid sit-down establishments offering traditional American menus, including the Cambridge House Brew Pub, 99 and Bogey’s. It will be interesting to see if someone takes the plunge on another ideal restaurant and/or nightclub location, the former Memories on Main space, that is being marketed anew by that building’s owners.

Another positive development for.. well, downtown redevelopment. I think so, at least. Ever been to Tequilas? Is it a chain restaurant? Something interesting and well-worn, or an after thought when you want to get hammered somewhere without those beer-snobs at the Cambridge Brew House? I count myself among that ilk, by the way. Beer-snobbery, that is. But I digress..

Is it something like this?

Maybe.. this?

Or.. more likely something like this establishment?

Love the animated cacti. Well this looks to complete an interesting 'Torrington Mexican Triangle', between Tequilas, Dos Amigos and Northern Galapagos.



Now if only our coffee shops could learn to appreciate this sort of elbow room : ) On the scale of a city block, at least.

Torrington's Empty Storefronts: Bones Indeed!

I passed by a newspaper bin today with an issue of the Register Citizen proclaiming, "Torrington's Empty Storefronts: Opportunity Seen".

If you've been keeping up with my local commentary you know I've addressed my feelings on the issue of downtown's redevelopment. The RC article is an interesting read, I've been told about 'Torrington's heyday' and how packed downtown usually was. Same story in a lot of industrial areas, sure. And while I appreciate the constructive intention of the Torrington Development Corp., I'm still wondering where this progress is...





.. then you look closer at the actual development plans. I don't know how they're going to pull this off, but I like it. Bulldoze the apartments on Maiden Lane for parking? Wow. Totally nix the intersection entrance to Franklin Street and clear out buildings for parking? Wow, again. Cemetery-view parking? Nice. Remodeling the old factory buildings for commercial space?! Fantastic. River walkways? Foot bridges connecting either side of the river?! One-way main street with added greenspace downtown?!! Total redesign of the Torrington Plaza?! Wow. It's going to start looking like the Shoppes at Farmington Valley. Which.. is good.

My initial glance at these plans didn't allow me to fully appreciate the depth of this project, but upon re-examination, I really like it. It's .. rather crazy, but if they make this happen within ten years I'll be impressed...

Check out the conceptual redevelopment plan at the TDC site, it's the same high res PDF I pulled the above images from.

In the comments section from the RC article linked above, "Reader" makes a great point:

" Take the lead from Blueback Square in West Hartford. . . parking and all. Imagine being able to walk into a Borders bookstore or an authentic shoe store (no bogo). "

Well.. that may be a bit of a stretch, but it's food for thought. The "bones of downtown" certainly exist, but let's get some meat on them already!

Two coffee shops for the price of two!

Are you familiar with Chianes? Downtown? Great little place. What about Nirvana? Uptown? Great little place.

What say we put them right next to each other, just to make things interesting! I mean literally, not for comparison's sake. Huh.

As I understand, the vacant used-to-be-yet-another-gift-store unit may be the new home to Nirvana Health. As I've stated before, I think nearly any new addition to downtown is a good thing, with the opinionated exceptions being pawn shops and trinket-pushers..

But two coffee shops right next to eachother?! People scoff at having a Starbucks on every corner in NYC, but at least they're on opposite sides of the street!

Honestly though, I think they'll compliment each other nicely. Chianes is geared more towards being a gourmet eatery, where Nirvana seems to double as a health store and new-agey retreat. If it were only that simple. Both serve coffee and promote themselves as a sort of micro-venue, and seem to cater to the few locals that exude that Torrington brand loyalty.


There will definitely be some overlap, but I hope the two entities can somehow benefit each other more than compete.

Torrington Parkade: What's the Lowe's down?

As I understand, Lowe's is coming to town! This should bring some interesting competition between the local Home Depot, and I'm sure we'll benefit from many promotional deals to follow...

But what's going on? I can't find too much information about it, other than the usual location mention - that being the Torrington Parkade. I haven't seen it yet, but I'm told the building is up..



Any Google search will tell you they're hiring. Like crazy. But I'm more interested in details.. when, where... the goods, right?

The Republican American said this on February 19th:

Thousands expected to seek jobs at Lowe's in Torrington

The Lowe's Home Improvement store scheduled to open on Winsted Road Torrington in late spring or early summer will begin hiring for the store early next month, Lowe's spokeswoman Maureen Rich said.

Rich said in an e-mail that the company had not announced a hiring office location, but said she would provide the information as soon as it was available.

“We're always looking for team members who are dedicated to customer service,” Rich said, and encouraged job-seekers to visit the company Web site to check for open positions. “While experience in the home improvement trades is a plus, a dedication to providing outstanding customer service will really help an applicant stand out from the crowd.”

She added that the company has received more than 6,000 applications combined for new stores in Southington and Derby.

The aforementioned hiring office seems to be located at 51 Water Street. Again, you'll find this on any Google search.

The Torrington Parkade could really use the addition of Lowes. I'm pleased they'll be in town. For an interesting read on the Parkade itself, check out the Caldor Rainbow's essay on the Torrington Parkade.

Also, can any bloggers resist word play on Lowe's? I'm guilty.

A few notable Torrington web destinations

Have you ever tried meetup.com? There's a pretty healthy Torrington page with groups and local events from surrounding areas:

http://www.meetup.com/cities/us/ct/torrington/

Do you use any of the hundreds of gas watch websites that are out there? Torrington has it's own page on GasBuddy.com:

http://www.connecticutgasprices.com/Torrington/index.aspx

Yet another 'attractions and things to do' list courtesy of shortdrives.com:

http://shortdrives.com/?city=Torrington&state=Connecticut#

And you may have seen these if you browsed through the Torrington Flickr collection I posted earlier, but there's this fellow named Jerry Dougherty who has an extensive photo gallery of nearly everywhere in Connecticut. Here is his Torrington album:

http://public.fotki.com/GCDOUGHERTY/all-towns-and-cities/torrington_ct/

Torrington as seen by Flickr members

How Flickr sees Torrington

"Things to do in Torrington"

Americantowns.com says:

""I'm bored" in Torrington are two words you'll never hear (or think) again. There's so much fun things to do nearby Torrington – all you need is one place to scope out all your options. Whether your ideas of fun are dinner and a movie or helping rebuild a neighborhood, start here to find your next adventure with our Torrington Things to do guide!"

I haven't read through this list yet. What do you think?

Downtown Redevelopment

Plans for the big downtown redevelopment were recently hatched, and curiously enough they seem to omit many of the major issues with downtown Torrington. In my opinion.

While many of the proposed changes seem like a step in the right direction, I can't help but wonder why there isn't more attention directed towards the core of the downtown area. The downtown area of a city is essential for it's overall identity and character, and though what we find in Torrington is largely a mix of positive landmarks like Artwell, Chiane's, Barking Dog Guitar Traders, the Cambridge Brew House and the Warner, to name a few standouts - there exist still too many abandoned/vacant and unkept buildings directly in the highly-visible downtown area. Howard's Building, anyone?

From what I understand, many of these vacant buildings are held onto by their present owners, who are unwilling to sell the buildings for anything below the unrealistic price they're holding out for. Am I wrong? Is it just that no one is interested? I don't think so.

Many complaints exist regarding landlord practices in downtown Torrington, and it's these kind of practices that will ensure that the downtown area retains it's tired facade. Landlords in the downtown area should have some sort of strong incentive to nurture their tenant's businesses, or at least a reason to make their list prices more approachable for new businesses. It really doesn't need to be this way, these vacant buildings have great potential, and with the right businesses in place, could help to bring in some much needed economic activity.



A friend of mine who is a very successful downtown planner for Traverse City, Michigan passed an idea my way that illustrated their success in their own downtown area: build up. UP. Build downtown, and build up. Concentrate your attention downtown, increase foot traffic and make as many businesses available in as small an area as possible. Granted, Traverse City is a tourist destination, and can afford big plans like that, but I believe the same approach would yield positive results for Torrington.

As much as I'm for any redevelopment in Torrington, don't forget about downtown. This is what needs the most work, and this is what has the most potential for growth.

City Blog? UFOs?

http://www.torringtonct.org

Well, we beat them to it! The official content of the Torrington City website is catching up to the modern age. I think it's great, we need more online correspondence about this town's activities and people residing therein..



The potential for this sort of forum occurred to me after I heard about a supposed UFO sighting in Torrington, from a family member in Virginia who keeps track of these things. Having seen the excessive helicopter commotion referred to from that night, I was naturally quite interested and scoured the net for everything I could find.

Needless to say, beyond the above linked article that was the top hit for a google search of "Torrington UFO", I couldn't really find anything other than reference to a well-known incident that happened over I-84 in 1987. But after reading the first page of the UFO Digest article on the March 2009 sighting, there was a nod to local chatter at the Register Citizen's "Sound Off" webpage.



It was interesting to read a few local's take on the event, as well as a few other noteworthy topics. In a town lacking much of a voice online (that I have seen), it was compelling to read the assorted opinions of these locals. Local opinions and issues. Things that were relevant to me. The mere novelty of reading someone else's complaints about garbage pickup procedure led me to feel that I was somehow connected to that person. Yes! It pisses me off too when they won't take my old couch. We are now blog brothers. Let us storm the castle.



So I hope this blog can further some local correspondence and dialogue, beyond a few cramped comment-entries on an afterthought webpage from the Register Citizen. Maybe we can even volley a few issues from the official city blog. I look forward to it.

Contributors

If you live or work in Torrington, and have something you'd like to write about, we'd love to have you as a contributor to our blog. Contact me and let me know what you'd like to write about, and I'll send you an author invite!