The former headquarters of one of Greenwich's oldest companies could be torn down and replaced with a new building under a proposal filed with the Planning & Zoning Commission.
The applicant, 33 West Elm LLC, submitted a pre-application to demolish the 105-year-old mixed-use building at 33 West Elm St. and construct a new structure in its place, according to Patch, which first reported on the planning documents.
Rachael Orsi, assistant director of planning and environmental for S.E. Minor & Co., described the proposal in the submitted documents. The new building would "maintain a similar footprint, height, and floor area to the existing structure, while maintaining or reducing existing zoning nonconformities," Orsi wrote in the filing.
The 9,476-square-foot property sits at the corner of West Elm Street and Benedict Place. It falls within the CGB Zone, the Central Greenwich Impact Overlay Zone and the Conservation and Traffic Mitigation Zone.
The building served as headquarters for S.E. Minor & Co., a land surveying and engineering firm founded in Greenwich in 1887. The firm says it handled the majority of major subdivisions in Greenwich, including Conyers Farm. S.E. Minor has since moved to an office at 15 Sherwood Place.
The proposal arrives as Greenwich grapples with demolition threats to historic structures elsewhere downtown. In a July 16 letter, First Selectman Fred Camillo urged state involvement over a separate plan to demolish a Tudor Revival building at 2 Greenwich Ave. Camillo described that building as lacking a Historic Overlay zone or local historic designation, meaning its National Register status offered no local protection from demolition.
The filing at 33 West Elm St. is a pre-application, a step that allows commissioners to weigh in before any formal application is submitted. No formal application has been filed, and no hearing date has been set.
