THE DAY (December 9, 2019) — A three-day online auction starts at 3 p.m. Tuesday to sell the Marina at American Wharf at Norwich Harbor either in its entirety or broken up into subsections.

The sale could bring to a close the city’s troubled relationship with current owner Joyal Capital Management LLC.

Joyal has had the marina property for sale for the past two years with an asking price of $1.8 million, and prospective buyers have come and gone without completing a deal. Joyal Capital Management now has enlisted the real estate auction firm Tranzon to conduct a three-day online only auction from 3 p.m. Tuesday through 3 p.m. Friday.

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THE DAY (November 29, 2019) — When Julio Cancho and his father, Jose, opened Canggio’s Restaurant & Bar at 20 Lafayette St. in August 2017, Julio quietly set a goal for himself to open three businesses within five years.

Canggio’s, a Peruvian restaurant “with a twist” of modern American cuisine, is doing well, so Julio Cancho started thinking about his second venture. A friend had owned the former Water Works tavern at 685 N. Main St. in Greeneville and offered to sell the business to the Canchos.

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THE BULLETIN (November 6, 2019) — A lot of scenes in “Holiday for Heroes” are going to look very familiar when the Gavner family gathers around the television in their Colchester home to watch the Hallmark premiere on Friday.

The antique colonial on Jurach Road was one of several locations in southeastern Connecticut chosen by Synthetic Cinema International producer Andrew Gernhard for his latest release on the popular cable channel.

The movie arm of the Hallmark greeting card company is known for traditional, family-friendly love stories with a seasonal focus.

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THE DAY (October 31, 2019) — Local economic development officials spoke positively of the inaugural conference on opportunity zones the state held Wednesday, a topic that also came up at the New England Real Estate Journal’s inaugural Connecticut Summit held Thursday at Mohegan Sun.

Development projects on tracts included in the federal Opportunity Zone Program are eligible for federal tax incentives for investors. Connecticut has 72 opportunity zones, including three in New London, three in Norwich and one in Groton.

In between summit sessions Thursday, New London Planning Director Felix Reyes told The Day the insight that stuck with him the most came from Erik Johnson, his counterpart in Hartford: The opportunity zone is not about a grand slam or a $500 million development, but starting with one developer and one project.

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THE DAY (October 21, 2019) — The city’s plans to bring new residents and business by marketing itself were presented Monday to the City Council and public.

Highlights of the half-hour presentation was the showing of four short videos produced this year by Miranda Creative, a Norwich brand marketing firm.

Maria Miranda, the firm’s owner and creative director, presented them as part of an overall marketing strategy funded by $25,000 in the city’s budget last year and this year.

The theme of all four videos is “City on the Rise,” she said.

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THE DAY (October 11, 2019) — Jason Vincent’s planning career will take another U-turn along Route 2 next week, when he returns to the Norwich Community Development Corp., days after his resignation as Stonington planning director.

NCDC President Robert Mills announced Friday that Vincent has been hired as senior vice president at NCDC, rejoining the Norwich economic development agency he left in January 2016 to become director of planning in Stonington. Vincent is a professional planner with more than two decades of experience in the public and private sectors, including four years at NCDC previously. He starts in the new position on Tuesday, Oct. 15.

“Many of us in Norwich always hoped that Jason’s career path would return him to our community,” Mills said in a news release announcing Vincent’s hiring. “Without a doubt, Jason has a personal, vested interest in the future of Norwich and we fully expect him to bring his array of exceptional skills and incredible passion to this position.”

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THE DAY (October 2, 2019) — At the Eastern Connecticut Chamber of Commerce’s Business Breakfast on Wednesday, Robert Mills, the president of the Norwich Community Development Corporation, expressed interest in the Connecticut Port Authority’s (CPA) plan for expansion on the deepwater port in New London, and he wanted to see if any of those insights are applicable to Norwich.

Mills is interested in development of land along the Thames River basin, including land in Norwich.

The speaker at the breakfast was David Kooris, acting chair of the CPA and the deputy commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD). The focus of the CPA portion of the talk was the State Pier in New London, and how they plan to make New London a hub for assembling, and eventually manufacturing, offshore wind turbines.

Mills said that the land will “remain underutilized until the issues you’re addressing at the pier can be applied elsewhere.”

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THE DAY (September 26, 2019) — The Lofts at Ponemah Mills, located in the Taftville section of Norwich, is finishing the second phase of construction, to be completed sometime in October. It will make 121 more units available for leasing.

Richard Perez, property manager at Ponemah, saidthe units will include 1, 2, or 3 bedrooms. Some of the new apartments will be affordable housing. Perez said that a lot of interest in the space comes from people who drive by the property.

“We’re expecting a lot of leases,” Perez said. “we’re expecting to move in a lot of people in October.”

Perez said the apartments are “gorgeous”. They feature vaulted ceilings and new appliances.

Robert Mills, president of the Norwich Community Development Corporation (NCDC), likes that the developer of the project is able to keep the historic character of the building.

“The artistic value is far superior to the buildings you can get today,” he said, referring to Ponemah Mills’ vaulted ceilings.

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THE DAY (September 20, 2019) — Breakfast and coffee were provided by two of the recent new downtown Norwich businesses at Friday morning’s State of Norwich presentation by the Greater Norwich Area Chamber of Commerce, proving one point on the session’s theme: that creative entrepreneurs bring vibrancy to the city.

About 70 business representatives, residents and city employees gathered at City Hall to hear updates from Mayor Peter Nystrom, schools Superintendent Kristen Stringfellow and Norwich Community Development Corp. President Robert Mills on the successes, challenges and future plans for the city.

Mills called the current times “the Age of Disruption,” picking up his cellphone to demonstrate the main driver. For example, he said, Norwich has more than 100 AirBnB unregulated room rentals that have hurt local hotel business while not contributing to the city services they might require. Manufacturing jobs nationwide have plummeted in the past 20 years, with the use of robots up 35 percent. Workers find themselves in “co-bot” situations, essentially overseeing the robots doing the more repetitive tasks.

But Norwich has benefited from the recent economic upswing, and Nystrom pointed to the breakfast table in the City Hall meeting room as proof. Breakfast by the new Café Otis, located across from City Hall in the former Norwich Human Services office building, and coffee by neighbor Craftsman Cliff’s Roasters on lower Broadway, graced the table.

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THE BULLETIN (September 20, 2019) The city and schools are starting to do more to tell others about good things happening here and to work with others to make improvements.

Mayor Peter Nystrom, Superintendent of Schools Kristen Stringfellow and Norwich Community Development Corp. President Robert Mills addressed about 50 residents at a City Hall gathering Friday morning hosted by the Greater Norwich Area Chamber of Commerce.

A key part of Stringfellow’s plan is to “communicate the great work of our schools.” Without money to pay for marketing, she said, instead “we’ve taken to Twitter,” with an increase of accounts belonging to teachers and administrators growing from two to 200.

A second key is to “strengthen the partnership with the City of Norwich and NFA.” Stringfellow, Nystrom and Norwich Free Academy Head of School David Klein are meeting monthly, Nystrom said.

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