News

1889-Built ‘Red Cross Building’ on Main Street Under Contract with New Owner

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The stately 1889-built structure at 51 Main St. in New Canaan, property of the Red Cross for more than 60 years, is under contract with a new owner. New Canaan resident and builder Arnold Karp of Karp Associates confirmed with NewCanaanite.com that he’s a member of a partnership that is hoping to close on the 2,600-square-foot building and .38-acre property next month. The new ownership group in the early going believes it will return the building to a residential use, though in any case the structure itself will be restored and preserved, Karp said. “We want it to continue as a character piece of New Canaan,” Karp said.

Government

‘It Can Be Really Scary’: Town Officials Eye Tricky Driveway Exit at Busy Main Street Intersection

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Town officials may install a “right turn only” sign or otherwise try to improve a dangerous intersection some downtown motorists face every day. Drivers trying to pull out of the driveway of the Red Cross building at 51 Main St.—now leased by the town for municipal employee parking—face difficult decisions about just when and where it’s safe to turn onto Main or drive straight across onto Heritage Hill Road, officials said Tuesday. That’s because, as of now, there’s no traffic signal instructing those motorists when it’s safe to exit the driveway, and no way for them to know who has a green light coming from one of the four other directions that cars approach the busy intersection by the thrift shop. “We need something there,” Selectman Nick Williams said at the Board of Selectmen meeting, held in Town Hall. Tiger Mann, assistant director of the Department of Public Works, said he suggests motorists turn right out of the driveway, because it’s the easiest safe turn to make, and for those who need to drive back up toward God’s Acre, to circle back around where it’s convenient.