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Cover Story | written by: PAMELA DEY VOSSLER | photos by: BAMBI RIEGEL | riegelpictureworks.com
The Baywater team (from left): David Genovese, Dante Correnty, Christine Mace, Lisa Elwell, Chris Riniti, Rocky Genovese, Kate Perez (seated), Gary Hock, Sonia Traulsen, Santiago Baabdaty, Meagan Grillo; In rear, on the cage: Tony Flores (left), Doug Cryabas
How do seven acres of mismatched buildings in the middle of a town that has been around for centuries become 29 stores, seven restaurants and eateries, three fitness studios, 110,000 square feet of office space, a town green, three public plazas that can be combined for community events, 850 parking spaces (that you won’t even know are there once they’re done) and outdoor seating that will take what we’ve come to love at Grove Street Plaza and raise it to a power of we-can’t-wait-to see? That is, how does The Corbin District come to be?
The answer is, 999 times out of 1,000, it doesn’t. Given the near countless number of individual pieces that had to come together just so for it to get off the ground, plus the patience, the persistence, the years it has taken (normal real estate investors would never go for this), the crazy allegiance to quality that runs contrary to the bar set by nearly every other developer on the planet, the community outreach – not to mention the hurdles (turns out it’s much harder to move a rock ledge by I-95 than the Department of Transportation might have you believe), challenges (yes, you can temporarily divert rivers of groundwater in an environmentally-friendly fashion to make way for a subterranean parking garage) and surprises (oh that pesky pandemic and real estate banking crisis, that SoNo Mall opening, that online assault on street retail—all present at groundbreaking in late 2021) …it’s a wonder the dirt moved at all.
“It’s a miracle that we were able to do it,” agreed Darien native David Genovese, CEO of Baywater Properties of The Corbin District, the mixed-use build out in the middle of town that he is leading.
David Genovese (left) with his dad, Rocky
Then again, maybe not. Miracles have a way of morphing into meant-to-be when led by the kind of local passion that marks every move David and his team make. To David, his father Rocky with whom he founded Baywater Properties, and many on his team who, like David, grew up in Darien, it’s personal. It’s been that way from the beginning, when longtime Darien resident Dr. Ed Felder first approached David in 2006 through Holly and David Hawes to sell the Corbin Drive properties he co-owned with Steve Zangrillo, founder of The Darien Sport Shop.
David had just finished transforming 1020 Boston Post Road into the gorgeous building now there. He was local, capable. They trusted him to do the right thing with their land. (If you’re going to provide an opening to blow up your downtown, you want someone who loves the place to do it.)
David had returned to Darien in 2001 to start his own commercial real estate company.
He’d been to Colby College and The London School of Economics & Political Science, then The Wharton School where he earned an MBA, and spent 12 years in real estate investment banking at Bankers Trust Company and Credit Suisse First Boston.
Still, what Dr. Felder proposed felt too big so David asked Penny Glassmeyer of PG Properties to partner with him. Dr. Felder suggested it. She was doing great work in the area, including Grove Street Plaza, and David knew her, having grown up with her son, Ward, helping with the chores Penny famously assigned her five kids and their friends when they came to play. (They loved her for it, and still laugh at the memories.) She was all in. They brought in Dick Gunthel, David’s boss and mentor at Bankers Trust, where Dick had overseen the real estate finance business for decades.
“I had this incredible real estate investor on my team in Dick Gunthel, and in Penny, this incredible artist who cared about the town and quality and was really well respected in the area. Dick also cared about quality,” said David of his original partners, both of whom passed away in 2023. “We saw (the Felder/Zangrillo properties) as the beginning of a development that we thought would go from Corbin Drive just to the Bank of America Building. I always say, I was like the monkey in the middle of those two figuring it all out,” he continued, with a smile that barely leaves his face. Ever. He brings that kind of energy to everything he does, and it’s contagious.
Parcel by painstaking parcel, they tracked down the owners of the properties adjacent to what they acquired from Dr. Felder and Mr. Z (as Steve Zangrillo was known in town. He passed away in 2015, Dr. Felder in 2013). One took seven years to convince.
“Any one of these people could have said no and it would have never happened,” said David.
Buildings A, B, C, F & L – part of the original Corbin District plan; Buildings D & E – former site of the Bank of America building; Building I – former site of the Derentiis gas station; Buildings H & K – the last properties to be added to the project
Then they looked west. There stood the elevated Bank of America building with its street level parking garage across from the Darien Sport Shop at the entry to downtown—nothing about it was even close to what they had in mind for their space next door.
They resolved to persuade the people involved there to become a part of their effort. That was 2010. Penny knew the owner. They were open to it. But where to put the bank? They wanted downtown. They needed drive through. Enter Vinny and Kathy DiRentiis and the gas station they owned next to Ten Twenty Post. They became partners. The gas station closed. The bank got a home. The Corbin District grew.
Next came the other side of Corbin Drive.
“Bruce looked at me one day and said, ‘Okay, so let me just get this straight. You’re going to get rid of the gas station and build this beautiful complex …and it’s going to look out over these old, single-story buildings?’” recalled David of Corbin District architect Bruce Beinfield and his take on the east side of Corbin Drive. Bruce is the Rowayton-based mastermind behind 90% of the transformation of Rowayton over the past 30 years and much of the rejuvenation of South Norwalk.
So, they contacted the owners and the project grew again, with more partnership agreements and joint ventures.
In all, 12 families over 15 years signed off on the project as sellers, partners or in joint ventures, including the Gibbs, Delucas, DeRentiis, Wyckoffs, Tibbetts and more.
It took patience, persistence and a lot of guts.
“It was pretty ambitious to buy that large bank building and tear it down. But it was the right thing to do,” said Bob Gibbs, a street retail specialist and place making guru of national renown who lectures on the subject at Harvard when not consulting on master planning for places such as Naples, FL, Charleston, SC, Big Sky, MT and Southampton, NY to name just a few of the landmark locations he has taken on as the managing partner of Gibbs Planning Group. He’s been at David’s elbow advising on The Corbin District and the mix of businesses to put there for the past six years.
“I am a believer in quality office buildings that are located near the train station (but) I was obsessed with what would go on the first floor,” said David who speaks in terms of “activating spaces,” a key element of place making, and something he did when he worked with Penny to swap out
a cosmetic store for Espresso Neat in Grove Street Plaza which set the stage for people to linger in the plaza, filling it with multigenerational energy.
David and his team understand community and the opportunities contained in place making to foster it. And that’s good for every aspect of the business.
“I figured if I set the table well (to borrow a phrase from Danny Meyer) with amenities that people like on the first floor, they will want to live, work and be there, and that will make the upper floors really cook,” said David.
But he doesn’t make these decisions alone. Not only has he leaned on Bob, he has looked to the entire town for help.
“I wanted to get people’s feedback. So I opened up the lines of communication very deliberately, and widely,” said David. “There are thousands of fingerprints on this project from so many families who have guided us to many of the new businesses who will be joining us,” he continued.
“As fathers and residents of Darien and Rowayton for decades, David and Bruce care deeply about creating places and experiences that strengthen these communities for their children, grandchildren and generations to come,” said Carolyn Beinfield Nally, Bruce’s daughter and a realtor in Darien and Rowayton. She grew up locally and collects information for the Corbin team about what people in their 30s and 40s want in The Corbin District.
“Quite frankly, I have never seen a developer engage the community in the way that David has,” said Jayme Stevenson who was Darien’s First Selectman during The Corbin District liftoff years.
“When you have aggressive developers who don’t want to consider the concerns of the community, that can be very problematic. David understood that and took the time to build trust and respect with the community,” said Jayme, acknowledging David’s diligence in all he undertook to get it right.
The Baywater Properties team (from left): Meagan Grillo, Christine Mace, Kate Perez, Dante Correnty, Chris Riniti, Gary Hock, Sonia Traulsen, David Genovese, Lisa Elwell, Rocky Genovese, Tony Flores, Santiago Baabdaty and Doug Cryabas at the Corbin District construction site
“Every question was answered, every concern was thought about and planned for,” she added, describing the well-earned “yes” he received from the town when he presented his plans.
“With David and his group, it’s constantly saying I want to do the right thing. I want to do right for the community and everything that was discussed was put through that lens,” said Bob.
These are the reasons why you’ll find no slick leasing materials on line and no broker.
“We have basically leased all of the retail, restaurant and fitness spaces through word of mouth and careful targeting of tenants that we thought would be a good fit. Many of these conversations have taken up to 10 years!” explained David. It takes time to get it right.
It’s a strategy that also prioritizes existing local businesses.
“From day one, before I signed the lease in 2012, David said ‘We’re taking the building down. I don’t know when but it’s happening. I just want to be completely transparent,’” recalled small business owner Rosey Costello who owns Everything is Rosey, a clothing store that moved to the new building from one that was razed.
And when it happened, “He went above and beyond what anyone could possibly do. He was very great about finding a place for us all, even people who did not move into his building …anyone he displaced got a place,” said Rosey. “He cares so much about the town and retail. He just wants us to succeed,” she added.
“If they’re not doing well, we’re not doing well,” said David of supporting the small businesses in town.
It’s a reason he split the project into two phases – so that existing retailers would not have to close while waiting for new space. He and his team think about stuff like this. In fact, they think of everything. And in every detail, quality has ruled, starting with the team David assembled including Bob, Bruce, his dad who uses his deep knowledge of building materials, HVAC and electrical systems to trouble shoot on site, his crew at Baywater, and dozens of others.
“I get way too much credit for being the driver of The Corbin District,” said David, an inclusive leader who sees himself as more of a conductor with a symphony of virtuosos in the team around him. “While I am the CEO and ultimately am responsible, I solicit the opinions of my team and my partners on most tenant decisions, and all design decisions. I learned a long time ago there is always a huge benefit to getting input from many.”
And when you believe in others, they give you their best, “He does have a way of pulling the best out of people,” said Bob Gibbs.
That best includes creating an architectural design for the buildings that is as appealing as the businesses that fill them. For that, the team looked toward the towns and streetscapes of the New England coast for inspiration – places like Nantucket, Mystic, Stonington, Essex, Newburyport and others.
Rendering of completed Corbin District, courtesy Baywater Properties
Coming to the Corbin District
(Signed leases with more to come)
Retail, Restaurant and Fitness Tenants
• Barry’s Bootcamp
• Cailini Coastal
• Chopt
• Corsica
• Cycle Bar Spin Studio
• Framebridge
• Free People Movement
• French Press
• Hinoki
• Laurel
• La Source
• Maison d’ Alexandra
• Millie’s
• OGGI 5
• Il Pastaficio
• Rhone
• Stretch Lab
• YogaSpark
Office Tenants
• McKinsey & Company
• AON
• Crestwood Advisors
• Janney Montgomery Scott
• Balance Point Capital
“We looked at the patterns along the street and emulated those in terms of the architecture. That’s the way we broke down the scale and made it feel more comfortable. So while The Corbin District buildings are big, they all read as a series of little buildings that are next to each other,” Bruce
Beinfield explained.
“At the same time, we wanted it to feel new,” said Bruce, explaining the design of the more modern office building at 34 Old Kings Highway South, part of The Corbin District build out.
The Corbin team focus on quality in every detail extends from the size of the buildings to the street furniture, the curbs, the sidewalks, the planters and even the bricks—handmade in Virginia like the ones Penny Glassmeyer used in constructing Grove Street Plaza.
“Penny laid the foundation for our work with what she created at Grove Street Plaza. She set the bar higher than anyone in Fairfield County for high-quality real estate, and we have tried to maintain this as a fundamental objective of our work here,” explained David.
No wonder the apartments built are filled and 75% of the office space is pre-leased.
Things have changed, most assuredly, since those early days nearly 20 years ago when all this started—the project exploded, street retail survived and real estate banking came back; Dr. Felder is gone. Mr. Z too. Penny passed, Dick as well. And things will change again. New businesses will fly, others will not, and still others will come and take their shot. What stays the same is the certainty in long odds and the places that can come from them – with the right team, the right values, the right leader, the right town.
Follow @thecorbindistrict on Instagram to stay up to date on The Corbin District which is targeted to be completed in 2026.
