The Wall Street Place redevelopment project will be negotiated in an upcoming mediation session between Citibank, the city of Norwalk, and the Norwalk Redevelopment Agency.

Citibank owns the former Isaacs Street municipal lot that is located in Port Chester. They took ownership after the former developer stopped construction on the first phase of the Wall Street Place project two years ago. Now, a mediation hearing will be held at the request of the agency and the city of Norwalk in mid-December.

According to Redevelopment Agency Executive Director Timothy T. Sheehan, “We are seeking mediation to try and resolve the dispute with the end goal of getting the project back into construction, either with a redeveloper that has been advanced by the bank, or the bank assuming the project,” Sheehan said. “And the project — phase one — is to be consistent with what was the approved project per the LDA (Land Disposition Agreement).”

Despite attempts to move the project forward after Citibank took ownership of the property, very little has progressed in the last 18 months. There is a partially constructed structure that was supposed to be fashioned into an apartment building on the property that was part of Phase 1, but now that building is posing a “significant concern” for the city of Norwalk.

The city and the Redevelopment Agency negotiated at least 256 parking spaces for the project and 100 of them were supposed to satisfy public parking needs.

A part of the property was purchased by a commercial real estate developer last May. It has been fixed up, but the owner is now charging people to park there. This has also resulted in significantly less parking in the area overall – a problem the city of Norwalk wants to fix as soon as possible in mediation.