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2015 | Doing Business in Connecticut 23 By Carol Latter S ix years ago, Matthew Wittmer and Jim Kimball were colleagues at Cubellis, an international archi- tectural firm based in Boston. Kimball was a princi- pal and the company's marketing director, while Wittmer was running a retail boutique firm in Rocky Hill. In the spring of 2009, it became clear that their em- ployer, like many commercial real estate firms rocked by the recession, was in trouble. "We realized that we had an amazing team in Rocky Hill and yet the possibility existed that everybody was going to lose their jobs. We actually started the firm as a means to save jobs, mine included," said Wittmer. Aer some discussion, and as much planning as time allowed, the two men opened their own company, Phase Zero Design, in June 2009 — six months before Cubellis an- nounced it was closing its doors. ey started with three people, and the hope that they could reassemble their old team as soon as possible. "We had nowhere to go but up." Wittmer, who had a two-year-old son at the time, and whose wife, Lyn, com- muted to her work, realized that continuing to work in Rocky Hill while living in Simsbury was not ideal. "Simsbury is such a great community, and we just hap- pened to stumble into a wonderful office space." e two men soon set to work transforming the former restaurant on Wilcox Street, just off Hopbrook. "Now we have one of the best spaces around," he said. Wittmer and Kimball — both registered architects with many years of experience — set out to grow their fledgling company. Within 18 months, they'd signed a master service agreement for hospitality projects at universities across the country, doubled their staff to six and opened a second office in Duxbury, Mass. Less than a year later, they won a contract with Ann Taylor fashion stores; by the end of 2011, their staff numbered 19. Just three years aer setting up shop, the firm landed a design contract for reno- vations to Elmwood Plaza in West Hartford; the project earned Phase Zero the 2012 "Best in Class Connecticut Commercial Project" from CREW CT — the Real Estate Exchange. e company soon began piling up more accolades, and was ranked on Visual Merchandising and Store Design (VMSD)'s list of Top Retail Design Firms two years running. In April 2014, its Norwichtown Commons de-malling project won the "Best Community Revitalization Project" at the CREW CT Blue Ribbon Awards — the same month Phase Zero opened a third office in Springfield, Mass. In September, the firm moved its Boston team from Duxbury to an expanded office in Hingham. In April 2015, the Real Estate Exchange named Phase Zero's UConn Co-op/ Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry project in Storrs — a combination of bookstore, museum, theater and café — the "Best in Class Retail and Cultural Development Project in Connecticut." Today, Phase Zero has a head count of 38, mainly split between the Simsbury and Boston offices. e firm, now licensed in 40 states and with clients as far away as California, Texas and Florida, is currently working on the expansion of Longmeadow Shops in Massachusetts, adding to an impressive portfolio that includes national grocery chains, banks, retail outlets, medical companies, hospitality outlets and Matthew Wittmer, Phase Zero terprises in that part of the city." ey include Green Depot, which makes environmentally friendly building products; Tri-State Flexi- Pave, which turns tires into permeable pave- ment; American Oil Solutions, which recycles tires and other hydrocarbon products into oil; and Park City Green, a not-for-profit mattress recycler. In all, the initiative has created jobs and grown the city's payroll by more than $10 million in the last four years, he said. A third major project is the East Bridge- port Development Corridor, approximately 850 acres of former industrial brownfields. Bridgeport is investing millions of dollars into transportation infrastructure to bring this district back to life: converting major roads into "complete streets" with bicycle and pedestrian facilities, and building a sec- ond train station. e city is also building a new high school to complement the district's two new elementary schools. e aim is to link the educational opportunities in this neighborhood to its employment opportuni- ties, including Yale-New Haven Hospital, the city's largest employer. Bridgeport is also working on a "wa- terfront recapture" project, with the goal of ensuring that every neighborhood has public access to its adjacent waterfront. To that end, it just reopened access to Pleasure Beach, a city-owned barrier island cut off from the public for about 20 years. "We built a couple of water taxis and now have regular service between the East End and Pleasure Beach; more than 20,000 people visited last year," Kooris said. e city's parks are also being linked to- gether by a series of greenways. e first will be along Steel Point, a 52-acre peninsula that the city acquired with state support over the last two decades. Kooris said Steel Point will be home to some 2.8 million square feet of development, including new stores and res- taurants like Bass Pro and Chipotle Mexican Grill, "all oriented to a marina and a water- front promenade ringing the entire district." Meanwhile, "we are working to achieve neighborhood scale infill development in the hearts of our neighborhoods." Kooris said the city wants to transform auto-orient- ed areas back into "transit-oriented, walk- able neighborhood centers, converting the buildings to ground floor retail, offices and community services, with several floors of residential above. We have half a dozen proj- ects of that type currently under construc- tion in various neighborhoods." Down to Business Launched out of necessity, a company of three becomes one of the state's fastest growing commercial design firms PHOTO/PHASE ZERO PROFILE Continued on page 113 > Continued on page 112 >