Future Still Unclear on Business in Sandy Hook's 'New Normal'

On the first day of the new year, a void opened in the center of Sandy Hook when restaurant Stone River Grille closed its doors. Former owner Gary Ceri said he had already planned to close before the Dec. 14 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. But he hadn't counted on the area's economic climate being rewritten so quickly.

"We stopped being a restaurant on Dec. 14, and we became a landing zone -- first for the community to grieve, then for the rest of the world to grieve," he said. "As the days went on, it grew more and more. Stone River Grille served the media, but we served people who where there because... they weren't sure why they were there."

But business took a rough turn in its last days, as bills accumulated and the typically robust Christmas party season became a time of cancelled reservations.

"To do that kind of service cost money," said Ceri, a Sandy Hook resident who now owns Panino's in Monroe and frequently hosts Sandy Hook-related fundraisers and events. "But you don't think about money. You just do it. Because that's the kind of community we have in Sandy Hook."

Stone River Grille is one of two businesses to close in the area since Dec. 14 -- along with Demitasse Cafe -- but it wasn't the only business to lose customers in the weeks after the shooting.

In January, the state's STEAP (Small Town Economic Assistance Program) agency to cover that lost business between Dec. 14 and Jan. 8. Now, with the first phase of the project completed at a Tuesday night Economic Development Commission meeting, questions remain about how to allocate the rest of the funds.

So far, the fund has awarded $247,839 -- about half of the total -- to 29 businesses in Sandy Hook and other parts of Newtown, according to Elizabeth Stocker, the Economic Development Commission's Director of Economic and Community Development. Those awards were phase one.

"We're going to decide what phase two is now," Stocker said at a Legislative Council meeting Wednesday night.

Stocker said the Economic Development Commission contacted S.H.O.P. -- the Sandy Hook Organization for Prosperity -- for input. Each presented different views on how to move forward in phase two. S.H.O.P. presented a three-pronged approach. The first step would involve distributing funds based on losses from January 9 through April 9, allowing businesses to make up for additional losses during the first quarter of 2013. Additionally, S.H.O.P. suggested using funds for advertising upcoming events and streetscape improvements in Sandy Hook Center.

Stocker said the EDC awarded $2,000 toward advertising for an upcoming Spring Fling event, but has a different vision for remaining funds.

"Rather than having another phase of grants for business loss, [we feel] it would probably be more productive and long-range to devise a program to focus more on business growth and development," Stocker told the council. "Perhaps a low-interest or no-interest revolving loan fund."

In any case, she said, while phase one incorporated businesses from across Newtown, phase two will focus specifically on Sandy Hook.

After Stocker's presentation, some officials offered their own thoughts on the future.

"I would encourage the EDC to consider using some of that money for the purpose it was awarded for: helping those businesses directly," said Legislative Council member Mary Ann Jacob.

Some officials have voiced concerns that the relocation of Sandy Hook Elementary School means a new economic climate for the area, to which businesses must adapt.

"I'm very concerned about Sandy Hook Center," said First Selectman Pat Llodra at the meeting. "I think there's more to be known here than just the immediate consequence. Unless we help [businesses] develop some understanding about how to be better businesses ... We can give them money to reimburse their losses, but they'll have the same losses in the next quarter. We need to embed some long-term strategies for the places that are struggling." 

New businesses are still coming to the area. In March, , opened its doors. And new businesses are slated to open soon at the former locations of Stone River Grille and Demitasse, according to Stocker. Both defunct businesses received funds from the grant. Ceri said the money went to pay off bills and make up for some of the loss accrued during those two all-important weeks.

"We had to allow the world to grieve," he said. "And no one thought about their business being hurt."