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Development In Newington


chris31989

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I'm new to this forum. I am from Newington CT and have been keeping up with retail development in town. There seems to be a big explosion in new development here that I thought I'd share. Some of these have been discussed already, so I apologize.

NEW PROJECTS:

*A 100 room Holiday Inn Express at 2557 Berlin Turnpike

*Shoppes at East Cedar Street: mixed use/hotel/restaurant/bank/retail (corner of E Cedar St and Russel Road off turnpike).

*Sam's Club (Next to Stew Leonards) in addition, a gas station and additional retail building

*Aldi Store (2640 Berlin Turnpike); near Shaw's.

*Gateway of Newington (corner of Cedar St and Fenn Rd off Rte 9 near Stop and Shop): hotel/Starbuck's, retail use.

Also, Lowrey Place, former home of A&P Super Foodmart will get a new facade and parking lot along with a new freestanding People's Bank in front of the plaza. This is really the only plaza left in town that has potential, but has no tenants to fill it. I'm curious as to what will move in to Food Mart.

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I'm new to this forum. I am from Newington CT and have been keeping up with retail development in town. There seems to be a big explosion in new development here that I thought I'd share. Some of these have been discussed already, so I apologize.

NEW PROJECTS:

*A 100 room Holiday Inn Express at 2557 Berlin Turnpike

*Shoppes at East Cedar Street: mixed use/hotel/restaurant/bank/retail (corner of E Cedar St and Russel Road off turnpike).

*Sam's Club (Next to Stew Leonards) in addition, a gas station and additional retail building

*Aldi Store (2640 Berlin Turnpike); near Shaw's.

*Gateway of Newington (corner of Cedar St and Fenn Rd off Rte 9 near Stop and Shop): hotel/Starbuck's, retail use.

Also, Lowrey Place, former home of A&P Super Foodmart will get a new facade and parking lot along with a new freestanding People's Bank in front of the plaza. This is really the only plaza left in town that has potential, but has no tenants to fill it. I'm curious as to what will move in to Food Mart.

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Hey Chris...welcome! I live in Newington, also this was a great report, thank you. I was wondering what was going on at the corner of Cedar and Fenn. I assume once Bob's Carpet is gone after their Lost Our Lease sale, that building will be razed for a driveway to Gateway to Newington. Cool stuff.

We live near where Foodmart used to be, and we really miss it. I hope something moves in, soon...don't want that to become another Manchester Parkade.

Thanks!

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NEW PROJECTS:

*A 100 room Holiday Inn Express at 2557 Berlin Turnpike

*Shoppes at East Cedar Street: mixed use/hotel/restaurant/bank/retail (corner of E Cedar St and Russel Road off turnpike).

*Sam's Club (Next to Stew Leonards) in addition, a gas station and additional retail building

*Aldi Store (2640 Berlin Turnpike); near Shaw's.

*Gateway of Newington (corner of Cedar St and Fenn Rd off Rte 9 near Stop and Shop): hotel/Starbuck's, retail use.

Also, Lowrey Place, former home of A&P Super Foodmart will get a new facade and parking lot along with a new freestanding People's Bank in front of the plaza. This is really the only plaza left in town that has potential, but has no tenants to fill it. I'm curious as to what will move in to Food Mart.

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Hey Chris...welcome! I live in Newington, also this was a great report, thank you. I was wondering what was going on at the corner of Cedar and Fenn. I assume once Bob's Carpet is gone after their Lost Our Lease sale, that building will be razed for a driveway to Gateway to Newington. Cool stuff.

We live near where Foodmart used to be, and we really miss it. I hope something moves in, soon...don't want that to become another Manchester Parkade.

Thanks!

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Thanks for the welcome!

Speaking of Bob's Carpet, there is a small commercial on TV saying that they are moving to a spot on the Berlin Turnpike, so yet another new piece of news! No specific location, but where can it be? I can't think of a spot past McDonalds towards Berlin that is big enough and empty (maybe besides the former Totally Kids Furniture/Frank's store). It would have to be near Wethersfield maybe. It's good they are moving, because that building and whole corner on Cedar Street is really getting ugly. I remember when that building was True Value Hardware.

I too miss Foodmart! Even though it was 'beyond its years', it was a nice little store where I knew the employees and that was my weekly stop every week. But, not to worry. Like I mentioned, the front facade of the entire plaza will be converted to a new design, and a new People's United Bank is supposed to go up in front of the plaza, so it won't be another Manchester Parkade. I think it will take time for another store to move in to Foodmart because Geissler's supermarket decided not to, and now the owners want to wait to find the perfect tenant. I think Foodmart closed up because of this new plan to renovate the plaza, and the owners wanted them to renovate their store and I guess they weren't getting enough business to really care about fixing it up. Although, I heard A&P, their parent company is doing quite well.

If you go to www.amesfanclub.com and go to their message boards, you will find pictures of the closed Foodmart under the Grocery/Supermarket section. I never thought about taking pictures, but other people did, so it saved me the effort. Also on this site, you can see pictures of any store imagineable and almost every single one in Newington like Shaw's, Wal-Mart, Target, Price Chopper, etc.

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Chris, that Ames site is quite interesting. You should try and get some of those guys over here. They obviously have some overlaping interests.

as far as Grocery stores closing and such I know thare has been quite a bit of consolidation in the industry. for example the Pathmark/A&P Merger and the Wild Oats/Whole Foods both in 2007

for a little more on what has happened to foodmart check this wikipedia article. as you can tell by the link its just a part of Waldbaums and therefore part of A&P

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldbaum's

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Since we are sharing I will give you a few that are fun for me when I am being nerdy.

http://www.multifamilyexecutive.com/

I am in the process of closing on my first multifamily right now so this is where I go to dream of my future.

The archives on this site are a good collection of projects.

http://www.northeastrebusiness.com/archives_08.html

this has a great list of projects going on around the east coast.

unfortunately Hartford gets very little play here but thats really just because there are no 400 unit towers being built right now

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Jim:

The Aldi store is going to be located on the Berlin Turnpike near Shaw's plaza. You have Advance Auto Parts next to it, and across the street you have Dunkin Donuts. There is a sign telling it's coming soon. The foundation and part of the frame is already up.

You too remember FoodMart huh?! I thought no one cared! I really miss this store. It had the old fashioned charm of the good old days (in my lifetime it would be the 1990s). I really hope something replaces it so I can go in the building again. Can you believe it existed for nearly 50 years?! Coincidentally, I e-mailed the Town Planner and he told me the new People's United Bank will be begin construction in the next few weeks, and that that entire plaza will see a new look, per order of the TPZ.

Sorry about the rambling, but I love this sort of thing! :rolleyes:

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Yeah, that Food Mart was great to have there. It's like a five-minute drive from my house. I now I have to go to either Stop and Shop or Shaws. I remember going there as a kid back in the 70s when my dad was the branch manager at the Society for Savings in that same plaza.
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Hartford Business Journal snippit

Aldi expands in Greater Hartford (posted Today at 12:07pm)

Discount grocer Aldi is upping its game in Connecticut, with four new stores - one opens in Rocky Hill today, and three other openings are planned for the fall in Hartford, Newington and Vernon. The company, which has stores worldwide, said the rising cost of food and the current economic crisis make it a great time to give Connecticut residents greater access to Aldi prices, which it claims can be up to 50 percent lower than the competition.

The grocer is known for cutting prices without requiring customers to buy in bulk. The four new stores join the chain's five existing Connecticut locations in Bristol, New Britain, Torrington, Wallingford and Waterbury.

"Whether the rising cost of food is hurting you in the pocketbook or you'd simply like to have more money to spend on other things, Aldi is the right choice for you," said Bruce Persohn, Aldi division vice president. "As evidenced by our growth, once people try us, they keep coming back."

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  • 1 month later...

You bet I knew!! ;)

I was just a bit lazy to come on over here and post it! I recieve e-mail alerts from the town's website, so I first heard about it there. This is very exciting and I hope the plans go ahead. The center is a great place, but severely underused and neglected. The town has made some improvements (sidewalks, lighting etc), but that is not enough to get new business and people to the center.

Many things are happening here. I'm still waiting for work to begin on Lowrey Place. I'm angry that Foodmart is still empty. I hope another grocery store takes an interest in opening in the space. I'm also looking for a part time job and would love to work there, whatever it may open as.

I also looked up some TPZ meetings from last year, and there were talks to open another Home Depot on Cedar Mountain on the corner of Russel Road and E. Cedar Street. That struck me as odd, but anything can happen.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...

Hi all:

I haven't been posting here for a while, and I thought I'd contribute an update to this topic. I'm sort of disappointed, because as it seems, many of the developments planned are not moving forward as of now. Gateway of Newington (Cedar and Fenn) is still empty and the land is filling up with weeds. It looks as if Bob's Carpet has finally closed up on Cedar Street. The E. Cedar Street/Russel Road development is "off-market" according to LoopNet. So is Foodmart plaza on Lowrey Place, but that's no surprise. Hopefully soon, finances will improve and business will thrive.

On the upside, the Stew Leonards Plaza is coming along very well. Sleepy's opened in the Stew Leonards building, Sam's Club is nearing completion, the Sam's Gas Station is beginning to be constructed (the pumps are now up) and the former Stickley Furniture store is being transformed in to LA Fitness. Also, the Town Center Revitillization project is still very much alive. Work on Market Square is scheduled to begin next March. Even more news, LoopNet has listings for land for retail use available in two locations; one located next to Shaw's on Kitts Lane across from Aldi, and the other next to Bernies on the Turnpike.

Finally, I recently saw an ad for a new Ben and Jerry's to open up in town. I have no idea where, but it is supposed to arrive in town next April.

So, all is not lost even though a few of the town's substantial new developments have been put on hold for the moment. I can't wait to see the new Town Center after it's complete. Also looking forward to seeing the new Sam's Club.

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Thanks Chris!

What does "off-market" mean for the E. Cedar Street/Russel Road development? Is it dead? I so much want that to go forward.

I've noticed they picked up construstion on the Holiday Inn Express. The framework is up for both floors.

I was going to ask what's going on next to Wendy's...some series excavation is happening. Could that be the location for the Ben and Jerry's?

Mark

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I heard the site next to Wendy's WAS for a Tim Horton's, although I heard Dunkin Donuts wanted to build there (as if we need another DD). The Cedar Mountain project really should move along. They hyped it very much. They completely leveled the former Lowe Manufacturing building. That property, along with the Cedar/Fenn project, the Town Center project along with the projects on the Turnpike would make Newington shine in many ways.

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