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An Expanding Universe
While state officials and mayors labor to cook up nine-figure economic-development schemes,
less-visible business expansions reveal the economy's true temperature
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Business New Haven
7/13/1998
By: Linda Mele
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Throughout the region, many companies both large and small are expanding operations, erecting new facilities or refurbishing existing properties to meet their needs and budgets.
While some national chains are expanding into the Northeast for the first time and others are increasing an existing presence, cities and towns are also building, renovating and preserving buildings and facilities.
Connecticut Shoreline East
• The vacant Grossman's building on North Main Street, Branford, may become the new home of In-Shape Fitness Center. The company, currently located on Cherry Street in that town, would occupy about half of the former building supply store's 40,000-square-foot complex if plans are approved.
• The U.S. Postal Service is looking at Guilford for a new 20,000-square-foot regional distribution center after deciding not to locate in Madison.
• If environmental concerns can be satisfactorily addressed, development of the 26-acre former Malleable Iron Fittings Co. site on Maple Street in Branford could begin soon. The deteriorating buildings have been vacant since the company closed in the late 1960s. Over the years, a number of proposals fell by the wayside because of estimated environmental clean-up costs that could exceed $125,000.
• Business Park Drive in Branford has become home to the Institute for Diagnostic Research, an Institute for Pharmaceutical Discovery affiliate. The company moved into a renovated 8,000-square-foot facility next to the Institute for Diabetes Discovery which opened in 1995. IPD hopes to open other “institutes” over the next several years.
• The Connecticut School of Electronics has leased a 26,000-square-foot facility on West Main Street in Branford. The school moved from a 10,000-square-foot complex on Ella Grasso Boulevard in New Haven, where it did business for nearly 50 years.
The Naugatuck Valley
• The city of Derby received a $100 million grant to restore the historic Sterling Opera House, built in 1889 and closed in 1945.
• L'Amour Bridal & Formal is moving all of its operations back to Ansonia from Milford. Owners opened the Milford store on Broad Street about seven years ago and kept the store on Union Street in Ansonia, where it's been for 30 years, open on a reduced schedule.
• Shelton may soon be known as the Hotel Capital of Connecticut. Extended Stay America Inc. wants to build a $5 million, 104-room hotel at Traps Falls Road and Bridgeport Avenue. A $10 million, six-story, 142-room Hilton Garden Inn is proposed for the former Lauretti's Restaurant site on Pootatuck Place. A $10 million, 140-room Homestead Village hotel on Bridgeport Avenue is under construction. And if those weren't enough, a 128-room AmeriSuites hotel is also under construction. The city is also home to a Ramada Inn and a Residence Inn.
• Ansonia Towers, the former Evening Sentinel building on Main Street, is the new home of Modern Detailing, a structural steel-design firm. The three-story building became vacant when the newspaper closed nearly six years ago.
Orange
• Projects included in an $8 million “super bond” approved by residents in 1996 are moving along: a new $1.5 million firehouse on Route 1 was completed last fall; a new $3.9 million library is under construction on Tyler City Road; and the $1.5 million renovation and expansion of the Orange Police Department is nearly complete.
• Bayer Corp. is considering a $175 million expansion at its Orange/West Haven facility.
• A Marriott Hotel and the Outback Steakhouse opened last year on Marsh Hill Road.
West Haven
• The Porto Funeral Home moved to a new 7,000-square-foot facility on Jones Hill Road from its former site on Bull Hill Lane where it had been located since 1964. The new building is on a former office building site that had been vacant for several years.
• The University of New Haven will renovate its Robert B. Dodds Stadium, where the Division II powerhouse Chargers play football. The $450,000 project will be done in two phases and include 1,700 additional seats, a new press box and improved restroom facilities.
• Public Storage Inc. will demolish the former Porto Funeral Home on Bull Hill Lane and construct a 78,750-square-foot building next to its 33,800-square-foot, six-building facility next door.
• New owners of the Saw Mill Road Shell Station, one of the largest Shell convenience stores in the area, plan to refurbish and revamp the store, located next to the Saw Mill Road Redevelopment Area where plans for a retail mall are under development.
Milford
• Plans for a 544-megawatt, gas-fired power plant on 28 acres bordered by Oronoque Road, Plains Road, Harvest Lane and Caswell Drive are on the drawing board. The facility would be part of a 15-lot industrial subdivision.
• S.C. Hospitalities received permission to build a 90-room, suite-style hotel on West River Street, but opponents have sued the Planning & Zoning Board for approving the project.
• Last year, 185 new or expanded businesses opened in the city, and 75 new business have opened during the first half of 1998.
Meriden
• Work on the new $77 million, 237,000-square-foot Veterans Memorial Medical Center on Lewis Avenue is nearly complete. A fall opening is scheduled.
• A 180,166-square-foot addition was approved for the Meriden Square Mall and should be completed by the summer of 1999. The current 750,000-square-foot mall has 115 stores.
• The BankBoston branch on East Main Street wants to build a 570-square-foot addition and drive-up window.
Wallingford
• The former Thurston Foods plant site on Route 5 may become a 5,688-square-foot 99 Restaurant and 6,000-square-foot retail complex if approved by the Planning & Zoning Commission. Thurston moved to its new $7 million facility on Thurston Drive in 1990 and the building has been vacant ever since.
• A 22,000-square-foot Sears Hardware store opened earlier this year in the Wallingford Fair shopping center on Route 5. Both Home Depot and Lowe's Home Improvement Center plan stores on Route 5 by 2000.
• The nation's largest processor and distributor of steel, aluminum, brass, industrial plastics, copper and nickel alloys is moving operations from its 780 North Colony Road facility to Massachusetts. Ryerson Tull, a mainstay on Route 5 since 1956, is expected to put the plant up for sale. About 54 workers will be affected by the move.
• Work on an expanded Pilgrim's Harbor Golf Course is progressing, while plans for a new 8,920-square-foot pro shop, an expanded 13,180-square-foot club house and increased parking will be reviewed by the Planning & Zoning Commission this month.
• The Bethesda, Md.-based Marriott Senior Living Services plans to build a six-building, 48,816-square-foot, $6 million senior assisted-living complex on Gaylord Farms Road that would accommodate 84 residents.
• The 202,500-square-foot Medway Distribution Center on a 44-acre site on Research Parkway at the Wallingford/Meriden line is nearing completion and a similar 160,000-square-foot facility is planned for land east of it. Negotiations with two prospective tenants continue.
• A computer maintenance business, a metal-alloys company, an insulation operation and a golf business have moved into a 50,000-square-foot complex at 150 North Plains Industrial Road that was on the market for about a year. The building is expected to undergo an exterior facelift soon.
• National Filter Media Corp. plans to move from Hamden to a new 32,478-square-foot building in Centract Corporate Park.
Trumbull
• A new 61,500-square-foot Super Stop & Shop will replace the chain's old 30,000-square-foot store in the Town Hall Plaza on Quality Street. When completed, the plaza will also include 23,500 square feet of retail space and a U.S. Post Office, which is expected to be relocated into the new complex.
New Haven
• A renovated Rusty Scupper restaurant on Long Wharf re-opened this month after a $1 million makeover. The Cleveland-based Select Restaurants owns the eatery, which commands a panoramic view of New Haven Harbor.
• Expansions and moves helped the city's grow this year: FoodTech International moved in the former Perri sausage plant on Kendall Street; A&D Pallet moved from East Haven to Hoover Street; and Associated Packaging, Palmieri Food Products, Chair Care, Harty Press, Onofrio Bros. and Clintons Inc. all expanded.
• Christian Community Action is working on a $200,000 rehab of its 660 Winchester Avenue facility; and renovation work continues on buildings at 80 and 152 Temple Street.
• Yale University plans renovation projects on a number of buildings, including the Yale School of Music on Cedar Street, the Davies Mansion on Prospect Street, the Visitor Information Center on Elm Street, and the Skinner-Trowbridge House and the Abigail Whelpley House, both on Hillhouse Avenue. The university also has long-term plans to upgrade Sterling Memorial Library, the Yale Law School, Payne-Whitney Gymnasium and its undergraduate residential colleges.
• The Shubert Performing Arts Center underwent a $1 million facelift last year and opened its 1997-98 season in September.
• A plethora of new eateries dot the city streets, including El Niño, Gecko Café, Anna Liffey's, Amalfi Grille, Bo's Bar-B-Q Barn, Polo Grille & Wine Bar, Bentara, TK's American Café, Simply Scrumptious and the Old New Haven Restaurant & Grille.
Other Expansions
• The Topeka, Kan.-based Parade of Shoes recently completed a redesign of its 200 stores, including ten in Connecticut. Stores in North Haven, Trumbull and Hamden re-opened with the new look in June.
• Shaw's Supermarkets has this year opened four new area stores, including in Hamden (Hamden Plaza), Bridgeport (Sylvan Avenue), Orange (Boston Post Road) and New Haven (Dwight Place on Whalley Avenue) and will have stores in Wallingford and Waterbury open by the end of the year, bringing the total number of Shaw's stores in the state to 22 and the number of employees to more than 4,200. The 78,000-square-foot, $15 million Whalley Avenue project was spearheaded by the Greater Dwight Development Corp. and a national partnership effort, the Retail Initiative. It is the first major supermarket chain to locate in the city. In addition to the 56,000-square-foot Shaw's, Dwight Place will also include 22,000 square feet of additional retail space.
• Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse, with 450 stores in 26 states, opened a new facility on Foxon Boulevard in New Haven earlier this year and is expected to open a store, presently under construction, on Route 1 in Orange some time in September.
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