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December 30, 2021

East Hartford mayor hopes to revitalize Silver Lane area

Photo | East Hartford Mayor's Office East Hartford Mayor Mike Walsh
By Skyler Frazer

As the Stop & Shop on Silver Lane nears its permanent close, and the plaza it calls home gets closer to being sold, East Hartford’s new mayor is looking at ways to revitalize the important stretch of town.

The Stop & Shop supermarket in the Charter Oak Mall on Silver Lane is set to close Jan. 6, leaving the site with a large vacancy. In October, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts-based grocery store chain said the supermarket’s landlord would not grant a renewal of its lease.

Mayor Mike Walsh, elected to his first term in November, said Stop & Shop was the anchor tenant of the plaza and his staff wants to learn how its departure will affect the rest of the tenants. Walsh said the Lexington Group, which manages the plaza, is currently in the process of trying to sell the property for the owner, so they aren’t in a position to discuss the upcoming vacancy.

According to town property records, CP Plaza Holdings LLC, of Lakewood, New Jersey, owns the 26.6-acre site at 940 Silver Lane, which also houses a Big Lots, a Burlington clothing store and several smaller businesses. CP Plaza Holdings bought the property from U.S. Bank National Association in 2017 for $6 million.

“I want to sit down with either the Lexington Group if they don’t sell it, or the new, unnamed buyer to understand what their plans are,” Walsh said.

The town has already taken steps on one major project in the area — a development agreement for the former Showcase Cinemas site. Town officials are now finalizing a sale agreement with Jasko Zelman to create 360 apartments on the property.

Also in the area, Walsh said he hopes the town can purchase the mostly-vacant Silver Lane Plaza in 2022. The three-building site is appraised at $4.6 million and Walsh said the plan would be to purchase the property using some of the $9 million in bonds issued to the town by the State Bonding Commission.

“The goal is to acquire the property, likely demolish the buildings and then attract new development,” Walsh said. “This has been a blighted property for 30 years.”

Walsh said the current owner of the Silver Lane Plaza has resisted a sale so far, but Walsh and his staff are continuing to open lines of communication with the owner. The mayor said his goal is to have the property purchased by June 30.

“I’ve got a source of money to purchase, I have a plan, I have a timeline and for me it’s the first domino that falls on Silver Lane,” Walsh said.

Walsh said that, among other things, town staff will present their ideas for the SIlver Lane corridor and other nearby projects at the Town Council meeting Jan. 19.

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