Processing Your Payment

Please do not leave this page until complete. This can take a few moments.

August 5, 2024

Former downtown Waterbury department store to be demolished for new apartment building

Google 43 South Main St., Waterbury
By Michael Puffer

A historic downtown Waterbury building could soon be demolished to make way for a five-story, mixed-use apartment building with first-floor retail. The project carries an estimated $18 million price tag.

Last week, a limited liability company operated by Hamden-based developer Michael Belfonti sold the nearly two-century-old Miller & Peck building for $125,000 to Residence at 43 South Main Street LLC. The buyer's prinicpal is Fairfield-based real estate investor Joseph Iannelli.

Belfonti’s LLC paid $638,339 for the two-story, 24,140-square-foot building on one-third of an acre at 43 South Main St. in 2007. The building has been vacant and deteriorating for years. The city recently ordered it to be demolished to prevent it from collapsing into the street.

Iannelli, a former insurance agent turned multifamily real estate investor, said he intends to carry out the city’s demolition order within weeks of a 90-day application period. He expects the demo job to cost about $150,000.

He plans to replace the Mill & Peck building with a five-story, mixed-use building of more than 100,000 square feet. He was unable to estimate how many apartment units will go into the building, but said he plans to install as many as possible. He also said he hopes to complete the construction project within two years.

“Miller & Peck was a landmark Waterbury department store founded sometime around 1860 by Henry H. Peck and Charles Miller,” reads a portion of a history blog by Raechel Guest, a Waterbury-area history expert and director of the city’s Silas Bronson Library. Guest noted the business operated on South Main Street for more than a century.

Iannelli said he will create a historic-looking façade using brick to match the historic architecture in downtown Waterbury. He anticipates an $18 million project budget. 

Most of Iannelli’s portfolio consists of two-family to four-family rental properties. The Waterbury project would be by far his largest to date.

Iannelli said he was attracted to the downtown Waterbury project by all the city’s recent redevelopment efforts in the area.

“I’m starting to see people walking around a bit more,” Iannelli said. “I see college kids walking around. That’s good for the economy over there. It is a depressed area that is on its way up dramatically.” 

The city has tapped state funds and used tax breaks to revive large downtown buildings. One street over from the Miller & Peck property, the city worked with a developer and drew in $7.7 million in state funds to turn the former Howland-Hughes Department Store into offices for Post University.

The city is working with that same developer and $10 million in state grant funds for a full-gut renovation on the six-story former Odd Fellows Building on North Main Street. Large sections of that building will be leased to the University of Connecticut to expand its downtown Waterbury campus.

Other developers have taken an interest, and downtown Waterbury has seen a burst of purchases by apartment developers in the past two years.

Waterbury Mayor Paul Pernerewski, in a released statement, said investors continue to show an interest in the downtown. 

“This investment will provide new market-rate housing and retail opportunities,” Pernerewski said. “In addition, it will enhance the values of the surrounding properties. We remain open for business and are willing to work with those who see Waterbury’s stellar future.” 

Sign up for Enews

Most Recent

Most Recent

0 Comments

Order a PDF