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February 26, 2021

S. Windsor debates second grocery store at Evergreen Walk

Photo | CoStar The Promenade Shops at Evergreen Walk in South Windsor.
By Olivia Regen, Journal Inquirer

Three Planning and Zoning Commission members in South Windsor expressed concerns about the impact of a proposed zone change to allow another grocery store in the Buckland Road Gateway development area, saying they fear it could fail.

Karen Johnson, vice president of development for Charter Realty, the new management company for the Promenade Shops at Evergreen Walk, asked the PZC Tuesday to remove restrictions and allow a second 40,000-square-foot grocery store in the area.

Plans call for building the store where Old Navy and a Japanese restaurant are located and moving those businesses to other empty storefronts.

Zoning regulations don’t allow two grocery stores within 1,500 feet of each other in the Gateway Zone. The international discount supermarket chain Aldi is slated to open its new store across the street next month.

PZC members Kevin Greer and William Flagg questioned whether a new grocery store could survive in the area with competitors such as Trader Joe’s and Stop & Shop also nearby.

Vice Chairman Kevin Foley said the PZC adopted the 1,500-foot distance restriction between grocery stores in 2005 to keep the quality of shops in the area and not just quantify things by adding one grocery store after another.

“I think there are some good reasons this was put in place, and I am open, but once you change a zone text amendment it is changed,” he said. “I want to think this out and be careful.”

In October, Charter Realty took over the management of Evergreen Walk, which has more than 60 retailers, including L.L. Bean, Talbots, and Williams-Sonoma. Johnson has told the Economic Development Commission that the takeover is in the transitional phase, and she expects to fully manage the shopping district in the next six months.

Flagg said he is not concerned about adding another grocery store in the area, but about the survivorship of such a store because there is so much competition nearby.

Flagg asked if the grocer, which Johnson has not named because she is still in negotiations with them, is familiar around the country, such as a Whole Foods or Wegmans where the prices are a little higher.

He also cited the former Highland Park Market, which opened in same location and closed in June 2010 after a few years, citing lack of business. That space next door to the Japanese restaurant remains vacant.

“Highland Park offered some good grocery meat and produce and their prices were a little bit higher than the surrounding competition and they did not last long,” he said. “I don’t think the whole thing was because of their size.”

Johnson argued that with the increase in residential and office space in the Evergreen Walk area there is a strong market for a grocery store. There are now over 200 apartments in Evergreen Walk, as well as a neighboring senior housing facility, and an assisted living facility that is under construction.

“You will see by locating these stores together it benefits a lot of them,” Johnson said explaining that customers’ shopping habits have changed as they go to multiple stores for specific items.

Greer said when Aldi’s was built, it was anticipated that would be the anchor store for the area. With improvements planned for the plaza at Geissler’s on Sullivan Avenue, and the addition of a Costco on nearby Tamarack Avenue and other food markets nearby, there is a lot of competition already, he said.

“I don’t know,” Greer said. “Someone is going to fail here. I don’t think we can support all these supermarkets.”

But PZC member Stephen Wagner expressed support for the zone change, saying Highland Park Market failed because they anticipated the apartments and senior housing that never materialized while they were open.

“We have a local market and a store that would attract business and I hope it would be a plus,” he said.

PZC member Paul Bernstein also expressed support for the store.

He added that while it pains him to see so many vacant storefronts at Evergreen Walk, he saw the grocery store as a “shot in the arm” to revitalize the area.

Town Manager Michael Maniscalco, who says the vacancy rate at Evergreen Walk is 40%, and Mayor Andrew Paterna have expressed support for the zone change.

The PZC will continue its public hearing at its March 9 meeting.
 

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1 Comments

Anonymous
February 26, 2021

Not mentioned in the article is the possibility that the rents for the stores is extravagant.

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