Straits/Park Road projects abound

#Middlebury

This rendering shows the Cumberland Farms building that is being built on the Southeast corner of the intersection of Park Road and Straits Turnpike in Middlebury. (Rendering courtesy EIDC)

By MARJORIE NEEDHAM

One Straits Turnpike/Park Road area project can’t be missed. That’s the new Premier Subaru dealership under construction across from Middlebury Edge. That project has been joined by the start of construction on a Cumberland Farms building at the Straits Turnpike-Park Road intersection and, down at the corner of Joann Drive, renovation of a single family house that will become a veterinary clinic.

As impressive as these projects may be, they are just a hint of what is coming to that area. Construction of two medical office buildings at one location and a two-story office building at another soon will get under way. This reporter also heard a rumor, not yet confirmed, that another medical office building may be in the works for the area.

Middlebury First Selectman Edward B. St. John said of the current projects, “I think they are going to be beautiful facilities and a great asset to the town.” He said he hadn’t seen this type of commercial development in town since the 1990s, when the area around the 700 to 900 blocks of Straits Turnpike was developed.

St. John said the land now being developed sat idle for years despite signs offering it for sale as commercial property. There just didn’t seem to be a market for it, he said, and now there is. “The property was zoned to do exactly what it is doing. It’s finally happened,” he said.

Economic and Industrial Development Commission (EIDC) Chairman Terrence McAuliffe also is very pleased with these projects, which come before the EIDC for architectural approval. McAuliffe said most projects along Straits Turnpike will be well set back from the road and will be visually harmonious. He said of the Cumberland Farms building, “That will be a really nice one. It has to be because of its proximity to the medical offices.”

While St. John and McAuliffe are pleased to see all these projects under way, they said one stands out above all the others. That is the construction by Metro Realty Group of the two 21,000 sq. ft. medical office buildings on the Northwest corner of the intersection at 1685 Straits Turnpike. They said this project may bring future growth in medical offices to this area.

Director Kyle Richards of Metro Realty Group, a Farmington full-service land development company, has presented this project to town boards and commissions. He told them he feels Middlebury may experience what happened in Farmington. When his firm built its first 20,000 sq. ft. medical office building at Exit 39 there, it was expected to be a limited effort. Instead, it grew to nine buildings and almost 400,000 sq. ft. as the area became known for its medical services.

Richards said Middlebury was comparable to Farmington in four ways: highway proximity, convenience to other towns, proximity to acute care centers (St. Mary’s and Waterbury Hospitals) and the local tax burden. He also noted the Waterbury area needs more ambulatory medical offices.

The Cumberland Farms at 1686 Straits Turnpike will be diagonally across the intersection from the medical office buildings, on the Southeast corner just past the new Subaru dealer as you head towards Watertown. Following what seems to be a trend towards upscaled gas station convenience stores, Cumberland Farms is now creating New Concept stores. Chainstoreage.com wrote in August 2020, “ the new concept is a ‘store within a store’ inspired by a traditional European bakery-café and offers a wide variety of freshly made sandwiches, bakery products and specialty coffee drinks.”

The Subaru dealership will be the new home of Premier Subaru, currently at 795 Straits Turnpike in Watertown. Robert Aline of Premier Subaru presented his plans for the Middlebury dealership to the Middlebury Planning and Zoning Commission in December 2019. They are building a 27,300 sq. ft. car dealership as well as a 5,900 sq. ft. mezzanine for a total of 33,200 square feet and adjacent parking for 156 vehicles.

Embrace Animal Hospital at 1556 Straits Turnpikes will sit on land recently rezoned to commercial from residential property. The veterinary clinic will occupy what has been a single family house there, with the driveway on Joann Drive.

Owners Jason and Dana Scozzfava said in an EIDC tax abatment application that Dana, a veterinarian, will treat dogs and cats. The office will offer wellness and preventative medicine, digital radiographs, dentistry with dental radiographs, surgery, bloodwork diagnostics and illness and emergency care. Dr. Scozzfava has practiced veterinary medicine 14 years and has been working at Watertown Animal Hospital the past nine years.

Plans presented at public hearings are to demolish the existing garage, breezeway and shed to make way for a building addition to the rear of the primary building, which will remain and be renovated. The existing building is 1,766 square feet (7.2% coverage) and the proposed one-story building will be 2,214 square feet (9.1% coverage). The existing driveway will provide access to a 15-car parking area.

Not yet under way is a project to build a two-story office building at 1582 Straits Turnpike, where a small green house with burgundy shutters and white trim currently sits close to the road. Architect Peter Amara of Amara Associates is currently getting approvals for the office building with a footprint a little over 7,000 sq. ft. and a total floor area estimated at 13,800 sq. ft. Amara he said he plans to house his architectural firm in part of the second floor and rent the first floor and balance of the second floor.

Amara’s representative told the Middlebury Planning and Zoning Commission that Amara had purchased both 1582 and 1570 Straits Turnpike. He said the driveway for the proposed office building at 1582 would eventually serve 1570 when that land is developed.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which shut down many of our normal activities, seems to have lit a fire under commercial construction projects. Read more on commercial projects in Middlebury in our July issue.