VIMAL LLC, Buy Rite Liquors - 808 Silas Deane Highway

Renovation is complete to the storefront space formerly occupied by the Yum Yum coffee shop. The renovation will accommodate an expansion for the next door neighbor Buy-Rite Liquors.

M.J. Neiditz 1077 Silas Deane Highway (Wethersfield Shopping Center) UPS Store

Vacant storefront has been renovated to accommodate the UPS Store (formerly Staci's). NEW

20-30 Beaver Road

Interior renovations are complete to this existing office space to accommodate Dental Associates of Wethersfield and R.J. Health Systems. NEW

133 Main Street

Renovation is complete for a small office conversion from a former retail space. NEW

600 Silas Deane Highway - Bank of America

Approvals were issued for the new free standing and wall signs signifying the change of Fleet Bank to Bank of America. NEW

Ascot Catering, 136 Main Street

Thomas and Julia Sapia have just completed the renovation and conversion of the former Wethersfield Grange Hall into a commercial kitchen to support their catering business Ascot catering.

D'Esopo Merchandising Center, 277 Folly Brook Boulevard

A Certificate of Occupancy is expected to be issued any day now for this new commercial building located at the corner of Folly Brook Drive and Spruce Street. The building is a two-story, 4,500 s.f. structure which will be used for a combination of retail and office space associated with the D'Esopo Funeral chapel.

Wethersfield United Methodist Church expansion, 150 Prospect Street

Construction is nearing completion on a 6,255 s.f. addition and renovation to the south side of the church. The addition will add a Family Life Center, Kitchen and rest rooms to the existing church.

Mercury Fuel Service, Inc., 151 Silas Deane Highway

Construction has just begun on the site of the former Hughes Brothers Gas Station at the corner of the Silas Deane Highway and Jordan Lane. The existing building was demolished to make way for a new, 2,581 s.f. convenience store, new pump islands and canopy and underground fuel storage tanks. A separate car wash building is planned in the future.

Colvest Wethersfield, LLC, 1080 Silas Deane Highway

Construction is well underway on the construction of 2 new commercial/retail buildings on the site of the former Dal Tile and Town Fair Tire building. The larger of the two buildings at 13,120 s.f. will house CVS Pharmacy with a drive up window which will relocate from just across the Highway in the Wethersfield Shopping Center. The second building, a 9,840 s.f retail building will house 4 tenants; Starbuck's, Quiznos, Cingular Wireless and Blockbuster Video. This building will also have a drive up window for Starbuck's.

Southside Partners LLC 82-86 Wolcott Hill Road

Construction is now underway on a new one-story multi-tenant office building on Wolcott Hill Road near the intersection of Jordan Lane. The buildings will consist of a 7,470 s.f. office and an 800 s.f. free-standing storage building at the rear of the site.

Mozzicato Development, 38-46 Wells Road

Construction of a 6,428 s.f. addition to the existing building at the corner of Wells Road and the Silas Deane Highway has begun. The one story brick addition would also include the renovation of the exterior façade of the existing building resulting in consistent exterior treatment to the entire site. The proposed tenant's are Sherwin Williams Paint and Mozzicato Bakery.

Sebastian Traina, 370 and 376 Silas Deane Highway

Exterior and interior renovations are underway for two (2) buildings owned by Sebastian Traina. The 2 story 9,000 s.f brick office building and the colonial 2,000 s.f. wood frame building are presently being renovated in anticipation of office tenants. Site improvements including parking lot repairs and landscaping are underway.

Paula Larsen, Main Street Creamery 271 Main Street

A groundbreaking ceremony was held and construction is well underway for the addition to the front of the residence at 271 Main Street which will accommodate the relocation of the Main Street Creamery to this site. The proposed 690 s.f. addition will provide room for several indoor tables as well as waiting space for customers, a brick patio will create additional outdoor seating for customers.

Michael Karabetsos, Bob's Fruit Stand - 1825 Berlin Turnpike

Construction of a new 1,200 s.f. building and outdoor display areas for Bobs Fruit Stand has begun. This project will also include the demolition of the existing building and parking improvements to accommodate the new operation.

HESA LLC - Mila Fabrics - 976 Silas Deane Highway

Renovations to the interior of the vacant space and the construction of a new façade to both of these existing buildings has begun. The new property owner, Harvey Sprung will relocate his business Mila Fabrics to one of the newly renovated tenant spaces and an additional 10,000 s.f. space will be created. The building presently housing Absolute Mortgage will also get a new façade.

James Duquette - Restaurant - 1030 Silas Deane Highway

Interior demolition and construction has begun to convert a former salon space into a 2,800 sf 48 seat restaurant offering Filipino food.

The Hospitality Corporation - Best Western - 1330 Silas Deane Highway

A groundbreaking ceremony was held on November 1 and construction is underway for the Best Western - Camelot Inn on a one-story addition on the south side of the building to accommodate an indoor pool and jacuzzi.

Town of Wethersfield Moeller Home, Prospect Street

Bids are being reviewed and plan modifications are being made to keep the project within budget limitations. The plans call for the renovation of the former Moeller Home for the adaptive reuse to a Nature Center. This 5,000 s.f. building footprint will accommodate the center's relocation from the Community Center.

61 Arrow Road LLC

Renovations have started at the former Arrow Tool Building at the corner of Arrow Road and Russell Road. The project will be constructed in 2 phases with the first phase consisting of 25,000 s.f. of industrial space which could accommodate up to 12 tenants. The second phase will involve the renovation of 15,000 s.f. of Office space. The exterior façade of the building will be improved and additional on-site parking will be created.

274 Silas Deane Highway - George Gonsalves

Garage space is being renovated for conversion to Office space. NEW

505 Silas Deane Highway - Town Hall and Library Renovation

Construction has commenced on the renovations and handicapped accessibility improvements to the Town Hall/Library Building. NEW

1855 Berlin Turnpike, Cumberland Farms Inc.

Construction should begin shortly on the demolition and construction of a larger convenience store/gasoline filling station on the site of the existing Cumberland Farms building on the Berlin Turnpike. The project would include a new 4,185 s.f building, new pump island canopy and new underground fuel storage tanks.

SEA Goff Plaza Wethersfield LLC - Office Depot - 1295 Silas Deane Highway

Approval was recently granted to permit Office Depot to occupy 21,400 s.f. in the Goff Brook Shopping Center. The planned improvements will include a modified façade, signage and rear loading dock to accommodate this tenant. Building permit plans are presently being reviewed. The space was most recently used by Goodwill Industries.

1390 Berlin Turnpike (Jordan Lane Shopping Center)

At their meeting on October 19 the Planning and Zoning Commission approved plans to convert the vacant storefront (former Fashion Bug) 21,000 s.f. into a fitness facility which will be operated by Friendly Fitness out of Westwood, Massachusetts .

804 Silas Deane Highway Bella Napoli Pizzeria

Plans have been submitted to convert this vacant storefront into a pizza restaurant.

Folly Brook Boulevard - Age Restricted Housing

A pre application meeting was held with a developer to discuss plans for 14 units of age restricted 55+ housing units for a site located at the corner of Folly Brook and Spruce Street. Preliminary plans will be presented to the PZC at their first meeting in December. NEW

1000 Silas Deane Highway Foodways/Weight Watcher

Met with interested developer to discuss possible redevelopment of property. No specific plans have been developed yet.

Church Homes Property - Ridge Road

Discussed preliminary plans with developer and engineering firm for potential active adult housing development on this site.

1912 Berlin Turnpike

Continue discussions with property owner and prospective developer redevelopment plans. Environmental remediation of this site has been completed. Property owner is waiting for new zoning designation for this property.

Cumberland Avenue - Northeast Utilities

A meeting is scheduled with one of the partners of ABC Properties the owner of the property to discuss the reuse/redevelopment potential.

U.S. Postal Service

On November 5, Mayor Morin, Town Manager Therrien and I met with Postal Service Representatives and representatives from our Federal delegation to begin a dialogue about the long term plans for the Wethersfield Post Office. NEW

Regional Franchise

Met with local franchisee to discuss potential sites for a new location in Wethersfield. NEW

Carnival Ice Cream Site (Corner of SDH and Church)

Met with franchise holder to discuss preliminary plans for the redevelopment of this site. Preliminary plans will be presented to PZC in early December. NEW

Wethersfield Shopping Center - Sleepy's Mattress

Negotiations are underway to lease space in this center to Sleep's Mattress. NEW

Berlin Turnpike Properties - Potential Development Site

Provided property information and property contact information to commercial realtor interested in assembling parcels for large development on Berlin Turnpike. NEW

Town of Wethersfield Comprehensive Zoning Regulation Update

After a series of public hearings the Planning and Zoning Commission approved the new regulations and map and the regulations went into effect on November 15, 2004.

Design Review Advisory Committee - Town Ordinance

Town Council adopted the ordinance creating the new Design Review Advisory Committee. We are presently receiving letters of interest and resumes from interested volunteers and hope to forward the nominees to Council for December 6 Council meeting.

Silas Deane Highway Revitalization Committee

The Committee has been meeting for the past 5 months and presented a preliminary report and recommendations were made at the Council meeting held on Oct 4. The Committee is planning a public forum for December 9 at the PD Community Room to solicit public comment on the work performed to date. The Committee is working on the preparation of an RFQ to retain technical assistance with the completion of the Plan.

STEAP Grant

Wethersfield and the Town of Rocky Hill were both awarded $500,000 to support our revitalization efforts for the Silas Deane Highway. We are waiting for further information on the timing and conditions of this funding. A meeting was held with DECD representatives and Rocky Hill reps on Wednesday November 10. We will need to prepare an application and budget for submission to DECD. We still have some unanswered questions of DECD regarding the terms of the grant before we proceed further. It appears the monies could be available to us as early as this Spring.

Annual Business Survey

During the week of September 20th over 500 surveys were mailed to the Wethersfield Business Community. This year we revised the survey questions to make them more compatible with our economic development initiatives. The return deadline was October 15. The results have been tabulated and a report was made to the Council on November 1 by Frank Frago.

Quarterly Realtors Breakfast

The breakfast meeting was held on Wednesday morning October 13 at 8 am at the Wethersfield Country Club and was attended by about dozen local realtors. Several ideas were exchanged.

Available Property Listing

As requested by the local real estate community we have just completed the first of a series of quarterly listings of available sites and properties that we intend to distribute to all interested parties. Much thanks to Joe Cornelio a member of the EDIC for his generous volunteering of time to this project. A copy of this listing is attached to this report.

LOIS - Location One Information System

In partnership with Metro Hartford Alliance the Town is participating in a web based economic development data base that will be utilized to market the State, the Region and the Town to businesses wishing to expand into our area. Staff have compiled the data necessary to populate the database and the information was forwarded to Metro Hartford.

Salute To Business

This year's event will be held on Wednesday, December 8 at 5 p.m. at the Keeney Center. The EDIC will be recognizing 7 local businesses and the Chamber of Commerce will be recognizing it's long standing members.

EPA Brownfields Grant

On November 12, 2004 the grant application for monies to assess potential Brownfield sites in Town was filed with the EPA. A public meeting was held on November 9 at 5:30 p.m. in Council Chambers to present and discuss the grant application. We have requested $200,000 to assess environmental site conditions and we have asked for funding to be used for reuse studies of these properties.

All Boards Meeting - November 18

Representatives from PZC, Inland Wetlands, Conservation, Tree Commission, EDIC, Silas Deane, ZBA, Chamber of Commerce and the Historic District Commission attended the first of a series of quarterly meetings to discuss areas of common interest. Copies of the new zoning regulations were distributed and discussed. NEW

Loan Program/Façade Grants

The Town of Rocky Hill plans on utilizing a significant portion of their STEAP funds to provide grant monies for a façade program for properties on the Silas Deane Highway. We are presently reassessing our loan program and are considering a grant program and a loan program. We are researching similar programs in other communities. NEW