A dilapidated former factory on Derby’s Roosevelt Drive is being reborn as a second-hand store by longtime Valley businessman Pasquale “Pat” Civitella.
Civitella, a Shelton resident, purchased the large brick buildings at 253 Roosevelt Drive in August. Since then he’s been busy making extensive repairs to the property.
Civitella owns 1 – 800-MR-JUNKER. He plans to have the Derby location fully open by March 1.
Mr. Junker is a company people call when they are clearing out their garages, attics or entire homes. Civitella’s trucks arrive and remove the stuff. They do commercial hauls, too.
In addition, Mr. Junker has an outlet store in Milford.
The Derby property will double as a sorting spot and mega warehouse where used goods will be available to the public for purchase.
Items such as scrap metal are separated and sold for scrap. Clothes are donated to the needy, including thrift stores such as My Sister’s Place on Ansonia’s Main Street. Mattresses will not be sold to the public, obviously.
Everything else — from used boats to furniture to lawnmowers and power tools — will be available. Civitella said the shop will be similar to Habitat for Humanity “ReStores” in Stratford and Danbury.
The 1.8‑acre property was formerly owned by the estate of Patrick A. Mainolfi. There are about four interconnected old buildings on the site more than 100 years old. The complex is on Roosevelt Drive, overlooking the Housatonic River. It is just east of the Yale boat house.
The property had fallen into serious disrepair in recent years. In fact, it was considered a potential hazard to the public due to falling glass from broken windows. It was placed on Derby’s blight list, where it accumulated fines totaling more than $33,000.
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Why invest in such a problematic property?
“I had been eying this property since the 90s,” Civitella said. “I used to do business with Pat (Mainolfi) and I always liked the property. But back in the 1990s the real estate market was booming and the sale price was just too much.”
While the property became more affordable as the years wore on, its location along highly visible Roosevelt Drive did not change.
“Route 34 (Roosevelt Drive) is a main road. There is a lot of exposure. You don’t need to pay for advertising,” Civitella said. “That is a huge benefit. We probably have 30,000 cars a day passing by.”
The blight fines accumulated before Civitella purchased the property.
Since August, he said he’s spent about $100,000 making repairs. Those repairs including replacing or boarding broken windows, and the replacement of collapsed roofs and floors in parts of the complex.
“When we first purchased it we had to do major roof repairs in all the buildings. There’s a giant tower in one corner that was apparently a holding tank at one point,” he said. “The roof had collapsed through the floors. It’s five stories and the roof ended up in the basement. So we had to make repairs like that.”
The blight fine has been frozen and Civitella is expected to eventually approach the Derby Board of Aldermen to ask that it be reduced.
A very visible barn-like garage that was barely standing has new siding and a concrete floor (it used to be dirt). That’s where the Mr. Junker showroom will be.
The complex totals about 50,000 square feet. Mr. Junker will take up about 20,000 square feet. Civitella hopes to use the rest as rental space of some kind, depending on the economy. He is already in discussions with Talking Finger, a Valley-based marketing and social media company, to rent space in one of the buildings.
Junk hauling is big business in the U.S. — particularly after the 2008 economic downtown. The overall trash industry pulls in $50 billion a year, according to an article earlier this month in Barron’s.
Junk haulers — and people who sort through the “junk” looking for great deals — have become minor celebrities on cable shows such as “American Pickers” and “Hoarders.”
Civitella, who also runs a real estate business under Civitella and Associates, said he first got into the removal business as a kid growing up in the Valley.
“When I was 16 years old I got a driver’s license,” he said. “I bought a beat up ’77 Ford Econoline van. On weekends and during the summer I would clean out attics and garages to make extra money.”
He would then sell used items at flea markets.
“I could make a few hundred dollars on a weekend. That was big money back then,” Civitella said.
Civitella and his wife, Nadine, have three children — Angela, 21, Antonio, 20 and Joey, 17.
Civitella has lived his life in the lower Valley, including Ansonia, Derby and Shelton.
He moved briefly to Myrtle Beach, S.C. to see what that was like.
The laid-back lifestyle of the south didn’t agree with his Valley work ethic, Civitella said.
“In the Valley everyone has been here for generations. There are roots here. I missed that,” he said.
