A 44-year-old business in downtown Derby is moving a mile up the road.
Calvert Safe & Lock, currently in the city’s long-stagnant redevelopment zone on Caroline Street, is moving to 300 Roosevelt Drive.
The move is bittersweet for the Calvert family. They wanted to stay on Caroline Street, but the state’s widening of Route 34/Main Street in downtown Derby is pushing them off the property.
The state has been buying properties to widen the road.
Property owners who don’t work out a deal could face eminent domain.
Despite the business challenges due to the lack of redevelopment downtown, owner Brian Calvert said he is still happy to be relocating within the City of Derby.
“We’ve been in Derby since 1972. We’re Derby people. When I got off the boat I came straight to Derby. We bought a house in Derby, my kids went to school in Derby. We’re all Derby people,” said Calvert, who was born in England.
Click here for the Calvert Safe & Lock website.
The Calverts are taking over the property that formerly housed The Royale, a catering hall, on Roosevelt Drive not far from Yale University’s boat house.
The Roosevelt Drive property has seen a number of businesses come and go in the past decade, including a bar and an antiques shop. The property fell into foreclosure after its owner died. It fell into disrepair, at least from what it looks like from the street.
The plan is to knock it down.
“We got prices to renovate it, but it was exorbitant, and we would still end up with an old building. So we decided to knock it down and start again,” Calvert said. “We’re excited about it and we’re pleased that we are still in Derby.”
Derby’s building department issued a demolition permit Sept. 15 allowing a crew to demo the building to its foundation. The building could come down this week. Then a new building will be constructed in its place.
Members of the Derby Planning and Zoning Commission are currently reviewing the site plans for the new structure.
The deed on file in Derby City Hall states Calco of Caroline St., LLC paid Bayview Loan Serving LLC of Florida $225,000 for both 300 and 402 Roosevelt Drive, a single-family house next door.
He said the three-bedroom house basically came with the property as part of the purchase. He said he’s not sure what they’ll do with the house, but the plan is to leave it as is for now.
“It’s a nice house, we’re not planning to knock it down or anything. One step at a time at this point,” Calvert said.
The Calverts did not purchase an empty lot across the street that has been previously used for parking. They have enough parking spaces at 300 Roosevelt Drive for what they want to do.
Calvert Safe & Lock always remained viable — even as numerous plans to redevelop the area failed to pan out. Businesses slowly closed. Old buildings surrounding the Calverts’ business fell into disrepair.
He said past redevelopment zone investors were simply “blowing smoke.”
“It was tough. When we opened there were stores on Main Street. They could have renovated all the old buildings on Main Street, but they chose to knock them down,” Calvert said.
Now he hopes the new Calvert Safe and Lock building becomes a point of pride for people entering and leaving Derby along Roosevelt Drive.
“It’s going to be a beautiful building,” he said. “Inside it will not be unlike what we have now. We’ll have offices and a work area. It’s going to be really good.”
The new shop will overlook the Housatonic River.
The state does not officially take ownership of Calvert’s Caroline Street property until Nov. 1. The Calverts will then have a certain amount of time to clear out the Caroline Street shop.
Meanwhile, Calvert said his builder wants to have the roof on the new Roosevelt Drive building by December.
“We’ll see, depending on the weather,” Calvert said.
Derby Mayor Anita Dugatto credited the Calverts for their perseverance.
“I’m happy that they are staying in Derby,” the mayor said. “Brian is a great business person.”
