Could this be the year Tri-Town Plaza finally lives up to its potential and sees a tenant or two fill its long-vacant spaces?
Things could be looking up for the shopping center at 814 Derby Ave., which has about 98,000 square feet of retail space available for rent.
Ron Spector, the shopping center’s owner, recently hired a new broker to find tenants.
Bryan K. Atherton, of Atherton and Associates Commercial Properties in Shelton, is now the listing broker for Tri-Town.
“We are offering it for lease and have had some good conversations with some interested tenants at this point,” Atherton said in an email last month.
Tri-Town hasn’t been represented by a listing broker in about five years.
According to information on the Atherton and Associates website, there are two large spaces available within the shopping center of 63,000 square feet and 35,000 square feet.
The description plays up the fact a movie theater, a Subway sandwich shop and a Dunkin Donuts are already in the plaza, which has immediate access to busy Route 8.
Spector indicated Wednesday the biggest challenge to finding tenants at Tri-Town is the fact the shopping center is a 7‑acre island unto itself, isolated from other commercial developments — but that could also be seen as an advantage for the right tenant.
“We are also extremely excited and encourage by all the new energy and ideas Bryan Atherton and his team at Atherton & Associates Commercial Real Estate are providing,” Spector said.
Over the years, a number of interested businesses have looked at Tri-Town, but no one has inked a deal.
Among the ideas floated:
- Fitness center (complete with a speculative Facebook page)
- Grocery store (interest was “high”)
First Selectman Kurt Miller even used social media to tease the public of a potential new business in 2012.
The status of Tri-Town Plaza was an issue in at least two First Selectman races, including when Paul Roy, who Spector endorsed, ousted incumbent Robert Koskelowski, and then again in 2011, when Miller ousted Roy.
In 2005, Spector appealed Tri-Town’s tax assessment, arguing it was too high. Spector and the town settled a court case over the issue in 2010.
In an email Wednesday, Miller said he and Spector touch base regularly and that he’s optimistic for the shopping center’s future.
“Mr. Spector has always been motivated to have someone in the space but felt it was something that he could do himself. I am very excited to see that he has contracted with a real estate professional as I feel it will greatly improve the chances of finding something new for the plaza. I wish he had done this a year or two ago,” Miller said.
Spector said Miller is responsive and that economic incentives from the town will help land a tenant.
The First Selectman said the market is still tough locally. He noted Klarides Village, a shopping center off Route 67 in Seymour, had an open spot for more than a year.
“And that has traditionally been one of the best plazas in Seymour,” Miller said.
Miller also said some of the businesses who showed interest in Tri-Town weren’t a good fit.
“I have had the chance to see the last few offers that have come in and quite frankly, I would not have taken them either. People want to use the space, but they don’t want to have any financial risk or skin in the game,” he said.
Development along Route 8 locally has increased a bit in recent years.
Shelton is always plugging along with development, and Pershing Drive in Derby along Route 8 just saw the former Valley Bowl property redeveloped as a Panera Bread and Aldi grocery store. More retail stores will be opening at that location.
In late November, Ansonia planners approved a proposal by the R.D. Scinto Company to build a 60,000-square-foot commercial building in the Fountain Lake Commerce Park, which is not far from Tri-Town.
Finally, Clean Harbors, a $13 billion company, took over a 38,000 square-foot facility on Derby Avenue just up the road from Tri-Town.
“Seymour is a wonderful community and I’m certain that at least a few retailers will come to realize that nearly all of the future growth in the lower Valley is projected to happen in Seymour and Oxford and that’s where they should be located,” Spector said.
