SEYMOUR – An underdeveloped shopping center now has one owner after a $1.1 million settlement.
Documents and interviews show that Connecticut Properties Tri-Town Plaza, LLC has purchased 8.6 acres of the property from Goodyear Property Management LLC and the trustees of the William H. Shaw Connecticut Realty Trust.
Connecticut Properties Tri-Town Plaza, LLC already owned a good chunk of the shopping center going back decades. The principal in the LLC is Ron Spector, the Nevada resident who has long been the shopping center’s public voice.
The $1.1 million purchase gives Spector’s LLC full ownership of Tri-Town Plaza at 814 and 850 Derby Ave. The agreement ends a lawsuit that started four years ago.
Neither Spector nor his lawyer returned calls for comment.
Tri-Town Plaza is on Derby Avenue next to Route 8.
Seymour First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis said the deal is good news.
“This is a good thing, because (Ron) Spector is now not someone who just leases the property, it’s his own personal property,” Drugonis said. Drugonis said Spector spent a lot of money on repairs, a lawsuit, and now to buy out the partners.
“It will hopefully incentivize him to develop something that is much needed there,” she said.
Tri-Town Plaza has two addresses: 814 Derby Ave. and 850 Derby Ave.
Spector’s LLC has owned 850 Derby Ave. since the 1990s, according to land records (in a 2009 interview with the New Haven Register, Spector said that his grandfather developed the plaza in 1961).
Goodyear/Shaw owned 814 Derby Ave.
Spector’s LLC had a 99-year lease which made his LLC a tenant of 814 Derby Ave. The purchase now gives him full ownership of that land, too.
Four Year Legal Battle
In August 2022, the Town of Seymour, through its building official, filed a lawsuit against Connecticut Properties Tri-Town Plaza, LLC (Spector’s LLC), Goodyear Property Management LLC, and the trustees of the William H. Shaw Connecticut Realty Trust.
The town alleged unsafe conditions at the shopping center after a chunk of the plaza was demolished in 2018.
That lawsuit targeted 814 Derby Ave., the portion of the plaza owned by Goodyear/Shaw and leased to Spector.
That lawsuit was settled in September 2025. The safety concerns were addressed and the town received $35,000.
However, in August 2022 Goodyear/Shaw filed a cross-complaint against Connecticut Properties Tri-Town Plaza, LLC, claiming the allegations from the town were a breach of their lease agreement. Their lawsuit said Connecticut Properties Tri-Town Plaza, LLC was in control of the property and was supposed to maintain it.
There were more than 100 filings made in the case in four years.
The Agreement
However, the cross complaint had a breakthrough in April when a settlement was reached.
Under the terms of the settlement, the property was sold by Goodyear/Shaw to Connecticut Properties Tri-Town Plaza, LLC, (Spector’s LLC), for the sale price of $1.1 million.
“CT Properties Tri-Town Plaza owns all of the property now. There are no more lawsuits,” said David Zabel, of Zabel Schellenberg in New Haven. He represented Goodyear/Shaw.
Paperwork confirming the property transfer was filed in Seymour Town Hall in June.
A court transcript shows Spector’s lawyer agreed to the deal as well.
“Rather than continue to deal with litigation, we negotiated a price for the property,” Zabel said. “It’s being sold as is.”
Lay Of The Land
850 Derby Ave. houses a daycare, hair salon, Subway and Dunkin Donuts.
814 Derby Ave. houses Alberto’s restaurant and encompasses the former Ames department store and Adam’s grocery store.
Once A Bustling Plaza
Tri-Town Plaza at one time was home to an Ames department store, Adams grocery store and a multi-screen movie theater. There are a few remaining businesses in the plaza, including Alberto’s restaurant, Subway, Dunkin Donuts and Hair Intrigue.
A new business, Willow Academy, a daycare facility, opened last fall in a space previously occupied by a martial arts studio.
Ames closed in 2002, and Adam’s supermarket closed in 2003. The two anchor stores comprised about 94,000-square-feet of space.
