Antiques Shop Clears Hurdle

Derby’s Planning and Zoning Commission Tuesday night approved a plan to turn a former bar/restaurant into an antiques business and auction house.

Commission members voted unanimously to approve the plan after raising some questions about the business’ hours and parking at the site.

The hours approved Tuesday allow the business to be open to the public from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, but business partners Steve Manillo and Paul Sciaraffa said they’ll likely be open until 10 p.m. only on Wednesdays, for weekly table auctions.

Manillo said neighbors have been stopping by with words of encouragement.

I think everybody in the neighborhood is glad there’s not going to be another bar there,” he said.

Click here to read an earlier story about the business.

The building — at 300 Roosevelt Drive — had been many businesses over the years, most recently Roadhouse Bleu, a bar and restaurant.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Manillo said he has repainted the entire building and installed new lighting fixtures, and that already that building looks like night and day.”

Nearly 6,000 square feet, it will serve mainly as an antiques shop, but will also be an auction gallery.

The front bar area will become a 13-seat juice bar with coffee, tea, cappuccino, and snacks.

What used to be a dining room will serve as space for merchandise and table auctions on Wednesdays, as well as periodic estate auctions.

Manillo said the auctions will also feature online participants and phone bidders.

In approving the proposal, the commission set as a condition that Manillo and Sciaraffa make improvements — painting lines, putting in a sidewalk — to a parking lot across the street from the business.

The site has some parking on its side of the street, but must have a total of 33 spaces given the size of the building. The lot across the street — or the half the business is allowed to use, because it has two owners — would give them a total of 38 spots.

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