Demolition at Tri-Town Plaza in Seymour started in December 2018, according to this Facebook image posted by The Valley Post.
SEYMOUR – The long-running lawsuit between the Town of Seymour and the groups that control Tri-Town Plaza could go to trial in August of next year – with new legal representation for the tenant at Tri-Town.
In September, Superior Court Judge Theodore E. Tyma told the parties that they needed to get a move on with the case. Eight days later, the parties agreed on a scheduling order that could result in a trial sometime in August 2025.
A court hearing on the case is scheduled for Friday (Nov. 1).
Tri-Town Plaza was once home to an Ames department store, an Adams grocery store and a multi-screen movie theater. Ames closed in 2002, and Adam’s supermarket closed in 2003. The two anchor stores comprised about 94,000-square feet of space.
Stores still there include Alberto’s restaurant, Subway, Dunkin Donuts and Black Hole Jiu Jitsu martial arts school.
The property was cited with a blight violation in 2021. A year later, Seymour took Tri-Town Plaza to court, alleging that serious safety issues were being ignored.
The ownership of Tri-Town is complicated.
The land at 814 Derby Ave. is owned by Goodyear Property Management, LLC, along with Mark and Ellen Shaw, the trustees of the William H. Shaw Connecticut Realty Trust.
Connecticut Properties Tri-Town Plaza, LLC is the tenant, and controls the property, according to court documents. Ron Spector, of Nevada, is the managing partner and public face of the Tri-Town Plaza, LLC.
Tri-Town Plaza, LLC has a 1961 lease agreement with the owners valid for 99 years.
Goodyear and the Shaw trustees have been represented by Orange attorney David B. Zabel, of Marino, Zabel & Schellenberg PLLC, since the beginning of the lawsuit.
Spector, the tenant, was originally represented by Derby attorney Dominick Thomas, but he has been represented by Milford attorney James M. Nugent since January.
Nugent filed a motion to withdraw from the case on Sept. 19, two days after Tyma told the parties to get a move on. The Nov. 1 hearing is to consider that motion.
Spector is now represented by Waterbury attorney Daniel Miller, of Miller & Tasho LLC.
The new scheduling order contains a series of deadlines before a trial can commence, including a settlement conference tentatively scheduled for February 2025.
Background
The Town of Seymour, through its building official Jim Baldwin, took Tri-Town Plaza to court in July 2022 alleging a number of safety issues at the shopping plaza were being ignored. The safety issues were found after portions of the buildings at Tri-Town were demolished in 2018, according to court documents.
According to court documents, the problems included:
* Unsecured and failed structural components in the roof assembly
* Structural components not protected from frost and weathering
* Exterior walls with extensive cracks
* Walls that appeared to be failing
In October 2022, The Valley Indy published a story reporting that the town and Tri-Town had worked out a deal in court to address the alleged safety issues at the property. The deal came after the owners threatened to terminate Spector’s lease due to the poor conditions onsite.
However, in August 2024 the town alleged in an amended complaint that Spector never complied with that deal, and that the plaza’s buildings were still being neglected. The new complaint asks for Tri-Town to pay Seymour $73,923.01.
That dollar amount includes fines accumulated over the time the property has been in violation, plus about $29,000 in attorney fees.
Spector’s attorney responded to the new complaint on Oct. 17. The response asks the town to prove its allegation that he hadn’t complied with the deal, while denying the original allegation that he had neglected the property.
The Valley Indy left voicemails for Nugent, Buturla, and Miller on the morning on Oct. 30.
