Demolition at Tri-Town Plaza in Seymour started in December 2018, according to this Facebook image posted by The Valley Post.
SEYMOUR – A judge wants the parties in the lawsuit between the Town of Seymour and the people who control Tri-Town Plaza to get on with it, already.
“This action has been pending for two years,” Superior Court Judge Theodore E. Tyma wrote in a Sept. 17 order. “The pleadings are not closed and no trial dates have been assigned. The parties shall file an agreed upon proposed scheduling order no later than September 26, 2024, including whether trial will be to jury or court.”
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.
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
Tri-Town’s ownership 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 partment of the Tri-Town Plaza, LLC.
Tri-Town Plaza, LLC has a 1961 lease agreement with the owners valid for 99 years.
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.
In August 2024 the town filed court documents asking that Tri-Town pay Seymour $73,923.01. That dollar amount included fines accumulated when the property was in violation, plus about $29,000 in attorney fees.
Tri-Town objected to paying for attorney fees, but Judge Tyma overruled Tri-Town’s objection in a written ruling dated Sept. 17.
Seymour First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis said the town has worked with Tri-Town for years to breathe life into the under-developed commercial plaza.
“He (Tri-Town’s Ron Spector) now has to either come to an agreement to pay us or we go to court,” the First Selectwoman said.
– Eugene Driscoll contributed to this report
Tri-Town Plaza in Seymour (photo by Jean Falbo-Sosnovich).
