Non-traditional reuse of old buildings

[giantsfan2016]

Non-traditional reuse of old buildings. Some of these were done long before retail chains started struggling.

Bristol, Connecticut:

Auto Zone. - Auto Zone was located in a store front in a small plaza at the corner of Route 6 and North Main Street called North Side Square. They moved to a new freestanding building on the corner of Route 6 and Mercier Avenue. A couple years later their old store in the North Side Square became a satellite campus of Farmington based Tunxis Community College.

Jerry's Discount Liquors. - Jerry's Discount Liquors was located in a small building at 618 Stafford Avenue near the corner of Mountain View Avenue (a short distance from the intersection with Route 6). After the original Video Galaxy at 656 Stafford Avenue (closer to Route 6) closed, Jerry's Discount Liquors moved into that building. Their former location was sold to Mt Zion Missionary Baptist Church.

New Britain, Connecticut:

436 Slater Road. - The last retail tenant at 436 Slater Road was Walmart. They operated a store there from 1997 until 2003 or 2004. When Caldor at 643 Farmington Avenue closed Walmart bought their lease and was using the property for storage including storage of tractor trailers. People complained and the Mayor of New Britain ordered Walmart to use the Farmington Avenue property or sell it. They downsized their store by a lot and moved into the old Caldor. The 436 Slater Road Store was the size of a more traditional sized non-Super Center Walmart of around 115,000 Square Feet. The "new" store in the old Caldor was 84,000 Square feet. Webster Bank bought the 436 Slater Road property and has many offices there. There's even a corporate cafeteria. According to a May 2017 article about a new office Webster opened in Southington (consolidating operations in Cheshire and Wallingford) around 600 people work at their New Britain campus.

1045 West Main Street - An old and run-down shopping center here was demolished and replaced by a 65,000 Square Foot Shaw's Supermarket. Shaw's operated their store here for 10 years from 1996 until 2006. It was one of the first 4 stores in Connecticut to close. (The others being Southington, Bridgeport, and Glastonbury). Shaw's still had a lease on the building and it sat vacant for 10 years. In 2016 a self-storage company bought the building and converted it to a self-storage facility. It's called Cube Smart.  Cube Smart does not need the entire parking lot so they're trying to lease (or sell) a couple Pad Sites. (At least one supermarket looked at the property before Cube Smart took over the property. Along with a school).

643 Farmington Avenue - This was Walmart's much smaller store replacement store in the old Caldor. They closed in August 2009. The building was foreclosed at least once. (No Walmart did not own it). The building has sat vacant ever since August 2009. An article in The New Britain Herald in May 2017 mentioned the owner of the building was seeking the city's approval to open a self-storage facility on the property, which was just approved. The article mentioned several other plans for the building never came to fruition including a furniture store, a thrift store, and a supermarket.

Waterbury, Connecticut:

835/881 Wolcott Street - For many years until 2016 a daycare center called Kid's Town occupied about 6 store fronts in this plaza. (5 adjoining spaces. A 6th was located separately). In 2016 after one case of child abuse went viral the owner of the daycare surrendered her license and shut it down. Several more cases of child abuse have since emerged in the aftermath. From a listing on Loop Net it appears they want another daycare center in the plaza. (http://www.loopnet.com/Listing/20308383/835-Wolcott-St-Waterbury-CT/) In November 2013 KMART closed their store after 40 years. In 2014 Ollie's Bargain Basement opened a store in approximately 33,000 Square feet of the KMART space. In 2016 a career school called Porter and Chester Institute relocated their campus in nearby Watertown to the remaining space in the KMART building.

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

Penn-Can Mall in Cicero (Syracuse), New York has been converted into an auto mall called Driver's Village featuring car dealerships as its "anchors."

map:


center court:


more pictures here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/walmart3/albums/72157680254963192/with/33453027663/