Hartford Business Journal

20 Hartford Business Journal • June 6, 2016 www.HartfordBusiness.com NOMINATE YOUR CFO TODAY! NOMINATION DEADLINE: July 6, 2016 Nominate at: HartfordBusiness.com/CFO For questions about this event please contact Amy Orsini at 860-236-9998, ext. 134 or aorsini@hartfordbusiness.com. Acura of Berlin's new home from page 1 the availability of more land from property owners whose intentions have changed over time — have brightened Berlin's prospects. In the last year alone, there have been 19 com- mercial ribbon cuttings in town — and more are expected, said Christopher Edge, Berlin's full- time director of economic development. Just recently, national pet-products and services retailer PetSmart announced its intent to open a second Berlin Turnpike loca- tion, occupying the former Sym's off-price clothing store space in the Brickyard Plaza shopping center that fronts the turnpike. Michael's Arts & Crafts opened in the same plaza in Feb. 2015, followed one month later by the debut of Kohl's department store. This past February, long-time turnpike fixture The Hawthorne Inn reopened with a new owner and restaurant, Casa Mia At The Hawthorne. In March, Euro-American Connections & Homecare reopened a pre- viously vacant, 11,000-square-foot former retail building at 1436 Berlin Turnpike that it bought and renovated into headquarters and for leased office space. Also, Acura of Berlin owner Jon Orsini recently acquired 8 acres at Deming Road and the turnpike, adjacent to CVS, to relo- cate his dealership into a 29,000-square- foot showroom-service center. Orsini also envisions an 18,000-square-foot retail plaza adjoining the dealership. Both sites, repre- senting an investment of about $12 million, are set to open around Thanksgiving, he said. The 40,000 cars a day that traverse the turnpike are a potential stream of customers for both enterprises, Orsini said. "My location is a great location,'' said Orsini, owner of Executive Auto Group, which five years ago acquired former Morande Acura. "That's why I considered it. I've said this is the place to be.'' What's changed? Town Manager Denise McNair describes the development unfolding along the turnpike and in other sections of town as "a perfect storm'' of events, including the availability of more parcels. "A lot of the old lots were owned by people who had owned them for many years and now they're wanting to sell,'' McNair said. Until 2010, Berlin officials say, their town was abuzz with development of new retail plazas and other commercial expansion, plus condominium development, along or near the Berlin Turnpike. That is, until the full weight of the Great Recession bore down on Connecticut. The slow economic recovery has made retailers and other businesses more apt to expand and invest. Heightened cooperation between local businesses and the town's economic develop- ment, planning and zoning and council bodies is also paying off, town officials say. Another hindrance, town officials acknowledge, was the town's previous ordi- nance that limited commercial development along the turnpike to parcels with 20 or more acres. Berlin lowered that commercial lot- size minimum to 5 acres, which Orsini says paved the way for his new dealership and elevated the town's appeal with developers. But Michael Gallon, managing broker for Reno Properties Group, which has brokered property sales and leases up and down the turn- pike, as well as in Berlin's village quadrant, sees limited commercial development opportunities for Berlin. The reason is, Gallon said, the town sat out the trend of "big-box'' retail development that neighbors like Newington, Wethersfield, Cromwell and Rocky Hill exploited to create destination-retail pockets in their communities. Evidence of that, he said, is that while Berlin has managed to draw such big retail names to the turnpike as Michael's Crafts, Kohl's and, soon, Petco, those merchants filled existing vacancies in Berlin's biggest shopping center, Brickyard Plaza. "Berlin's play is in town-village develop- ment, and not Berlin Turnpike, big-box devel- opment,'' Gallon said. Open space is also still an issue in Berlin, like in many other Connecticut communities. Town officials say an easing of tensions between development supporters and residents who prefer to retain more of Berlin's rural, agri- cultural roots, has helped spur new development. But there are still efforts to promote open space. Recently, for example, the town took steps to acquire a parking lot adjacent to Chamberlain Highway and other parcels, to expand the town's hiking-biking trail, said Berlin Mayor Mark H. Kaczynski. "We do want to preserve the rural nature of Berlin,'' said Kaczynski, who previously sat on the town's planning and zoning board. "We Acura of Berlin will relocate later this year to new, larger quarters on the Berlin Turnpike.

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