🔒After $54.2M purchase of CT retail plaza, new owner proposes site improvements

The Florida private equity firm that paid $54.2 million for Bloomfield’s Copaco Center last year is preparing a facade overhaul of the shopping plaza, but the plan stalled Thursday when the Town Plan and Zoning Commission declined to act on it. Dustin Hicks, managing director of construction and development for West Palm Beach-based Sterling Organization, told commissioners the firm wants to start work as soon as it has approval and finish the project this year. The renovation centers on the smaller retail building along Cottage Grove Road, which Hicks said has many vacancies. However, renderings shared with prospective tenants have drawn leasing interest, he said. The larger building anchored by Stop & Shop would get new column wraps, an updated sign band, new colors and other architectural changes, Hicks said. He told the commission Sterling plans separate applications for pylon and monument sign improvements, additional landscaping, and asphalt and concrete repairs. The firm is also working toward developing a vacant pad on Cottage Grove Road, which Hicks said would require its own application once that deal is finalized. Commissioners did not vote. Several said they had received only renderings, with no specifications, materials or dimensions, and that the item had not appeared on the draft agenda published a week earlier. Commissioners said the submission was far from a complete application. The zoning review was triggered after Sterling applied for a building permit. Zoning staff determined the work amounted to “substantial improvements” across the plaza, triggering commission review. Hicks said the team met with staff and was told the facade work would need only a building permit. The commission invited Sterling to return with a full application. Sterling purchased the 439,644-square-foot property in August 2025, acquiring it from affiliates of Stamford-based AmCap Partners.