The commercial landscape along Route 44 in Canton changed in 2004 when a former golf course became The Shoppes at Farmington Valley, and the town has benefitted from that retail development.
It was hard to envision the small town of Canton becoming a retail destination but it has, not only for what is offered on Route 44 but also in the village of Collinsville. That’s where the town hall is located, along with various shops and eateries, churches and homes.
“Collinsville is a quintessential example of an intact former factory town,” said Neil S. Pade, Canton’s director of planning and community development, speaking of the village designed by Sam Collins for employees of his factory, the Collins Co.
After the factory closed in the 1960s, Collinsville was saved from urban renewal and is now a thriving municipal center that has become a destination for shoppers, diners and those seeking recreational opportunities on the Farmington River and the Farmington River Trail.
Collinsville’s attractions, especially the pedestrian-bike trail that crosses the river there, have brought traffic into the village, making it a destination and helped Canton’s economy, the town assessor said.
“People come to have dinner or go to Bridge Street Live for a concert,” said Harry DerAsadourian, town assessor for both Avon and Canton. “People growth is a different type of influence on the town’s economy and is hard to measure, but it’s a base to support the small shops in Collinsville and is a stimulus for the future.”
It’s enough of a stimulus, he said, that it may eventually lead to revitalization of the former Collins Co. factory building. Some artisan and antique shops are already located there, but the town hopes for a total rehab.
Retail is different in the village than the Shoppes’ brand-name retailers, DerAsadourian said, but that contrast gives Canton the best of both worlds.
The Shoppes at Farmington Valley have helped the town’s retail vibrancy the most.
“Although each business receives a separate tax bill, the combined tax revenues make the Shoppes the largest taxpayer in town,” Pade said. “That revenue helped meet the financial expenses of the schools and was needed at the time the development came in.”
The Canton complex was one of three open air lifestyle centers opened in New England in 2004 by WS Development after the company’s first such center, built in 2001, met with success.
David Fleming, corporate marketing director for WS Development, said the last enclosed mall to be built in New England was in 1999 and since then, the trend has turned to open air centers.
That happened at a time when large retailers who do not build their stores in enclosed malls were looking for space, while small retailers were seeking an alternative to malls, Fleming said. WS Development combined the two genres, creating centers such as Canton’s, which blends a grocery store and a Kohl’s with smaller specialty shops like Sur La Table.
With 93 percent of Canton zoned residential, the largest percentage of property left to develop is residential, Pade said. Town officials are looking at areas that can be developed as non-residential, and are focusing on property at the intersection of Route 44 and Lawton Road. The land has been vacant and awaiting development for some time but previous site plans, notably a development that included a Target, were nixed.
A new plan for a small complex there, proposed by Konover Development Corp. of Farmington, is in the works. The first building will be a 16,000-square-foot CVS on the front of the property, Pade said, and two or three more buildings will be added.
“One of the key goals is to be reflective of historic development on 44, where many old houses have been converted to businesses,” he said.
