To passers by, it’s a small supermarket and a fast food joint. But for those interested in a rejuvenated East Hartford, they may be most encouraging new signs of good things to come.
The push is on in that city to approve a 17,000-square-foot Aldi supermarket at 801 Silver Lane, plans for which are already working through the city’s approval process. Down the street, a KFC is now being proposed in what had been a burned-out building that once housed a Pizza Hut.
Aldi’s push into Connecticut is by now well-publicized, and the presence of fast food chains omnipresent. But Jeanne Webb, development director for the town, said there’s an alternate interperetation for the move: Cabela’s.
The Sidney, Neb.-based outdoor products chain is still in the midst of building a 200,000-square foot mega-store on Silver Lane by Rentschler field. Completion is projected for October.
The two new stores, Webb said, are the first signs of economic development spin-off in town from the project.
“We’re starting to see things like this now,” she said. She hopes to see more projects proposed over the next few months.
Economic development for the surrounding area was a key talking point when Cabela’s first broached the issue of building a store on the site more than two years ago. Tourists would come, it was said, and jobs would be added.
Officials in other towns where Cabela’s has built similar stores have said that the development hyped by the company never materialized.
The city of East Hartford gave the chain a $7 million tax break to build the project in town.
It’s unclear at this point when either of the two new stores would be ready to open, pending their approval, Webb said.
