The owner of the former Bloomfield Hardware Store has received town approval to redevelop the long-vacant building for restaurant or medical-office use.
Robert Schwartz, owner of Bloomfield real estate firm Naro Realty, last week scored site plan approval and a special permit from the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission to redevelop the single-story building at 9 Tunxis Ave. at a cost of at least $1.5 million.
Schwartz, who also owns the nearby 100-unit Ramblestone apartment complex, and other retail space in West Hartford and Granby, said he plans to begin the first phase of construction in early May. He plans to complete the project in October.
The initial site work will include reconfiguring the 56-space parking lot to increase access to the 70-year-old building, which has been vacant for roughly eight years. Schwartz then plans to add a new facade to the exterior of the brick building, among other upgrades.
He hopes the renovation project will woo a single medical-office tenant or a restaurant operator to the space.
If a restaurant operator leases the 4,800-square-foot space, Schwartz said he will relocate Naro Realty back to an adjoining 1,800-square-foot office where the business had to vacate in Sept. 2018 when a car crashed into the hardware store. The accident caused fire damage in the front of the building.
A prospective medical-office tenant would likely occupy the entire commercial building, he said.
“We designed a facade that would appeal to any of those user groups,” Schwartz said. “That will really give somebody a keen awareness of what the design will look like.”
The redevelopment project is crucial to Schwartz, who owns several properties on Tunxis Avenue.
His father, the late Nathan Schwartz, purchased the former Bloomfield Hardware Store in 1951 and operated the business until his family sold it to another operator in the late 1970s.
“It will be an eye opener for the center of town,” Schwartz said. “It’s a very attractive building setting the standard for the future of what I think the town needs.”
