The Planning and Zoning Commission has approved a developer’s plans to build a new commercial center on the former Atlas Tile plaza site in Wethersfield.
Joseph A. Sullo of Staypoint Properties plans to demolish the existing shopping plaza and build a new, one-story 8,170-square-foot shopping center at 1862-1870 Berlin Turnpike.
According to the application, the plaza will have four tenant spaces for a prospective sandwich shop, ice cream parlor and hair salon, along with a Starbucks coffeehouse with a drive-thru and walk-up window, and with allowances for outdoor dining.
Town Planner Denise Bradley said the walk-up window is becoming a popular feature seen more frequently in new development plans.
“This window is in response to the increase in mobile ordering and is proposed to allow those orders to be picked up without having to wait in the drive-thru or going into the Starbucks,” the application reads.
A free-standing ATM machine and new storm drain and utility systems, along with landscaping and parking for 57 vehicles are included in the plans.
The Atlas Tile plaza was built in 1967 and contains 14,600 square feet of commercial space between four storefronts on nearly 1.5 acres in the Wethersfield Regional Commercial Zone. It had been mostly vacant except for the popular El Pollo Guapo restaurant, which had relocated.
Sullo said he plans to demolish the plaza in the next 45 days, get the foundation set by December and open in summer 2023.
The application includes exceptions for business redevelopment of town zoning regulations that are “intended to permit the redevelopment or renovation of properties in business zones when such improvements will result, in the sole opinion of the commission, in functional and aesthetic improvements in the overall character of the property, the neighborhood, and the community.”
This plan won previous approval from the Wethersfield Design Review Advisory Committee, the Inland Wetlands & Watercourses Commission, and the Zoning Board of Appeals.
Contact Hanna Snyder Gambini at hgambini@hartfordbusiness.com.
