A 38,240-square-foot retail development across the street from the Evergreen Walk district in South Windsor is expected to be under construction in mid-2026. Town officials approved the project in 2020, along with two, 25,200-square-foot office buildings. Those buildings were intended to complement an Aldi grocery store and a Chase Bank branch approved in 2019 for […]
A 38,240-square-foot retail development across the street from the Evergreen Walk district in South Windsor is expected to be under construction in mid-2026.
Town officials approved the project in 2020, along with two, 25,200-square-foot office buildings. Those buildings were intended to complement an Aldi grocery store and a Chase Bank branch approved in 2019 for the 32-acre site at 274 Buckland Road and 200, 205, 220 and 245 Gateway Blvd.
Farmington-based Sager Development built the Aldi and Chase Bank branch but delayed the remaining retail and office components amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as borrowing and construction costs rose significantly.
Sager Development — headed by father and daughter team Geoffrey and Phoebe Sager — have relaunched sitework development and are lining up tenants for the planned retail buildings.
On Tuesday, the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission signed off on a request to modify the approved 2020 plan. Instead of two buildings tallying 38,880 square feet, the design calls for four buildings of 9,560 square feet each.
The new plan also includes some landscape and traffic flow improvements. It sacrifices about 640 square feet of building space, but creates a better atmosphere for restaurants with outside dining, an important source of potential tenants, Geoffrey Sager told the commission.
The four buildings could be divided among as many as four retail or service-business tenants each, according to Peter DeMallie, president of South Windsor-based engineering and landscape architectural firm Design Professionals.
DeMallie stressed recent retail and residential growth in that corner of South Windsor and neighboring Manchester have increased traffic flows and the potential customer base, boosting interest in new retail real estate.
DeMallie noted major improvements at Evergreen Walk, including the addition of a Whole Foods Market, the 108-room Cambria Hotel and more. He also highlighted the recent completion and ongoing development of several large-scale multifamily projects in the immediate area.
“There’s just a lot of interest there,” DeMallie said. “A lot of things have happened there over the past five years.
Sager Development has engaged JLN Contracting, of Cromwell, to expand the interior network of roads and utilities that will service the new retail buildings fronting along Buckland Road, as well as the planned — but as of yet unscheduled — office buildings toward the property rear.
Sager said the rental rates retail tenants are willing to pay have finally caught up with rising construction and borrowing costs.
“That’s why now something like this is economically feasible,” Sager told the commission Tuesday.
Sager said he has letters of intent from five potential tenants. He expects to have signed leases in the first quarter of 2026 and hopes to begin construction of three retail buildings in June.
Construction of the fourth may begin later, as Sager is negotiating with a potential tenant who may require changes to the building design, although it would fit within the approved footprint.
Potential restaurant tenants wanted “endcaps,” for lighting, outdoor dining and aesthetics, prompting the request to divide two buildings into four, Sager said.
The updated site plan for Sager Development's project along Buckland Road in South WIndsor.
Sager anticipates the office buildings toward the rear of the property would service medical tenants. But given recent shakeups in the hospital industry in Connecticut, namely the sale of hospital assets owned by bankrupt Prospect Medical Holdings — Sager said it will take some time for the medical industry to reposition and forge ahead with new assets.
Ultimately, Sager said, the new owners of the Prospect assets will be better positioned to pursue new opportunities on sites like his.
Tuesday's approval of the design changes is contingent on a positive recommendation from the town's Design and Architectural Review Committee, which, due to a scheduling quirk, was unable to give a recommendation prior to the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting.
Planning and Zoning Commission members were enthusiastic in their praise of the design refinements.
"Spot on," said Commission Member Patrick Kupchunos said. "I like the architectural designs, the brick, more outdoor seating."
