Shelton getting downtown garage with restaurant

SHELTON — Downtown will soon have more parking and a beer garden to boot.

The Planning and Zoning Commission approved plans for a six-story structure with 162 commercial parking spaces, first floor retail and a rooftop beer garden and restaurant on the corner of Center Street and Coram Avenue at its recent meeting.

The developer, 62 Center, LLC, plans to have five levels of parking in between the retail space and rooftop area.

The commission, during the public hearing process, stated that the facility’s architectural style should have brick and stone exterior finishes to complement neighboring structures. Faux windows and other architectural details must be included to help disguise the facility as a typical commercial building, according to the commission.

In response to commission comments, the developers submitted several updated architectural renderings and sample materials, with a positive consensus reached based on the final rendering submitted by Mingolello and Associates.

The commission also requested that all exterior treatments be carried around the building.

The developer also provided details of additional landscaping and rooftop perimeter wall around the outdoor dining areas. This is intended to increase the distance between patrons and the edge of the structure to limit accidents and increase safety.

The developer had earned commission approval years ago to construct apartments at the corner of Coram Avenue and Center Street but chose to alter the plans to remove the residential units.

The present application modifies the already existing Planned Development District for the property, listed as 62-66 Center St. and 325 Coram Ave. A public hearing for this application opened Jan. 25, continued on Feb. 16 and concluded on March 29.

The property is a 0.48acre site that includes the building that formerly housed Jeff ’s Appliance, a hair salon, and a commercial appliance repair shop. The site also includes a house on the Center Street side of the property. The property sits next to 52 Center St., a building that houses Shelton Printing.

The developers’ plan calls for 2,800 square feet of retail space and 17 parking spaces on the first floor, then five levels of parking, which the application states will be for public use with restricted spaces for tenants and downtown businesses to lease.

The developer’s representatives have stated that the extra parking could be fee-based but no formal plan exists.

Each remaining parking level will have 31 spaces. In all, there would be 162 parking spaces in the structure, which would include a rooftop restaurant and beer garden with a 6,237-square-foot indoor restaurant and 4,338 square feet of rooftop dining space.

The original PDD received Planning and Zoning Commission approval in 2019 and called for the existing structures to be replaced by a five-story building with 42 apartments, a ground-floorrestaurant with covered patio, and two-story interior parking garage for 44 vehicles.