The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Berlin Turnpike seeing a flurry of development activity
It’s hard to go too far on the Berlin Turnpike these days without seeing a flurry of commercial activity.
There are no fewer than a half dozen commercial construction projects underway along both sides of the 12.17 mile road that runs from the Meriden-Berlin border all the way to Wethersfield’s boundary with Hartford.
Among the projects underconstruction is a commercial plaza at 1862 Berlin Turnpike in Wethersfield that will include a Starbucks and a Wingstop restaurant. But by far, the largest project under construction along the Berlin Turnpike is Meadow Commons.
The mixed use development is nearing completion on nearly 25 acres of land formerly owned by Eversource Energy, just north of the Pane Road intersection with the Berlin Turnpike.
The residential component of the Meadow Commons is 269 luxury apartment units in a complex called The Millyard at Meadow Commons. The first tenants are expected to
move into the complex later this month, according to a spokesman for Greystar, the South Carolina-based company that is operating the complex.
Base rents at the complex will range from $1,668 to $3,741 per month, according to information on the Greystar website.
The retail component for Meadow Commons is 99,500 square feet, with 45,000 square feet of space carved out for an as yet-unannounced grocery store chain. Massachusetts-based Grossman Development, which is overseeing the retail portion of the project has already identified some of the smaller tenants, including Sally’s Apizza and Shake Shack restaurants.
Curt Potter, the store director at Stew Leonard’s in Newington said the team there “is looking forward to Millyard at Meadow Commons apartment complex opening.”
“It will not only bring more residents to town, which is always a good thing for business, but it will also provide a convenient living option for those looking to be within walking distance of several retail stores, including Stew Leonard’s,” Potter said. “We are excited to welcome our new neighbors.”
Kevin Kenny, president of New Haven-based NAI Lexington Commercial, said officials in Newington have been aggressive in trying to woo new development to the community, particularly along the Berlin Turnpike. The company has 17 commercial properties in the Hartford and New Haven areas, according to its web site.
“I opened up my email the other day and it was a message from their economic development director,” Kenny said. “They are being super proactive and that lets a developer know that town officials are welcoming and open to progress.”
Not everyone who lives Newington is convinced that the opening of the apartments at Meadow Commons is a good idea, however.
Mike Karabetsos, who owns Pronto Printer in Newington, said traffic on Pane Road where the entrance to the apartment complex is located, “is going to be a nightmare.”
“Their exit is on a S curve and so there’s a limited line of site,” Karabetsos said. “I’m expecting there will quite a few accidents.”
The Millyard at Meadow Commons isn’t alone in being a luxury apartment complex in development on the Berlin Turnpike. Site work is already underway for a 70-unit luxury apartment complex, The Apartments at Turnpike Ridge, that will be built behind the Acura of Berlin car dealership. John Orsini, the owner of Executive Auto Group, is behind the development, which is located behind one of his dealerships.
Site clearing work was done was during 2022, but almost two years later, the land on which the apartment complex was supposed to be developed remains vacant with no signs of development.
Duncan Simard grew up in Berlin and works in one of the restaurants in The Shoppes at Turnpike Ridge, which is another Orsini property. Simard is looking for his own place, but he doubts that he will be able to afford an apartment that is located right next to where he works.
“It looks like it will be very expensive, not the kind of thing the average working person will be able to afford,” Simard said.
Maureen Giusti, Berlin’s town planner, said “a good number of affordable housing units” are included in the mixed use projects.
About a quarter of a mile south of The Shoppes at Turnpike Ridge, another mixed use complex is under construction, according Giusti.
The 404 Berlin Turnpike development has been approved and has four phases of construction planned, including 200 mixed-income residential rental units, 40 of which will be deemed affordable. Later phases of the development include a hotel, a retail building, and a convenience store with a gas station.
The current commercial growth spurt along the Berlin Turnpike is being driven by the apartment construction, economists and retail experts say.
Fred Carstensen, a University of Connecticut professor of finance and economics and director of the Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis, said town’s like Berlin and Newington have the right idea when it comes to linking residential development to what has traditionally commercial development district’s along the Berlin Turnpike.
“As a state, we have a shortage of affordable apartments, because nobody wants it in their backyard,” Carstensen said. “But by creating special development districts and having these apartments behind commercial businesses, nobody really sees them. And because they’re located right along the Berlin Turnpike, the access to a transportation corridor is already right there.”
Donald KlepperSmith, an economist with South Carolina-based DataCore Partners, said with Connecticut’s economic recovery “still in a very tentative state, consumers are opting for housing that provides them with a certain level of flexibility.”
“There’s not as much demand for three-bedroom colonials as there used to be,” KlepperSmith said. But the ultimate success of paring residential and retail components is a delicate balancing act, he said.
“It depends upon what kind of a retail mix there is,” Klepper-Smith said. “A developer that does his homework in that regard can be very successful.”
Burt Flickinger, managing director of the New York City-based Strategic Resource Group consulting firm, said between the high volume of traffic along the Berlin Turnpike and the attractive demographics of the people living in Wethersfield, Newington and Berlin are a real draw to retailers.
“From the consumer’s stand point, these kinds of developments are perfect shoppers who want to stay local and not have to drive to a mall,” Flickinger said.
David Cadden, a professor emeritus at Quinnipiac University’s School of Business, said mixed use projects “have become the next big thing in development as mall shopping has fallen out of favor.”
“It’s like recreating what neighborhoods were like in cities in the old days, where people were able to walk to shops from where they lived,” Cadden said.
Retailers that once preferred to locate in shopping malls are now favoring mixed-use developments, said John Clapp, professor emeritus of real estate at UConn. “The decline of malls is a real factor here,” he said.
Being a retailer in a mixed use development gives a business owner more control over expenses than they would have if they were mallbased, he said. Retailers that are mall tenants pay a pro-rata share of the retail center’s property taxes, insurance, and common area maintenance in addition to their monthly rent, according to Clapp.