nothin Gas Station Eyed To “Anchor” Stop & Shop | New Haven Independent

Gas Station Eyed To Anchor” Stop & Shop

Langan Engineering.

A new discount gas station in a long-vacant lot on Elm Street could be the key to holding down the Stop & Shop grocery store — so that it doesn’t pull up stakes the way Shaw’s did.

That’s the view of Linda Townsend-Maier, executive director at the Greater Dwight Development Corporation (GDDC). Her organization is the landlord at the Stop & Shop plaza at 150 Whalley Ave. She said the GDDC and the city are now in the planning stages” of helping Stop & Shop to open a discount gas station at an abandoned city property adjacent to the plaza.

Townsend-Maier said Stop & Shop is very interested” in the plan.

Stop & Shop spokeswoman Arlene Putterman said a handful of Stop & Shop stores in the New York metro division have gas stations attached, including the Amity store on the New Haven-Woodbridge line. She said the company would support opening one on Whalley Avenue — as long as the community supports it.”

We’re always looking for new opportunities to benefit our customer wherever we can offer them savings,” she said. If this works out and it’s a benefit to our customers,” the company would go through with it.

Langan Engineering.

Meanwhile, the supermarket chain has circulated a concept plan” for the gas station. (Click here to view it.) The plan will be discussed a meeting hosted by the GDDC on Jan. 26 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at St. Luke’s Church at 111 Whalley Ave.

Whether the gas station becomes a reality depends on City Hall, said Kate Walton of Stop & Shop customer relations.

It is really up to the city as to whether they will transfer the parcel to GDDC,” she wrote in an email. Stop & Shop would then lease it from GDDC.

Mike Piscitelli, the city’s economic development administrator, said the city plans to attend the Jan. 26 meeting to hear about the proposal in more detail and to get a sense from the community about whether it makes sense to go forward.” He said the city wants to make sure neighbors are comfortable with the plan.

The lot, which is is owned by the city, has been closed for years after auto repair shop Taylor Garage closed. A chain-link fence now surrounds the property, a patchwork of grass and asphalt covered with unraked leaves. The underground gas tanks once at the site have been removed, Townsend-Maier said.

Thomas MacMillan Photo

Townsend-Maier said the area has become a dead spot” in the neighborhood.” People sleep in the lot, which also is the site of drug activity and panhandling, she said.

The property features two curb cuts on Elm Street and two on Orchard Street. But Townsend-Maier said the new gas station would be accessible only from within the Stop & Shop plaza. It would be fully incorporated into the center,” she said.

I think developing the site as a discount fueling station will benefit the neighborhood,” Townsend-Maier said. We don’t have many options in terms of inexpensive fuel.” There are other gas stations nearby, but their prices are higher than the discount station’s would be, Townsend-Maier said.

Most people in Dwight rely heavily on their cars to get to work, she said. I think this is something that will help that.”

Another benefit to the neighborhood would be employment, Townsend-Maier said. Although a gas station would create only about five jobs, it would ensure that more than 150 jobs at Stop & Shop remain there, she said.

If Stop & Shop is willing to invest the up to $2 million it would take to build a new gas station, it’s a sign that the company is not likely to leave town anytime soon, Townsend-Maier said.

Shaw’s supermarket occupied the Stop & Shop site until last year, when the company pulled out of the entire state. The move left New Haven as a food desert” until Stop & Shop came along.

Allan Appel Photo

The Amity Stop & Shop is equipped with a gas station.

A gas station would be an opportunity to solidify the jobs we have over the next years,” Townsend-Maier said.

She said a filling station would also be a draw” and a competitive advantage” for the Stop & Shop, which now faces new competition from the Elm City Market, a co-op grocery store downtown at 360 State.

Townsend-Maier said GDDC has been working on developing the site for over a decade. We’ve talked to IHOP, we’ve talked to a bank and a laundromat … In the end, everybody wants to be on Whalley Avenue.”

Because of the link to Stop & Shop, this is the best shot to get that [property] developed to get some taxes into the city.”

Townsend-Maier said GDDC has already pitched the plan to the Dwight Community Management Team and the Whalley-Edgewood-Beaver Hills Management Team, which both offered their support.

Melissa Bailey contributed reporting.

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