Noel Sims photo
Former pharmacy site: New cafe still on tap.
Allan Appel file photo
Common Grounds co-owner Dena Jara and attorney James Perito with cafe photos at a November 2018 East Rock management team meeting.
A “Common Grounds” cafe duo still plans on opening up a long-delayed new coffee shop at the former East Rock Pharmacy site on Orange Street — even as their growing company takes over three now-shuttered Blue State Coffee locations downtown and in the Hill.
That’s the caffeine-fueled latest with one Connecticut coffee company that is quickly expanding its local presence, and another that has quickly closed (most of) its New Haven doors.
The expanding coffee shop company is called Common Grounds.
That business, run by Northford-based couple Wilson and Dena Jara, already has shops open in Branford and Hamden, as well as two in Shelton.
Noel Sims photos
The now-closed former Blue State Coffee on Wall St.
Common Grounds, coming soon to Wall and other spots.
“As of 5pm today, we are permanently closing our cafes” at those three New Haven locations, Blue State Coffee posted on its Facebook page Friday afternoon. Blue State will, however, be keeping its current 534 Orange St. location open, as well as its Hartford and Providence shops.
A sign posted to the Wall Street coffee shop location on Monday states that Common Grounds Coffee Roasters & Fine Teas will be opening there soon.
Another Blue State Coffee-branded sign posted to that same location reads in part: “Since our founding in 2004, we have prioritized our mission of creating a ripple effect of positive change across communities. We are grateful to the New Haven community, our wonderful customers, and our amazing managers and baristas for helping us fulfill our mission. With all of your help, Blue State Coffee has donated over $1,000,000 to local non-profits.
“Blue State Coffee is a family-owned business and we feel it is the right time for this change. We are appreciative of our landlord, Yale University Properties, for their incredible support over the years and for helping to make this a smooth transition. A new tenant will begin operations at this location later this month.”
Click here to read more about Blue State’s sudden three-shop closure in the Yale Daily News.
Looking inside the 763 Orange construction site.
Common Grounds’ coming takeover of those three now-former Blue State locations raises the question about still another cafe spot that the Jaras have been trying for years to open.
That’s the former East Rock Pharmacy storefront at 763 Orange St.
Since late 2018, the Jaras have been planning on opening up a new Common Grounds location at that former pharmacy site. They bought the three-story building for $878,000 in April 2019, and won zoning relief from the Board of Zoning Appeals later that year to permit 20 seats in the future cafe and to sell baked goods in a residential district.
Three years later, the former pharmacy site remains a half-complete construction zone.
The Independent happened to be looking into the latest with this Orange Street cafe project when the Yale Daily News broke the news about Common Grounds’ plans to take over the three local Blue Street Coffee locations.
So. What’s the latest with the East Rock Pharmacy-cafe conversion?
In an email comment sent to the Independent this week, Wilson Jara said that the pandemic had delayed the 763 Orange St. cafe’s buildout. He said he hopes to open the new cafe there in February 2023. He also said he hopes to re-open the three former Blue State Coffee locations as soon as he gets the necessary permits, and that he plans to work with former Blue State Coffee employees.
Jara added that the recent opening of Atticus Market right across the street “has not affected our plans” to open a Common Grounds cafe at the East Rock Pharmacy site. “We are excited to be a part of the East Rock community,” Jara said.
The Independent also reached out to city Building Official Jim Turcio last week to see if he had any updates on the half-done construction work at the future cafe site. Turcio told this reporter that the Jaras “are still working on the building very slowly.”
Though the windows of the property are covered with paper, a glass door reveals the progress inside. Tools, ladders, and tarps scatter what Wilson Jara hopes will be the fully operating cafe.
According to city online building permit records, the Jaras’ have pulled two building permits for the former pharmacy site so far this year. One, obtained in April, is for the renovation of the site’s basement to allow for storage. The other, from June, will allow for the installation of an accessible elevator.
This reporter recently swung by the adjacent and always bustling Atticus Market outdoor seating area to see how patrons of that fooderie feel about a new cafe opening right across the block. One loyal Atticus customer, who declined to share her name for this story, said that Atticus “is a great corporate citizen” and that “a new coffee shop would definitely cut into their business.”
Another patron who also declined to share their name for this article said that having two coffee shops on the same corner would be “redundant, like having two gas stations.” She suggested the former pharmacy site might be better served by a new restaurant.
According to this recent article in the Shelton Herald, the Jaras opened their first Common Grounds location in Branford 25 years ago.
What NH needs is a great European Bakery!!! How about it!!!????