Thomas MacMillan Photo
Years after Tommy K’s rented its last video, workers are sprucing up its former Whalley Avenue storefront and will transform it into a new 7‑Eleven — if a developer can assure neighbors and zoners that a new 24-hour convenience store won’t become a crime magnet.
The storefront at the corner of Ramsdell Street and Whalley Avenue has been vacant for several years since Tommy K’s video store closed up shop. The building’s owner is now seeking permission from the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) to open an all-night 7‑Eleven store at the location.
The plan has neighbors concerned about adding another 24-hour store to a stretch that already has its share.
In an advisory report to the BZA, the City Plan Department’s Tom Talbot recommended zoners deny the application. He wrote that the applicant hasn’t demonstrated a “need to service the community between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.,” nor has he provided a strategy to “preempt criminal activity on the site.”
Tom Kelleher, the building’s owner and the owner of Tommy’s Tanning in the same plaza, said his investment in the area means that his interests are the same as the neighborhood’s. He said a 7‑Eleven would ultimately reduce the number of 24-hour businesses on the street, since the store would be so much more attractive than existing mini-marts.
Inside the vacant Tommy K’s.
Applying to the BZA on Kelleher’s behalf is Ryan Lawlor, a Massachusetts-based representative for Lend Lease, an international development company. He’s expected to appear at a Dec. 13 meeting of the BZA along with local attorney Tim Yolen. It’ll be the second time they’ve shown up to seek zoning permission at the BZA. The first time, earlier this month, Lawlor declined to have the board hear his petition, since one member was absent.
Lawlor and Yolen couldn’t be reached for comment. Kelleher said the 7‑Eleven would “de-clutter” the block and pose no threat the neighbors.
The debate over adding another 24-hour store is the latest manifestation of an ongoing debate over the development of upper Whalley. Neighbors two years ago fought a losing battle to have the state Department of Transportation re-do Whalley Avenue as a more walkable area with slower traffic. They won only the planting of some trees that may not live long enough to transform the street. A state road, it’s now one of the busiest in town, seeing thousands of cars pass by each day.
7‑Eleven needs a special exception to operate as a 24-hour establishment. And the zoning code includes special requirements for stores open between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., including demonstrating that the hours of operation will not have an “adverse effect” on neighbors and consideration of nearby 24-hour operations.
Several concerned neighbors also showed up at the November BZA meeting. Among them was Paul Chambers, head of the Westville-West Hills Community Management Team.
“It is controversial in the neighborhood, I guess, as a quality of life issue,” Chambers said Monday. He said he’s staying neutral on the issue since he’s the management team chair. His neighbors worry about crime and safety with the addition of another 24-hour store in the neighborhood, Chambers said.
He said there are more than six all-night businesses on the stretch of Whalley from Edgewood Park to the Wilbur Cross Parkway. 7‑Eleven is one too many for some neighbors, he said.
“I guess it’s sort of a line in the sand,” he said. “It’s one more, and it’s a big name.”
Directly across Whalley Avenue sits the 24-hour Around The Clock Food Mart. The clerk there said a 7‑Eleven would be bad for business. He said the owner wasn’t available to speak.
Neighbors worry that all-night establishments can attract loitering and leave clerks vulnerable to assault and robbery, Chambers said.
They “tend to attract late-night gathering and violence,” said Chris Heitmann, head of the Westville Village Renaissance Alliance. He was also at the Nov. 13 BZA meeting.
“It would be great to have a tenant in that building,” Heitmann said. “Unfortunately with this particular tenant there are a number of issues.”
“What does it actually bring to the neighborhood, to the community, that’s beneficial?” he said. 7‑Eleven will not offer a unique service or product for local people, he said.
“Do we need another 24-hour establishment? I’m not sold on the idea,” said Andy Orefice, vice-chair of the local management team. He said he’s concerned about having a 24-hour store that sells drug paraphernalia. “A blunt wrapper is a blunt wrapper. Everyone knows what it’s used for.”
Orefice said he has mixed feelings. Despite his reservations, he’d like to see the space occupied. “We need something there,” he said. “You can’t just have a dead corner.”
Kelleher said he has been waiting for some time for just the right tenant for the location. He said he’s turned down ideas like opening a check-cashing operation.
“What we want it someone who is beneficial for the long-term building prospects,” he said. “We want someone who helps the other tenants and keeps the building’s value and maintenance up.”
Kelleher said not wanting crime and loitering are “reasonable concerns.” But “to say that this would cause that — I would disagree.”
Other 24-hour operations on the street are on the other side of Whalley, closer to people’s homes, Kelleher noted. The new 7‑Eleven would be close only to a drug rehab center, he said.
“Our building sits like an island,” he said. “We’re the least intrusive.”
Besides, he said, the other businesses will be out of business shortly. “We have the fundamentals of business: visible, accessible, convenient,” Kelleher said. “Would you rather go in the store across the street from us where you don’t even know where to park and everything looks like a Mondrian painting?”
The new 7‑Eleven will help to “de-clutter” Whalley Avenue by closing some of the other 24-hour businesses, Kelleher said.
Kelleher said he has a tentative deal in the works with two doctors from Woodbridge to open a walk-in clinic in another storefront in the building.
Question? What are these 24hours stores selling that you can't find at another 24hr store. It will create quality of life issues, like loitering, trash, noise, etc. There should be a law only allowing "x" amounts of 24hrs stores in a 5 to 10 miles radius. Would it be business savoy to put a Macdonald's on every corner? The answer would be no. Where is the profit.The poor people in these neighborhood can't support all of these stores financial because everything is over priced.