Mayor Touts Economic Benefits of Wesleyan Bookstore Relocation

Hoping to quell the controversy already surrounding a proposed move of the Wesleyan bookstore to a portion of Washington Street, the mayor Wednesday praised the developer’s proposal as an economic and employment boon to the city.

“This will bring a $6 million influx of funds into the Middletown economy,” said Mayor Dan Drew. “It will create 30 full-time jobs in the development complex.”

Joining Drew at a press conference in council chamber of city hall were Robert A. Landino, president and CEO of Centerplan Construction; Gerry Daley, longtime chair of the Economic Development Commission; and Larry McHugh, president of the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce.

Although the architect’s renderings are a good two months off, Landino, developer of the project, says plans are for an approximately $20,000-square-foot, three-story building spanning from the Pearl Street intersection of Washington Street to High Street.

Locals Concerned Over Wesleyan Bookstore Move

A national bookstore, not yet named due to negotiations, Landino said, would be an anchor tenant along with four to five other retailers. Wesleyan University has signed a non-binding contract to move its bookstore to the new location.

Centerplan approached Wesleyan a little more than a month ago with the plans, according to Lauren Rubenstein, media relations at Wesleyan.

"The developer's plans offer Wesleyan the potential to reduce overhead bookstore costs and forge closer connections between campus and downtown. On Nov. 5, Wesleyan signed a non-binding 30-day agreement with Centerplan so it could begin operation discussions with bookstore retailers.  

"At Wesleyan, we look forward to a full discussion of the proposal with our community before reaching any conclusions," Rubenstein said.

"Any time a developer comes to invest in Middletown," Daley said, "we owe it to the community to listen to try to make the project a success." He acknowledged the "historic nature of the area," saying he grew up near Pearl Street. "The potential here is tremendous," Daley said. "There are not many communities in the state or the country that gain significant private investment without government subsidies."

The three homes that currently sit there, and a slim parcel of land, are under contract by Centerplan, Landino said. Plans are for those homes to be razed. The historic Briggs house, a Victorian-style brick structure, is not part of the plans.

Drew praised the economic benefit to the city. “We estimate this will increase the city’s tax rolls right now by $100,000 in additional tax revenue per year and will create up to 90 well-paying, good construction jobs,” when the project begins in 2013. “Those jobs are desperately needed in our local economy,” he said.

Landino said he is working with potential retail tenants to encourage hiring local residents for jobs, but acknowledged that if a restaurant were to be included, those jobs would likely be part-time, by their very nature.

“It’s a model extremely similar to what’s been done at William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va.,” Drew said — a university bookstore in the heart of an historic downtown.

The mayor said Centerplan, which developed the Rite Aid Landmark Square plaza on Main Street in 2008 and the DaVita dialysis treatment center on the corner of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Main Street, is a Middletown-based, trusted, locally-invested business.

“If this were a developer swooping in from New York or Boston or Chicago that we didn’t know, it would create a tremendous amount of concern,” but, Drew said, Landino is a “known quantity” working with local Realtors, local architects and engineering firms.

Landino is also head of business development for Greenskies Renewable Energy, which, he said, is expected to move its operations from 10 Main Street to the new complex upon completion.

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