Town of East Hartford Acquires the Silver Lane Plaza Property

East Hartford, CT—Mayor Mike Walsh is pleased to announce that the Town of East Hartford has acquired the Silver Lane Plaza property. The Certificate of Taking was filed with the Town Clerk's Office at 9 AM on Wednesday, March 1, finalizing this critical moment for the community. 

The three-building plaza, appraised at $4.6 million, has been an eyesore for years, preventing the town from furthering development in that section of town.

After months of careful study, discussions and public hearings, the East Hartford Redevelopment Agency voted 4-0 to acquire the plaza via the eminent domain statute at their meeting in October of 2022.

Fast forward just four months, East Hartford officially owns it, in line with the Mayor’s vision to further development in town. In Fact, redevelopment of Silver Lane Plaza has been the town’s priority for years. Now that East Hartford owns the plaza, the town will work closely with existing tenants, moving toward the demolition of the central building and exploring viable development options.

“I ask the impacted businesses to please be patient as the process unfolds, because we value them and their commitment to the community,” said Mayor Mike Walsh. “East Hartford has a lot of work to do, and silver Lane is an example of just how good East Hartford can be”

This news comes just a couple months after the Town has acquired another blighted property-Church Corers Inn at 860 Main Street with the goal to revitalize it and bring stability back to that section of town.

We Own Silver Lane Plaza. What's Next? 
Mayor Mike's OP-ED:

The Silver Lane Plaza is a three-building strip mall including a two story office building to the west, a large main anchor building at the rear of the property, and a single story retail plaza abutting Silver Lane next to the Post Office. The Silver Plane Plaza has been a blighted, underdeveloped property for decades with no sign of investment or improvement on the horizon.  

In order to change the downward trajectory of the Silver Lane Plaza and the impact it was having on neighboring properties, the town took the unusual step of applying the Eminent Domain statute.  The statute requires a nearly year-long regulatory process including a study of the best uses of that parcel, the best uses of Silver Lane properties as a whole, and a number of public hearings to allow the public to comment and shape the discussion. Overwhelmingly, the community spoke in support of the town acquiring the Silver Lane Plaza. 

After making the case that the property needs to be redeveloped, and with an owner who refused to redevelop the property, the town, after carefully following the statutory process and with the consent of Superior Court Judge, paid the owner the average of two appraisals, or fair market value to acquire the property.  Simply put, the town was forced to step in and acquire the property because the private market failed this community I’m sorry to say.

The purchase price of the property was $4.5 million with funding coming from the State of Connecticut, not local tax funds. 

Now that the town owns the Silver Lane Plaza, the next steps for the community to understand are as follows:

1. The businesses located in the plaza are extremely important to the Town and currently have month to month leases.  The Town will be offering three-month leases at the same lease cost to provide a greater level of certainty to each business. All tenants will be vetted by the Town ahead of time. The two story office building has six tenants, the large anchor building has two tenants, and the single story retail plaza has six tenants.
    
2. The two story office building to the west and the single story retail plaza will not be demolished and the businesses located at those two buildings will stay un-impacted at their present locations.
    
3. The larger main anchor building toward the rear of the property is in very poor condition and will be demolished using State Bond monies afforded to East Hartford.
    
4. Two businesses that are located in the soon to be demolished large main anchor building will be impacted as follows:
   1. The first business is Bare Bones Boxing.  They have worked closely with the town both on receiving ARPA Business Incentive Funds and now on uniform relocation payments due to them.  They have told me they are relocating to a building a little west of their current site, but still on Silver lane.  This is welcome news to the Town.
   2. The second business is Je Mart.  We have visited with them and will continue to work on a relocation plan.  The hope is to relocate them within one of the two buildings that will remain at the Silver Lane Plaza so any interruption of their business will be temporary and un-impactful.
5. With the large building demolished, the Town will issue a Request for Proposal seeking a developer with a plan for the highest and best use of the Silver Lane Plaza 22-acre site.

Now to respond to the wishes and desires of the community that have already been expressed to me: 

I too, would like another grocery store on the site like Stop and Shop or Big Y.  Or I would like a Target or a Walmart there.  Or restaurants and a variety of retail stores.  Contrary to popular belief, the powers of government to demand that those entities relocate here is limited. For instance, I have contacted eight different grocery stores and invited them to locate in town. None have accepted my invitation.

Why? Because the economic market will look at the per capita income of the area, and development submissions for the Silver Lane Plaza will reflect our economic reality.  As we grow resident income levels by doing things like increasing housing as in 300 apartments at Concourse Park, retail will begin return to Silver Lane, but that will take time.

Finally, tax breaks or other incentives may or may not be part of the final negotiation with a developer.  Certain developments will need no town assistance, but we may not like what is developed in that location.  Other developments will require town assistance as the economic makeup of the community may not support their business model without incentives, so the town will carefully work through the process of developing that site with the community’s best interests in mind.  Once again to reiterate, the powers of government to demand certain entities to locate here is limited with or without incentives. 

As far as a realistic time frame for this process, I think demolition will occur by summers end and the Silver Lane property will be turned over to a capable developer by year end, perhaps sooner.  If you have other questions, please call my office at 860-291-7200.

Thank you.