The KohlӪs site at 290 Tunxis Hill Road in Fairfield is now occupied by a small army of workers who are renovating the interior and exterior of the 101,000-square property for preparation of its next tenants: the grocery chain Aldi, which will occupy roughly 19,000 square feet, and the home design Floor & D̩cor retailer, which will become the tenant in a roughly 82,000-square-foot space.
The 56-year-old property has been a longtime staple in Fairfield”™s retail environment, and this is hardly the first time it has been transformed to meet the needs of new tenants. Kohl”™s occupied the building for more than two decades, taking over the space from the now-defunct Caldor department store. Earlier in its life, the property was home to another pair of long-gone businesses: PathMart Food Store and Arlan”™s department store.
In June 2019, the Kohl”™s building and two adjacent parcels were bought for $12.5 million in an off-market sale by Michael Berkowitz”™s Tunxis Associates. The three parcels totaled 6.9 acres and include Russell Speeder”™s Car Wash at 620 Villa Ave. and a parking lot at 160 Greenfield St. The car wash will remain operational, but no plans have been solidified on whether the parking lot remains or will be transitioned into another commercial development.
Berkowitz was particularly eager to bring a supermarket to this section of Fairfield. In an interview with the Business Journal, he acknowledged discussions were underway for more than a year to attract a supermarket chain that was not ubiquitous in this market.
“I had a lot of interest,” he said. “Some national supermarkets were interested ”“ some really popular ones that you probably know. In the end, I went with Aldi.”
This will be Aldi”™s first store in lower Fairfield County ”“ it has a presence in Danbury and in 11 additional localities across the state. The store will be coming into a town that is not lacking supermarkets: Stop & Shop has a store directly across from the property while ShopRite and Trader Joe”™s are up the street and BJ”™s Wholesale Club, Whole Foods and a second Stop & Shop are each within a few minutes”™ drive. But Berkowitz is not convinced Fairfield will be burdened with too many supermarkets.
“I think the competition is good,” he said. “People really like Aldi because it offers a different product in a different price range. I did some research about them before I took them on.”
As for Floor & D̩cor, Berkowitz said this will be one of two new Fairfield County outlets for the store, whose sole Connecticut outpost is in Orange. The chainӪs Fairfield store will be joined by a Danbury location that will open around the same time.
The transformation of the Kohl”™s property is the latest venture for Berkowitz, whose other properties include the CVS site at 961 Black Rock Turnpike in Fairfield and the 150,000-square-foot Big Y shopping/restaurant plaza at 401 Bridgeport Ave, in Shelton. As for his next endeavor, he remarked that he has “a few projects, but I”™m not ready to talk about them.”
No opening date has been set for the two new stores, but Berkowitz is tentatively aiming for a mid-2021 premiere of both entities. The construction project has a team consisting of local zoning attorney Bill Fitzpatrick and architect Pat Rose of Rose Tiso & Co. Architects in Fairfield, with Jeff Raucci of Bismark Construction of Milford as the project”™s contractor.
