New retail building coming to Main Street in downtown Niantic
East Lyme — A new retail building is coming to Main Street in downtown Niantic.
A single-story, 2,700-square-foot commercial building is being built at 239 Main St. in the Mitchell Trust parking lot between The Black Sheep and Family Pizza.
Once built, the retail space will be the new home for Village Wines & Spirits, said George Mitchell, manager for Mitchell Trust. He expects the building will be ready for the business to move there in January or February of 2018. Village Wines & Spirits currently is located at 241 Main St., toward the back of where the new building is being built.
Mitchell said the lot has excess parking, and the trust decided to build a new structure in the area along Main Street. Village Wines & Spirits expressed interest in moving to a larger space, he said.
Joe Kiah, who owns Village Wines & Spirits, said he is honored that the Mitchell family gave the shop — which specializes in wine and also focuses on high-end bourbons and scotches, and, within the last five years, craft beers — the first opportunity of moving in to the new space. He said the newer, larger space will allow for more coolers for craft beer and wine.
Though regular customers currently know where to find the shop, he said, the business depends a lot on summer traffic, so the spot right on Main Street will make it more visible to the summertime clientele.
"Overall, it's probably going to be a boost in business, being that much closer to Main Street," Kiah said. "It certainly won't be a reduction, so we’re pretty excited about it."
Plans filed at Town Hall show the building will have a brick veneer at the base, vertical siding with glass windows on the front and side, an awning and a shingled roof. A small patio with planters will be located near the front of the building, according to the plans.
The plans call for a row of 10 parking spaces along the eastern side of the building, which will be separated by a travel lane from an existing row of 10 parking spaces along the property line that abuts the Family Pizza property. On the western side of the building, there will be a travel lane and then 10 spaces of angled parking along the property line that abuts the Black Sheep property.
Mitchell said he originally proposed a mixed-use building, but withdrew the application for that.
Zoning Official Bill Mulholland said the application for the commercial building met all applicable standards within the zoning regulations. Under the town's zoning regulations, applicants can submit to the town's zoning official an administrative site plan for new commercial buildings under 10,000 square feet located in a commercial zone. If the application meets the code, the zoning official is required to approve a permit, he said.
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