Old Saybrook ― Whole Foods Market, a national grocery store chain with nearly a dozen locations in largely affluent areas of Connecticut, is coming to this town.

“I can confirm that an Old Saybrook store is in development,” a Whole Foods spokesman wrote Tuesday in an email.

The spokesman declined to provide additional information.

CT Examiner, an online newspaper, reported Monday that Whole Foods has leased space in the shopping center at 1654 Boston Post Road from the property’s owner, the Carpionato Group, a Johnston, R.I.-based real estate development company.

The company’s website shows a map of the property that indicates the Whole Foods Market location.

“Situated within the affluent Old Saybrook community, this site has nearby access to I-95, with strong average household incomes of $116,504,” the website says.

Attempts to reach a Carpionato Group official were unsuccessful.

The Boston Post Road shopping center, formerly home to a Benny’s home and garden store, currently houses a NAPA Auto Parts store and Alforno Trattoria, an Italian restaurant.

Max’s Place, a nearby retail development at 22 Spencer Plain Road, includes a Big Y grocery store and a Kohl’s department store. Other development has been proposed for the area, a busy intersection off Exit 66 of Interstate 95.

According to the Whole Foods Market website, the Austin, Texas-based chain started with one store there in 1980 and now operates more than 500 stores in North America and the United Kingdom, specializing in natural and organic foods.

The chain’s Connecticut stores are in Avon, Danbury, Darien, Fairfield, Glastonbury, Greenwich, Milford, West Hartford and Westport.

b.hallenbeck@theday.com