CT town considers acquiring struggling mall: ‘This is now the second time the roof collapsed’

Amidst continuing vacancies and deterioration at the shopping center that once was the highlight of the town center, Bloomfield leaders are getting ready to plan a new approach — including perhaps trying to get control of the property.

The town has been concerned for years about the Wintonbury Mall, but the pressure for action has built because of an increase in empty storefronts, the shutdown of the AMC Cinema in 2022 and a structural failure this month that temporarily closed two of the most popular remaining businesses.

The town council last week unanimously agreed to take the first step toward creating a commission focusing on the town center and specifically the future of the 110,000-square-foot shopping center.

Resident Marcus Williams said Monday that the property has been in long-term decline and hurts the rest of the town because of its prominent location.

In a Facebook discussion in early January, he wrote “It’s been an eyesore for a decade … We have all these apartments and no in-town dining, local pubs or any place to walk to enjoy an evening. It’s why everyone goes to Blue Back, Evergreen Walk and Parkville Market. Get with the program and let’s start developing our town before everyone starts leaving.”

When it was constructed in the 1970s, the Wintonbury Mall became the centerpiece of Bloomfield’s town center. It’s near the post office, library and town hall, and over the years signed the movie theater, Carbone’s Kitchen and Pasticceria Italia — some of the community’s most well-known and successful businesses — as tenants.

But like most many large shopping centers, it later suffered as online shopping ate away the foot traffic that once kept it full. It was sold to Los Cabos II Equity LLC in 2015, but the retail vacancies continued expanding and becoming more prolonged.

Its directory has space for 31 shops and service businesses, but lists only 15. At least one of those, the Ginza Japanese restaurant, has been gone since the summer; debris on the floor and fallen ceiling tiles are visible through the plate glass window.

A second restaurant, Thai Palace, was shut down for more than two weeks because of water damage from the leaking roof, and is only reopening this week. Pasticceria Italia closed for several days in January for the same reason, and the son of the late founder posted on Facebook that this wasn’t the first trouble.

“This is now the second time the roof collapsed on our bakery destroying our ovens and hood system on top of ruining the whole electrical system. Ginza, which is next door, has been leaking since June of last year and unfortunately there’s only a very thin wall between us and them, which is now starting to rot,” Emiddio Botta wrote in a message to customers.

Last September, the mall’s ownership sued Mayor Danielle Wong and the town, claiming that her “disparaging” remarks about the property along with extensive talks of taking it through eminent domain had hurt its ability to sign new tenants. The lawsuit accuses the town of selective enforcement from its inspectors, claiming that a 2022 designation of the mall as a blighted property was unfair and malicious.

The condition of the mall “was no better or worse than other commercial properties in the area and was not in a blighted condition,” the suit claims.

The town’s attorney has raised defenses of governmental immunity as well as free speech provisions of the state Constitution. The suit is currently scheduled to be heard in 2025, but settlement conferences are also planned before then.

The council last week did not specify that it plans an eminent domain action to obtain the mall, or whether it might try to get a new developer to form a partnership with the current owner and either renovate or replace the shopping center.

“The council voted unanimously to schedule a public hearing where we will field questions and comments from our community around amending an ordinance aimed at developing our town center, and acquiring Wintonbury Mall is the focal point of this effort,” Wong wrote in an email Monday.

“If the amendment is approved by this council, the ordinance will create a Special Development Authority with a laser-focused initiative of creating an Economic Development Plan for the center of Bloomfield,” she wrote. “The Town Center Economic Development Authority (TCEDA) will work directly with our legal, planning and economic teams to create, vet, and present the best and most innovative plan for developing a town center that is amongst the best in the nation.”

In the past several years, numerous residents have complained that the town is falling behind others that are modernizing their town centers. Bloomfield’s is largely a collection of shopping plazas that aren’t within easy walking distance of each other, and as far back as 2013 business leaders have recommended consolidating the numerous retail parking lots that take up a substantial amount of real estate.

The hearing has not been scheduled, but is expected in February.