RhodeIslanddeveloper submits new plan for Old Saybrook Whole Foods

Journal Inquirer, Manchester, Conn.
Updated ·2 min read

Jul. 31—The commission's first public hearing on the new Whole Foods application is scheduled for Aug. 17. If the plan for the high-end supermarket gets the necessary approvals from the town, it would take 14-to-16-months to complete the renovations and additions to existing buildings and would cost $16 million to complete, according to the application now before the commission.

Carpionato officials have not responded to inquiries from Hearst Connecticut Media about the changes made from the first application to the second one. Old Saybrook First Selectman Carl Fortuna said he is happy Carpionato officials elected to continue to move ahead with their plans for the store.

"I think it's something that people I've talked to in the community are looking forward to having in town," Fortiuna said.

It was a combination of factors that led Carpionato to withdraw its original application, he said.

"I think there was concern about how close the store would be to the road as well as the impact the project would have on wetlands that are close to the property," Fortuna said. Tidal wetlands near Long Island Sound are located on adjacent properties that are south and west of where the new grocery store would be built, according to the application before town officials.

The plans currently before the Inland Wetlands commission call for several different options in terms of how the property would be developed.

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Carpionato Group already has a track record of working with Whole Foods in Connecticut, having brought a store to the Avon Village Center that opened in September 2021 The company initially announced plans for the Old Saybrook location in August 2022.

If the Whole Foods is built in Old Saybrook, it would be the chain's first store on the Connecticut shoreline east of New Haven. Texas-based Whole Foods, which is owned by e-commerce giant Amazon, currently has 10 Connecticut stores with an additional locations under construction in the Evergreen Walk retail complex in South Windsor and on High Ridge Road in Stamford.

The South Windsor store is scheduled to open in during the first quarter of 2024, according to officials with Charter Realty, the Greenwich-based company that manages the Evergreen Walk complex.