Business
Main Entrance Jimmy's Southside Tavern

Restaurant Says It’s Got a Right to Stay Open, Could Block or Delay Demolition of Noroton Heights Shopping Center

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The owners and managers of Jimmy’s Southside Tavern at the back of the Noroton Heights Shopping Center say the restaurant hasn’t been given an adequate offer to void its lease, and they intend to keep the place open. Without an agreement, the project potentially would be delayed past the planned demolition in October, leaving the site without many of its stores for a longer period of time than the expected two years. If the disagreement goes to court, that could also result in a delay. “Just wanted to shout out and let you know that we are not intending [to go] anywhere Sept. 1,” the restaurant said in a brief Facebook post last Monday, Aug.

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Darien Doughnut

Darien Doughnut to Close in August, Embody Fitness Gourmet May Move to Temporary Space

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Darien Doughnut, one of the stores in the Noroton Heights Shopping Center, announced Monday on the business’s Facebook timeline that it will be closing in late August, with Sunday, Aug. 25 as its last day of business. The shopping center is expected to be demolished this fall as part of a project to replace it with new buildings. Another food-serving establishment in the shopping center, Embody Fitness Gourmet, may go into a temporary structure on the site while the shopping complex on Heights Road is demolished and rebuilt.

“An announcement to our customers, who have been so loyal over the years: After almost 30 years, Darien Doughnut’s final day of operations will be Sunday August 25,” the post on the Darien Doughnuts Facebook timeline said. “Thank you for your patronage.

Business
Noroton Heights Shopping Center renderings

Glen Liquors May Move to Temporary Structure in Palmer’s Parking Lot

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When the Noroton Heights Shopping Center buildings are torn down (now expected to happen in October), Glen Liquors may be in a temporary structure in a corner of the parking lot next to Palmer’s Market, the Planning & Zoning Commission was told last week. The project to replace the shopping center at near the corner of Hollow Tree Ridge Road and Heights Road with a combination of stores and apartments is expected to begin with tearing down the present buildings in October. Then it will take about two years for the new buildings to open, the commission was told. The commission approved a plan that could put Glen Liquors in a temporary structure in the northwest corner of the parking lot beside Palmer’s (in the back, away from Palmer’s and well behind the Wells Fargo Bank on Heights Road). That doesn’t mean Glen Liquors is going to make the move — talks are ongoing, and the State Liquor Commission must approve it, the P&Z was told.

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Rendering Baywater Corbin Post Road

When Darien’s Three Huge Business Development Projects are Expected To Break Ground

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Three large commercial developments are expected to begin with the knocking down of buildings as early as this summer, for one project; fall or winter, for another, and “late in 2019” for a third, according to Darien Planning & Zoning Director Jeremy Ginsberg. Ginsberg, who spoke Monday to the Representative Town Meeting, said each of the three projects may be built over the course of years, and it’s possible that some businesses could still be operating out of some buildings in a particular project while other buildings in it are demolished or replaced. “You’re not likely to see a lot of movement on these fronts between now and, say July or August,” Ginsberg told the RTM. “Starting in the fall or in the winter, you’re going to see a lot of buildings coming down, and in the interim, some commercial tenants starting to move.” The Corbin-Post Road development downtown has the vaguest timeline: Ginsberg would only say that it’s expected to start “no earlier than later in 2019.”