East Lime – Some business owners are burgeoning Niantic’s quirky Main-Street-with-a-view as the doors are set to open on Saturday at Sift Bake Shop’s newest location Considered mystic.
Sift owner Adam Young says his first drive to a coastal village lined with shops and restaurants brought back fond memories.
“It reminded me a lot of Mystic 2016 when we first came here,” he said.
Two years after he and wife Evie opened their flagship store in Mystic, Young won the Food Network’s “America’s Best Bakery” contest in 2018 and saw the store transform into a tourist destination. Today, they bring the same product line, the same equipment, and about 25 new employees to 184 Main Street.
A three-story, 32,928-square-foot building across the bay, The Norton is the venture of Eric Goodman, 36, and Cody Blake, 39, of K Blake and Company. Here, Young runs a chocolate and confectionery shop.
Young said his 90-hour work week schedule didn’t leave him much time outside. So it wasn’t until Mr. Goodman took him to the site prior to construction that he experienced the shimmering convergence of Easthi Lime and Niantic Bay for the first time.
The view in front of the store and 43 parking spaces behind it helped him make the decision to say yes to Niantic when his friend Goodman approached him about becoming a tenant.
“A large portion of the existing demographic coming to Mystic is hesitant to come in the summer due to the lack of parking,” Young said.
Young cited supply chain issues, including the electrical equipment that powers the building, as the reason for the delay in opening Sift, which was scheduled to open in July. Instead, management spent the summer training new staff at the Mystic location in preparation for the upcoming grand opening.
“We are thrilled to welcome them into our new suite,” he said.
Pointing to other Mystic-based entrepreneurs who have business plans that include a move to Niantic, Young singled out Ricky O’s Spice Club and Leo Roche’s The Black Sheep Pub. . Au’s other restaurants include his Pink Basil and Samurai Noodle Bar & Grill, and Roche owns his The Harp and Hound.
Decorated bakeries said another trend that bodes well for both areas. Niantic situation. “
Sift will be anchored at the front of the building next door to Anna Lathrop’s Gourmet Galley, which now operates a catering business and flagship store in North Stonington.
Lathrop says he hopes to open before Thanksgiving. In addition to ready-to-eat meals, pork offerings, and specialty retail food, she plans to offer eat-in services.
“You can order your lunch at the counter, take it to your seat, and enjoy it with a glass of wine or a local beer,” she said.
Lathrop also described Niantic as reminiscent of the slower, less crowded Mystic.
“The locals are very supportive and it’s not overrun with tourists yet,” she said.
Two other commercial tenants are expected to arrive after the holidays, Goodman said. He said clothing, accessories and gift retailer Pearls and Plaid will open as an extension of its current Old Saybrook store. Azalea, a home decor and gift shop, relocates from the other side of Pennsylvania Avenue.
Elsewhere on Main Street, construction is underway for a restaurant and taproom on the street level of Morton House on the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue. Co-owner Andy Sclavoris, who is also a partner at Five Churches Brewery and the New Britain taproom, said he expects Five Churches by the Bay to open in mid-November. .
traffic calming
Goodman said five of Norton’s 12 condominiums, including the penthouse, are ready to close at the end of the month. It was on the market for $1.2 million.
Other denominations range from $425,000 to $1 million, according to the developer. He purchased the property for his $850,000 through a limited liability company in January, according to local and state records.
The building fills the space where Norton Auto & Marine Services once stood. Goodman said the son-in-law of the late Tim Norton was the one who asked about the revival of a development project that first surfaced nearly a decade ago.
The site plan was updated last October by the Zoning Commission after being first proposed by Norton in 2013.
Goodman said he heard from town officials about complaints about traffic on and around Grand Street, where traffic enters from the back of the building.
Public works department head Joe Blagau said the town is drawing white shoulder lines along Grand Street and Smith Avenue to clarify parking spaces and calm traffic. He said the white edge lines on the road push drivers into the driving lane instead of allowing them to use the entire road.
“We’re trying to slow down the street traffic a bit.”
Once it becomes clear how much traffic an occupied building will generate, Bragow said data on traffic volumes and patterns will be used to come up with recommendations for necessary improvements. . The town’s traffic authority, the Police Commission, is responsible for giving final approval for most changes, including local road signs and road markings.
“The white edge line is something we were trying to work on aggressively,” he said. “So we’re trying to do some things in advance, but until we see what kind of traffic volume we’re actually going to get, we’ll have to sit back and see what happens.”
From Goodman’s perspective, with the commercial zone on the south side of the street and the residential zone on the north side, increased traffic is inevitable. But he said it also has its positives. He has already seen properties in the immediate vicinity selling for higher prices than they did before the project began.
“I think what we did at Niantic added something nice to the downtown cityscape,” he said. “It won’t please everyone, but it’s underutilized land, it’s heavily taxed, it has very little impact, and it provides parking that people always care about.”
e.regan@theday.com