Old Avon buildings to be reincarnated
By Carol Latter
Three of the oldest buildings in Avon, built around
1840, will soon get new life as a combined retail
space.
Ann August, manager of the family-owned Old Avon
Village shopping district on Route 44, says the
three old-style buildings will be converted into
one structure, and a single roof will be put over
the top, to create a 4,500-square-foot retail space.
Until recently, the buildings housed a gift shop,
a jeweler, a coin collector shop, a candy store
and a home decor store. Those stores have relocated,
either within the center, or elsewhere.
August says the goal of the project, located, at
11 East Main Street, is to attract a larger tenant.
"These buildings are the oldest, and the most
in need of renovating, in Old Avon Village,"
she says, "They have very low ceilings and
very small rooms that are not retail friendly. This
process allows us to take all the walls out from
one end to the other, emphasize the good points
[of the architecture] and make them something that
today's retailers can use."
Old Avon Village was created in the early 1960's,
when four old homes at the intersection of routes
44 and 10 Avon were converted from residential to
retail use. Over the next two and a half decades,
neighboring homes, barns, carriage houses and farm
buildings were moved around, converted, expanded
and refurbished to create an expanded commercial
district. Today, the property is owned by the August
family, headed by Robert August.
Ann August says the latest project has been in
the planning stages for some time. "We spent
a year making sure we could combine these buildings
to make a good, viable space that would not become
obsolete a few years down the road," She says,
"It's been a challenge and a half."
The official groundbreaking ceremony for the project
was held Wednesday, Dec. 1.
The project's architect is Andrew Sack Dragat,
owner of Simsbury based Andrew Sack Dragat Architects.
He says in designing the consolidated structure,
his major goal was to "develop a larger amount
of square footage which the prospective tenants
are looking for, but not to lose the residential
scale that the owner and his daughters have been
trying to maintain there."
He says over the years, the owners of Old Avon
Village have worked very hard to keep the buildings'
regional historical flavor intact. He adds that
the town of Avon is also "very anxious to retain
this flavor, especially right in the center, and
that's what we're trying to do."
The structural engineer for the project is Bounds
Kalberer in Rocky Hill. Avon based Masters Corp.
is serving as construction managers, and David Whitney
in Avon is the project's civil engineer.
August says she expects the new retail space will
make Old Avon Village, currently comprised of 20
buildings, more competitive in the area's rapidly
growing retail environment.
"We kind of think it's a plus for our end
of Route 44,"She says. "We think of Canton
and the activity at the golf course [The Shoppes
at Farmington Valley] as the other end of Route
44. We've got something going at this end, too."
She expects the project to be complete by early
May at the latest.
