Mansfield Town Council discusses Storrs Center complex schedule

The Mansfield Town Council conducted a special meeting Thursday to discuss the Storrs Center complex.

Howard Kaufman, master developer of the Storrs Center project, gave a presentation on the progress of the complex.

A number of businesses, including Subway, FroyoWorld, Insomnia Cookies, 7-Eleven and Sweet Emotions candy shop are all already open or close to opening in the complex on Dog Lane.

Moe’s Southwest Grill, which should be open by the end of October, and the Mooyah fast food restaurant should be open within a matter of weeks.

Roughly 95 percent of the space at Dog Lane is currently being leased, according to Kaufman.

“We’re looking to get to 100 percent eventually. Considering that we’re about 10 months ahead of schedule on the Storrs Center project at this point, 95 percent is more than acceptable,” said Kaufman.

One business that the town of Mansfield recently came to an agreement with is Geno’s Grill, a restaurant group run by Geno Auriemma.

Building permits for Geno’s Grill are currently being acquired and construction will probably take three months once it commences, meaning that the restaurant could potentially open sometime in January 2013.

A visual and performing arts group is currently interested in leasing part of the Storrs Center complex, but will be performing and setting up exhibits without an actual indoor space in the meantime.

Another area of focus at the meeting was the complex at 1 Royce Circle, which is located in front of the newly-constructed parking garage.

Royce Circle is currently being leased to several different parties, with about 75 percent of the complex leased overall, according to Kaufman.

The UConn Co-op Bookstore is currently committed to a lease in Royce Circle, and has received permission from UConn Dining Services to serve Dairy Bar ice cream in the store.

Once the Co-op moves in, UConn’s Ballard Puppetry Museum will be relocated to a small performance and exhibit space within the new bookstore location.

Urgent medical care offices will also be opening up in the Royce Circle space. These offices will most likely offer walk-in services to patients.

Offices of other medical specialists, as well as a dentist, will also be opening up in the complex.

According to Kaufman, these medical offices will serve an estimated 100,000 patients per year.

Other businesses that could potentially move into the Storrs Center complex include a Price Chopper store and a hotel group.

Site work on the Price Chopper will begin in the spring, and the building is expected to be operational by late 2013 or early 2014.

The town of Mansfield currently has an agreement with the hotel group to move into the Storrs Center area.

The details of the agreement, including the identity of a hotel group, will be announced officially at a later date.

“We’re proud of the progress that we’ve been making here. We feel that this project is moving in a very positive direction,” said Town Manager Matthew Hart.

According to Town Council member William Ryan, future construction in the Storrs Center complex is a definite possibility.

“There are additional developments planned for the downtown area. However, these will occur somewhere down the line, so the ideas behind them are somewhat foggy at this point,” said Ryan.