Demolition in town center holds promise

KENT — North Main Street has a gaping hole where the former Town and Country Chevrolet site lies half demolished.

The future of the site is up in the air. According to the permitted uses in zoning regulations, the possibilities range from banks, retail, offices, funeral homes, even lumber yards. Special permit uses include community centers, bowling alleys, movie houses, day-car centers and artists’ studios.

No one has come up with a plan, according to David Bain, whose real estate agency is representing the site’s out-of-town owners.

According to Bain, the site has passed the state Department of Environmental Protection’s Phase 1, 2 and 3 tests for pollution. The site’s history as a filling station required that the old tanks be dug up and the surrounding earth tested.

The buildings were demolished so that the earth below could be examined for toxic materials. Bain said that two buyers are interested; the price of the cleared site is currently $1.5 million, he said.

Whatever becomes of the old Chevy agency site, the commercial buildings just behind it are getting a face lift. John Casey, representing Housatonic Enterprises, said the commercial complex near the post office and Town Hall needs new roofs, paint and general TLC. Several of the old buildings have new tenants — a wholesale baker in the former tile store and Enchanting Yarns and Things, which moved from more cramped quarters across the street.

Casey said that he began the renovations in the spring in both sections of the property built initially in 1960 by his father, Gordon Casey. The newer section across from Town Hall was built in 1988.

A landscaper and his crew have been sprucing up the lawns and plantings.

The  Town Planning and Zoning Commission has just permitted new signage in the area. The complex as a whole has eight leases and, according to Casey, three more in the works.

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