Storrs Center ready to start construction

Demolition of existing buildings on the site of the future Storrs Center in the Town of Mansfield, Connecticut, will begin this May.

Between May 2011 and August 2012, developers are planning to build approximately 27,000 square feet of commercial space and 127 apartments in Phase 1A of the project, which will eventually include a town square, an intermodal transportation center, a parking garage, restaurants, retail, and additional housing. 

In Phase 1B, 42,000 square feet of commercial space and 160 apartments will be constructed. While the initial phase is being built, the main road alongside the project — Storrs Road — will be reconstructed to make a more comfortable connection between the mixed-use development and the adjacent main campus of the University of Connecticut. The town square will be where Storrs Center meets the road.

The latest progress on Storrs Center was reported April 26 in a public meeting of the nonprofit Mansfield Downtown Partnership, which began gathering ideas for the project a decade ago. Master developer is the Storrs Center Alliance (formed by LeylandAlliance of Tuxedo, New York),which has teamed up with Education Realty Trust, a Memphis firm that has experience in housing in university settings.

Design of the parking garage and Intermodal Transportation Center is under way and is in the local zoning permit approval phase, the Partnership noted.

Conversations about the need for a true town center in Mansfield date back to at least the 1960s, New Urban Network noted in an article last January 8.