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02/16/2018 04:36 PMMain Street's empty Branford Book & Card Shoppe space will soon have a new tenant with plenty of inventory – if you're looking for real estate.
On Feb. 15, a team of two representing Branford's Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage went before the town's Planning and Zoning Commission (PZC) to discuss moving into the corner shop space at 1020 Main St.
Currently, Branford's Coldwell Banker office operates out of space leased at 1064 Main St., located a few doors down. That lease expires March 31, 2018, a Coldwell Banker representative told the PZC.
The former Branford Book & Card Shoppe space anchors the corner of Main and Park Place as part of a two-story building stretching from 1020 to 1028 Main St. The building is owned by Branford Book & Card Shoppe's former proprietor, Robert Esposito. Together with his wife, Maria, Esposito founded and ran the popular downtown shop for 44 years. Their last day of business was Dec. 31, 2017.
The Esposito's son, Sal Esposito, carries on the family retail tradition with his well-known Branford business, P.S. Fine Stationers, at 1028 Main St.
In a note posted Dec. 31, 2017 on the Branford Book & Card Shoppe's Facebook page, the Esposito family thanked their customers, family and friends for their decades of support, with Sal Esposito noting, "Years of hard work and dedication are what my parents' business model was built on. Their commitment to their business, customers, family and friends have been evident throughout the 44 years and has made The Branford Book & Card Shoppe the business it is today. We are proud to have been a part of a wonderful community and we hope we have touched and enriched the lives of many."
To convert the space to a brokerage office, Coldwell Banker submitted a site plan application to the town on Feb. 13 which included a modest façade modification to add clear, fixed windows on the Park Place side to match existing windows on the Main Street side. On Feb. 14, the Town Center Revitalization Review Board recommended the PZC approve the plan's proposed new windows, together with a Main Street canopy and use of an existing backlit sign.
But as the applicant learned from the PZC on Feb. 15, the window modifications would trigger the need for the PZC to require a number of conditional changes to the building's original 1973 site plan. A report given by Assistant Town Planner Rich Stoecker showed the conditions required of the property owner would range from removing rear parking lot concrete wheel stops, removing a handicapped parking sign and restriping a northeast section of the parking lot as "No Parking;" restoring a landscape island to leave a compliant two-way travel lane on Park Place, replacing flood lights with code compliant fixtures, and the issuance of a ten-foot wide easement to the town to construct and maintain a Park Place section of sidewalk with related improvements (including possible utility relocation, installation of a street tree/plantings and any needed regrading/retaining wall construction).
Due to time constraints, the applicant has opted not to seek the window changes immediately, and will instead apply for a building tenant fit-up permit to convert the interior ground floor shop space to add broker offices. The interior work will not require site plan conditional changes or PZC approval, said Stoecker.