Redeveloping Milford Mall: Here's What Phase 2 Plans Had Included

MILFORD, CT — The Connecticut Post Mall owners, Centennial Real Estate, said that in order for the mall to survive it needed approval on a $75 million luxury 300-unit apartment complex on the site of the state's largest mall.

Earlier this month, the Planning and Zoning Board rejected the mall's housing plans and the future of the mall is murky at best.

During the presentation to the city, Stephen Levin, founder and CEO of mall owner Centennial Real Estate, revealed new details about what they would have planned as the next phase in the revitalization of the mall if the apartments were constructed.

During the meeting, he showed two more buildings with green roofs and an office building where a wing of the mall now exists. He said the cost would be around $24 million with loss of revenue from existing tenants during the transformation. He said the office building use could include anything from academic to medical office space.

Levin said the plan was for work to begin mid-2021 for the residential construction, with work on the plaza area to follow. He said sooner is better to attract new users, including office tenants; the idea is to let new users see the mall as a forward-looking, far-sighted project. He said that stabilizing the mall allows it to explore opportunities as they arise, such as biotech. He said he wants coworking, too, and it would be relatively easy.

But now that the mall apartment plans were rejected it's unclear what they will do now.

Concerning its future, Jon Meshel SVP, Development for Centennial, told Patch that “Centennial is disappointed in the Planning & Zoning Board’s rejection of our proposal to invest more than $70 million in Milford. Unfortunately, the viability of Connecticut Post Mall and its status as the city’s largest taxpayer remain under serious threat. We will continue to evaluate our options for the property." He didn't elaborate on future plans but officials have stressed that the apartment plans were the key to stabilizing the mall.

Future of the Milford mall?

The mall currently employs 2,000 people. Levin said his team had helped keep the mall relevant and vibrant with tenants such as Boscov, Dave and Buster’s and several restaurants. He said he feared the apparent health of the mall might be masking long term problems that are being experienced by other malls and causing their decline.

He set up comparisons to other malls that had been referenced at the previous meeting. He pointed to Highland Mall that now holds the campus of Austin (TX) Community College plus 1,300 residential units. He stressed that this outcome was not about re-envisioning a mall but bringing a new project to an abandoned property.

He pointed out the LA-based One Westside complex that resulted from Google leasing a defunct mall had followed the same scenario—a shuttered mall repurposed, not a transition from a struggling mall to a successfully re-envisioned mall.

He said he does not want the CT Post Mall to die before it houses a new project in the future. He said the mall could be reimagined to be a viable dominant economic power in the community while the transition is taking place.

He said it will die unless it has a committed owner and financial backer like USAA. He pointed to Meriden’s mall, which sold for 10 million after being bought by Westfield for 120 million four years ago. He said he wanted Milford to become one of the few mall locations that sustains economic vitality, that it remains a destination people want to experience, and that the mall does not have to die. He said residential space will only be a small portion of what the new mall will become.

He stressed Centennial’s commitment to the community. He said current demand is for residential until other uses are incorporated. He said markets must drive the project at various steps and that the plan had flexibility.