Plans Heating Up for Captain's Pizza Building

Windows of the building that once housed Captain's Pizza at 89 Main Street are boarded up and the siding has been torn off. A yellow covering obscures the old sign, but grinders, souvlaki, gyros and calzones are still advertized below it.

Greg Kapetoneas of Easton, the owner, said a bank was supposed to move in when the economy was still booming.

"A lot of people wanted it, but we were waiting for the bank," he recalled.

Among the suitors were a KFC and a Burger King franchisee.

When the economy tanked, the bank never came.

Kapetoneas said several businesses wanted to move into his building as is, but that he chose to make improvements instead. Then he hopes to find a suitable tenant, but if that does not happen, Kapetoneas will operate a business there himself.

The roof has been replaced and the siding has been removed. Kapetoneas wants to install windows and a new Dryvit system siding (which is like stucco) and stonework.

On Tuesday night, he presented his plan to the Architectural Review Board at its meeting in the Council Chambers of Town Hall. Kapetoneas was not very far into his presentation before an ARB member asked how the building will be used.

"Chances are it will become a restaurant again," he said. "That's what we're looking to do."

Kapetoneas showed board members a dark, bronze sample frame for the windows and beige stone that would go around the building, similar to the siding at Casa Mia Ristorante & Pizza, which he owns in Torrington.

Nancy Steinborn, an ARB member, said she wanted the building to have the same colonial feel of the firehouse across the street.

"That color seems less colonial with the window frame," she said.

Kapetoneas said other options are silver and white. The majority of board members seemed to favor white.

"As I look at it now, it may be a little too dark," Kapetoneas said. "I can go with white."

"How does everybody feel about the stone over siding?" ARB Chairman John Rosen asked his fellow board members.

Raymond Ganser, an ARB member, thought the Dryvit and stone would make for a more corporate appearance.

"The building, the way it looks now, is Monroe-ish," he said. "This doesn't look Monroe-ish."

Kapetoneas said the old siding was in bad shape and that Dryvit and stone is more economical than new siding. He added that it worked well on his building in Torrington.

"This is what we don't like. Cut and dry," Ganser said. "We don't like it."

Michael Vitello, a board member, said a combination of stone and siding would go together well.

"Can we have another texture of this?" Kapetoneas asked of the Dryvit.

"No," a smiling Ganser said in a whispery tone.

'An active storefront again'

The ARB voted to table the application until its meeting next Tuesday. Board members asked Kapetoneas to bring details of his landscaping plan, cost comparisons of siding and Dryvit, and photos of his Torrington building.

Kapetoneas said he wants to breathe new life into the vacant Captain's Pizza building.

"It's been sitting for four years," he said. "I want to do something before the winter."

Lee Hossler, chairman of the Economic Development Commission, attended the meeting.

"It's a detriment to the town to have empty buildings with for leasing signs in the front," Hossler said.

According to an EDC report, there are 46 vacant commercial spaces along routes 25 and 111.

"Before all of this happened, you would drive up residential roads and see for sale signs and say, 'What's wrong with this town?'" Hossler said. "Now the same thing is happening with our commercial properties."

The EDC chairman is optimistic about Kapetoneas' plans for the Captain's Pizza building.

"It's nice to see him fix it up. It's nice to see the renovation," Hossler said. "I'm glad to see Greg is taking an interest in the building and may return it to a restaurant. It will be an active storefront again."