Work Starts On Discount Retail Store In Vernon's Rockville Section

VERNON, CT — Work has officially begun on what plans hint will be a unique Dollar General store in the Rockville section of Vernon.

The work began late last week and early Monday morning, both brick buildings at 38 and 42 West Main Street had been completely razed. The parcels sit at the corner of East Main and Court streets.

The plans were submitted by developer Garrett Homes for property owner West Hartford Gas Inc. in late May and call for the demolition of both vacant buildings and replacing them with a 10,764-square-foot retail store. Parking would be to the rear of the building.

One former tenant there was a Bank of America Branch.

The Dollar General would be corporately owned, officials said.

After a long period of scrutiny, the Vernon Local Historic Properties Commission signed off on the design and it the site plan then cleared all local regulatory hurdles, Vernon Director of Development Services Shaun Gately said.

In the end, Gately said, "this Dollar General will be like no other we've seen built."

Vernon has two other Dollar General stores in town — on Route 83 and Route 30 — that feature the discount chain's typical, no-frills design.

The premise of locating a Dollar General in Downtown Rockville is to serve a population that doesn't necessarily rely on cars for transportation, officials said, and the design will maintain the historic character of the area.