A mostly empty Connecticut mall may soon be demolished in favor of a new mixed-use complex.
Enfield Square Mall is a single-level mall in the Town of Enfield in northern Connecticut that opened in 1971. According to a Hartford Courant report, a new proposal was introduced to replace the 780,000-square-foot mall with a complex featuring two hotels, a 450-unit multifamily complex, several restaurants and 165,000 square feet of new retail units.
Nebraska-based Woodsonia Real Estate Inc. recently acquired the property, which is plans to rename as Enfield Marketplace. The proposal would follow similar projects that the company has undertaken in Nebraska and Utah.
“We’ve purchased several enclosed malls,” said Woodsonia President Drew Snyder. “We really cut our teeth in Council Bluffs, Iowa, with a mall called Mall of the Bluffs. That was a 350,000-square-foot enclosed mall, essentially the same story as Enfield: it had completely fallen into disrepair. The enclosed mall business is really a broken business model at this point. As we all know, e-commerce online retail is here to stay. It’s not a fad and it’s had a huge impact on bricks and mortar.”
Woodsonia is budgeting the new project at cost $250 million, and the Town of Enfield approved a 10-year tax assessment freeze and other incentives. Woodsonia is planning to secure an additional $20 million in state funds for the project.
Photo: Mike Kalasnik / Wikimedia Commons
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