The expansive building on the banks of the Connecticut River in Middletown that once housed the Mattabesett Canoe Club could become a restaurant-brewery-burger window-ice cream stand-coffeehouse by next summer, in an ambitious plan being considered by the city government.
Aubrey and Rocco Lamonica, who own Eli Cannon’s Tap Room and Brew Pub on Main Street, devised the plan. Aubrey Lamonica said Eli Cannon’s, Perkatory Coffee Roasters and NoRA Cupcake Company will occupy the business to be called Tate’s Harborside, named after the Lamonicas’ daughter Tatum.
“The city has big plans for the area down there. They are looking to do a collective down there that draws all kinds of people, residents, out of town visitors, through drivers,” Aubrey Lamonica said.
The proposed development, she added, is just the beginning. “Eventually our goal is to use all three floors in the building. We would like to curate a banquet facility and have weddings. That’s ultimately. First we need to get our foot in the door. Once we get that squared away, that is the plan,” she said.
City-owned building
The city owns the 15,000-square-foot building at 80 Harbor Drive in Harbor Park. The Lamonicas’ proposal was chosen from six proposals submitted. It was approved in late July by the Planning and Zoning Commission.
Deputy Mayor Vincent Loffredo, EDC chair, said the Economic Development Commission will meet Aug. 10 to, among other agenda items, “get all the i’s dotted and the t’s crossed” on the proposed lease agreement. Then it will move to the city’s common council. Part of the agreement, he said, would involve the city doing a sweeping renovation of the 91-year-old building, which started life as a yacht club in 1930.
“It needs a new roof, a replacing of the HVAC system, a new sprinkler system, an electrical upgrade, an ADA lift to the second floor,” Loffredo said. “We hope to also deal with energy stuff, doing something with panels on the roof or potentially putting in a geothermal element in the building.”
Loffredo conservatively estimated that work would cost around $600,000. Federal dollars from the American Rescue Plan would be spent, along with a $55 million bond issue last year specifically to upgrade the riverfront.
If approved, the Lamonicas would initially pay $10 per square foot for the lease, which would be a 10-year renewable agreement. Their restaurant would open around May 2022, Loffredo said.
Joseph Samolis, director of planning, conservation and development for the city, said the canoe club renovation is part of a comprehensive initiative of riverfront redevelopment that has been in process for about 10 years. A major obstacle to that redevelopment, a sewage treatment facility, was decommissioned in a project completed in 2019.
“Hopefully within the next 18 months we’ll start seeing major development toward the riverfront,” Samolis said.
Other elements of the riverfront plan, Samolis said, are a renovation of the entire boardwalk and a remediation of the riverbank south of the canoe club. The riverbank work was paid for with a $2.6 million state Urban Act grant, he said.
Restaurant plans
Eli Cannon’s, known for its wide selection of microbrewed beers on tap, will build a brewery on the premises. According to the RFP, it “will exist out of a glass-enclosed, visible working brew system established within the first floor of the restaurant.”
Eli Cannon’s also would provide the restaurant food, which would be “a seafood-based menu, also good sandwiches and pasta dishes and a little bit of everything,” she said.
Perkatory Coffee Roasters and NoRA Cupcake Company, which are both based in Middletown, would sell their wares in the building’s “Good Neighbors Coffee & Creamery.”
Carrie Carella of NoRA said an ice cream line is “something I’ve been wanting to do for a while.
“A lot of the hard ice cream in Middletown kind of went away. Then there was froyo everywhere for a while. Now that is gone. Really there’s only one option. That’s the Thai rolled ice cream. There is no traditional style, with sundaes and milkshakes,” Carella said.
Customers standing outside on the boardwalk will be able to buy from the coffee and creamery from a window.
A “Dragon Shack” will also sell burgers, hot dogs, fries and other fast food. That shack would employ Middletown High School incoming seniors, who would be paid for their work or would count their hours as community service.
“It’s a way to invite students with an interest in business to get some experience with inventory, scheduling, managing a small portion of the operation,” she said. “Twenty percent of the proceeds will be donated to the senior class to level the playing field for costly events, like senior trips and proms.”
The dock at the site will remain intact, she said, so boaters can stop and have a bite.
Susan Dunne can be reached at sdunne@courant.com.
