Date: Fri 04-Oct-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

business-Alagna-motel

Full Text:

with cut: A New Business Challenge For A Local Official

With planning work on Newtown's municipal sewer system winding down, Water

Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) Chairman Peter Alagna says he is pursuing a

new challenge.

Mr Alagna, who has headed the town's water pollution agency for the past 17

years, is formulating plans for the redevelopment of the former Manor Brook

Motel on Mill Plain Road in Danbury. He intends to move his delicatessen and

gourmet foods business to the site, as well as be a landlord to other

businesses there.

Milano's Deli & Gourmet Shop is now located in the North Street Shopping

Center in Danbury, but deteriorating conditions at the shopping center and

rising rents have caused him to look elsewhere to expand his business, Mr

Alagna said.

Besides his deli and gourmet shop, Mr Alagna plans to operate a trattoria,

bar, and coffee shop in the main building at 89 Mill Plain Road. Other

buildings on the site would house shops selling items including gifts,

antiques, greeting cards, and fresh and dried flowers, according to Mr Alagna.

Cappiello Jewelers also plans to locate there. The property will have eight

bed-and-breakfast units in refurbished cottages. The project is now making its

way through Danbury's land use review process, Mr Alagna said.

Mr Alagna said he liked the Mill Plain Road site so much when he first saw

last fall that he bought it without hesitation. He had been looking for a site

for three years.

The WPCA chairman plans to expand the lines of goods he sells, noting that the

space he will occupy is more than twice as large as his current quarters.

Fresh meat, fresh fish, produce, and prepared foods will be offered.

He plans to create two ponds on a brook which runs across the site and install

vertical fountains as a landscaping touch.

"It's been a year in the development," Mr Alagna said of his plans. He said he

hopes to have Manor Brook Village in operation in about six months.

"What I really want to create is an oasis from the hustle and bustle of the

business world" for patrons of the planned facility, he said.