The Storrs Center development has garnered the 2015 CT Main Street Center Award of Excellence in Planning for the Mansfield Downtown Partnership. CMSC member communities submit applications which are reviewed and judged by industry-related experts. Read more about the awards and the awards process here.
This recognition is the result of a long-standing joint effort between the Town of Mansfield and the University of Connecticut since 2001 to create the Storrs Center development, which with the exception of two remaining phases, is nearly complete.
If you have not been to the UConn campus for a few years be prepared to be awed by the transformation that has taken place here. Your previous haunts and landmarks have given way to high-rise apartment buildings, sit down restaurants, brick pavers and a high walk score area.
Late spring and summer is an excellent time to visit, as the students have departed and you can park, shop and dine with ease.
According to a recent press release by the Mansfield Downtown Partnership, the leasing of the commercial space and residential rental units at Oaks on the Square is nearly 100% with just one remaining commercial space in Phase 4 currently being negotiated. The Partnership also reports that 200 new full and part-time jobs have been created and a total of 32 businesses are open at Storrs Center, in addition to a net gain in tax revenue of $1,103,370 after a previously agreed upon temporary tax abatement.
Storrs Center also received a mention in Yankee Magazine May/June 2015 Editor’s Choice Best of New England issue for Best New Downtown in Connecticut. The Ballard Institute, Geno’s and the UConn Co-op are mentioned in the single paragraph review.
An additional mention of Storrs Center I just ran across in the AAA magazine “Journeys” May/June Issue, page 30 on a page titled, Here & There. It directs visitors to the UConn campus to the the Town Square at UConn with a special emphasis on The Ballard Institute.
[contact-form]