More retail space on the way
Main Street strip mall two months from opening
By Jerry W. Kram
In about 60 days, New Town might be seeing an uptick in retail sales. That’s when developer Frank Silletti thinks his new strip mall on Main Street will be open for business. However, it might take a little longer for one of the more highly anticipated stores to move in.
Silletti said he was disappointed that he wasn’t able to open his doors last summer, like the sign in front of the nearly completed building promises. He said the contractors he hired last spring got better offers from the oil industry and abandoned the project for greener pastures in the oil patch.
"I left it (the summer opening sign) out there as kind of motivator," Silletti said. "It says where we should be and we’re not there yet. Our contractor had an opportunity to go to the oil patch so he completely ditched commercial buildings for that."
Despite the setback, Silletti kept moving forward with the project. He wound up using his own oil company to do most of the work.
"We’re coming along," Silletti said. "We’ve got the framing started and we are doing the sheetrocking now. We have to do some of the electrical and mechanical but the rentable part of the space will probably be available in 60 days."
