Thomas Breen file photo
I-91 diner, under new ownership.
A gas station development crew from Trumbull and the Bronx has purchased the I‑91 diner site for $1.225 million — as a neighbor seeks to stop the burgers-to-fuel conversion through a state court appeal.
According to a warranty deed posted to the city’s land records database on Feb. 5, 420 Middletown Rental LLC bought the diner site at 420 Middletown Ave. from Stavros Karadimos for $1.225 million. A separate filing shows that 420 Middletown Rental LLC also received a $400,000 mortgage loan from Karadimos on that same day.
The commercial property last changed hands for $147,000 in 2003. The city most recently appraised it for tax purposes as worth $594,300.
The new owner of the property is a holding company controlled by Mohsin Aldalali of Trumbull and Badr Nagi and Ali Nagi of the Bronx.
The sale comes roughly two months after the City Plan Commission granted key approvals for Aldalali to build out a gas station at the 33,000 square-foot highway-adjacent property that has long been home to the I‑91 diner.
The developer plans to reduce the size of the existing 4,600 square-foot diner building to around 3,400 square feet, and then use that building as a convenience store. The site plan application also calls for the installation of four double-sided fueling stations and two electric car charging stations.
Aldalali did not respond to a request for comment by the publication time of this article as to when he plans to close the diner as he works on building out a new gas station. The diner was still open for food service as of Wednesday; an employee told the Independent the diner will likely remain open through April.
Meanwhile, an appeal of the City Plan Commission’s site plan and coastal site plan approvals for the gas station conversion is still working its way through state court.
That appeal was filed on Dec. 12 by J.V.P. Enterprises Inc., which owns a 21-unit apartment located right next door at 436 Middletown. That company is controlled by Jerry Vitolo and Vincent Delvasto of West Haven.
The appeal states that the apartment complex “will be dramatically affected by this proposed gas station” and that a “lack of treatment in runoff from the canopy and building roof of the proposed gas station [] will affect the surrounding wetlands,” among other concerns. The appeal also states that the gas station development will “cause a significant decline in the value” of the apartment complex property.
The landlord pointed out that the City Plan Commission had the authority to conduct a public hearing on the gas station’s site plan proposal, but did not, thereby aggrieving the plaintiff, who could have presented their concerns at such a hearing.
On Feb. 3, a state judge established a filing and briefing schedule for the case, ordering the defendants — the City Plan Commission and Aldalali — to file an answer by March 7, and ordering other plaintiffs’ and defendants’ filings in April and May.
At a Board of Zoning Appeals hearing on the burgers-to-gas conversion last August, local attorney Bernard Pellegrino said that Aldalali has worked in the gas station business for over three decades and already runs five other gas stations, including in New Haven at 801 Whalley Ave.