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Stew Leonard's (Newington, CT)
» Letter of Recommendation
New Construction
Location: Newington, CT
Project Specifications:
- Total Square Footage: 120,000
- Construction Budget: $24,000,000
Aurora Contractors is proud to have been the Construction Manager for the newest
Stew Leonard’s store, in Newington, Connecticut.
Stew Leonard’s is a one-of-a-kind supermarket chain, dubbed the world’s largest
dairy store. This $24,000,000 project, which began in August 2006, was challenging
in that it required renovating an existing Caldor that had structural problems.
Special structural engineers had to be brought onboard to assess and rectify the
existing structure to house all of the elaborate barn décor, animatronic robotic
animal shows to entertain children and refrigeration and bakery equipment that makes
Stew Leonard’s the “Disneyland of Dairy Stores.”
During the estimating and construction phases of the project Aurora was able to
provide numerous opportunities to develop innovative approaches to achieve the design
intent and reinforce a stronger team commitment to the project objectives.
In order to build a more earth-friendly store, the Owner chose to use a more environmentally
friendly glycol mixture for the refrigeration, as well as the heating and cooling
systems. In order to make customers more comfortable in the refrigerated sections
of the store, a glycol in-slab floor heating system was installed in those sections
and the main entrance.
Another unique aspect of this project is the independent support structure
for the animation platforms, falsework and fake canopies, which line the perimeter
of the prep areas. This support structure was necessary as no additional weight
could be hung off the existing roof structure.
Aurora has also constructed wine stores for Stew Leonard’s, the latest in Clifton,
New Jersey and Paramus, New Jersey. Each wine shop is approximately 10,000 square
feet, with wood flooring, wood walls and a custom floating wood egg crate ceiling
system that provides high-intensity track lighting throughout the sales floor. The
wood theme continues with all of the display shelving and finally the “Wood Room”,
where all of the highest quality wines are stored. The Wood Room is a cedar room,
with controlled temperature and humidity.