At The Shops at Somerset Square, the spaces that clothing and beauty stores left behind are being leased to places to eat. A Coldwater Creek space is becoming a pizza tavern. A BlueMercury space is now a Mediterranean counter. A Francesca's space is lined up for an ice cream shop.
CAVA is serving. The biggest restaurant, Milestone, has an early 2027 target, and the other leases were announced with 2026 windows. For Glastonbury households planning December, most of the town's dated holiday events are happening away from the Boulevard.
A Comeback Measured in Leased Square Feet
According to the Hartford Courant, The Shops at Somerset Square helped pioneer the open-air lifestyle center in the late 1980s. The same report said the property had become financially troubled by the time Memphis-based Poag Shopping Centers bought it in 2022.
The Courant's May 2026 report included occupancy figures for the 115,000-square-foot center, as given by Dave Dumeer of the East Hartford firm Goman + York, who negotiated the new leases:
- At the 2022 sale: 68% occupied, at a $30 million purchase price
- One year later: 79% occupied
- Once the six tenants signed this year open: a projected 87%, adding nearly 18,000 square feet of leased space
The kind of tenant matters as much as the occupancy number. "You can't just throw in a bunch of whoever tenants to pay rent," Dumeer told the Courant. "You have to build something where people want to go, and where people want to go back to." In the same article, he described a mix ranging from quick bites and fast-casual counters to thin-crust pizza and dinner with craft cocktails and live music. He also said outdoor areas will be reworked for patio dining.
All six new leases are food or wellness businesses, which points the center toward frequent, repeat visits.
The One Already Serving: CAVA at Suite 700
CAVA is open at 170 Glastonbury Boulevard, Suite 700, in the former BlueMercury space. According to the chain's Glastonbury location page, it serves from 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day, with dine-in, pickup and delivery.
Those hours fit the plan. A fast-casual counter open twelve hours a day draws lunch customers from the offices around Somerset Square and dinner customers who don't want to cook. The Courant described the menu as grain bowls, greens, pitas, grilled meats, falafel and dips such as harissa, hummus and tzatziki.
Two other tenants opened before this year's leasing announcements. The Connecticut Scoop listed Bareburger and HOTWORX as recent openings in early May.
The Rest of the Roster, Space by Space
Each of the remaining leases takes over a space with a known former tenant. Here is the lineup by former tenant, with each company's original timing:
- Colony Grill, 130 Glastonbury Boulevard, Suite 340, former Coldwater Creek. Colony Grill was founded in Stamford in 1935 and is known for thin-crust "hot oil" bar pies. The company's announcement describes a restaurant with more than 175 indoor seats, a full bar with 12 tap lines, multiple TVs and a large outdoor patio. In early September, the Courant reported that Glastonbury, the chain's first Hartford County location, was scheduled to open before the end of this year. That report also said Newington and South Windsor locations are planned for next year.
- Tiger Belly Noodle & Sushi Bar, next to Starbucks. This is the second location for the Granby restaurant. The Connecticut Scoop listed pho, bao buns, sushi, donburi, noodles and ramen on the planned menu.
- Cold Stone Creamery, former Francesca's. It makes ice cream in the store and mixes it to order on a granite slab. The Courant listed a fall 2026 target.
- Aroma Body & Foot Massage, former Massage Envy. Aroma already has locations in West Hartford and Manchester. The Courant listed full-body massage, deep-tissue work, foot reflexology and hot-stone treatments among its services.
Look at what the departing tenants sold: women's apparel, beauty products and accessories. None of the incoming businesses sells merchandise. A center that once drew people to shop now wants to draw them to eat, and the patio seating Dumeer described helps with that.
The Address With 25 Years of Dinners Behind It
The largest lease has the latest timeline. Milestone Restaurant is taking the Suite 240 space where Max Amore operated until it closed in 2019. Hartford Business Journal and the Courant both report an opening in early 2027. Milestone currently has locations in Mystic and Georgetown.
Owner Peter Fine told the Courant that he picked the space because of its history. "The primary reason I chose that location is because there was a rich, soulful restaurant in that space for 25 years," he said. "It was a hub of neighborhood activity." He described Milestone as "a neighbor gathering spot: quality food, quality cocktails. We do some live music."
That timing matters for this season. The tenant built most clearly for long dinners and live music is the one scheduled after the holidays. The space that served Max Amore's regulars for a quarter century will go through one more December before it reopens as a restaurant.
Where December Has Dates on It
For now, the Shops' holiday page advertises extended 2026 holiday shopping hours and a family event lineup, with Santa's arrival as the main draw.
The holiday events already on the calendar with dates are along the river on Welles Street, down Main Street and at the high school. Here is the town's dated schedule from the week after publication through the first weekend of December:
| Date | Event | Where | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sun., Nov. 15, noon–3 p.m. | Celebrate Thanksgiving with Us, Historical Society of Glastonbury | Welles-Shipman-Ward Property, 972 Main St., South Glastonbury | Not listed |
| Thu., Nov. 19, 10 a.m.–1 p.m. | Holiday Acrylic Painting Class | Riverfront Community Center, 300 Welles St. | $27 residents, $29 nonresidents |
| Sat., Nov. 21, 7 p.m. | Glastonbury's Got Talent Show | St. Luke's Episcopal Church, 915 Main St. | Not listed |
| Thu., Nov. 26, noon | A Cotton Hollow Kitchen Thanksgiving | Cotton Hollow Kitchen, 840 Main St. | Not listed |
| Fri., Dec. 4, 5:30–7:30 p.m. | Family Paint Night, "Snow Pals" | Academy Building Cafeteria, 2143 Main St. | $30 for two, up to $75 for five |
| Sat., Dec. 5, 10 a.m.–2 p.m. | Holiday Vendor Market | Glastonbury Boathouse, 252 Welles St. | Not listed |
| Sat., Dec. 5, 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m. | Santa's Underwater Adventure | Glastonbury High School, 330 Hubbard St. | $5 per person |
| Sun., Dec. 6, 10 a.m. | 21st Annual Holiday & Craft Fair | Congregation Kol Haverim, 1079 Hebron Ave. | Not listed |
| Sun., Dec. 6, noon | Santa's Run | Parks & Recreation road race | $20 pre-registration, $30 race day |
December 5 and 6 are the busiest weekend. The Boathouse market and the Santa swim are on Saturday, and the Hebron Avenue craft fair and Santa's Run are on Sunday. Santa's Run pre-registration closes at noon on Friday, December 4, and the town lists December 13 as the snow date. Also on December 6, Parks & Recreation runs a Radio City Christmas Spectacular bus trip that leaves the East Hartford/Glastonbury Commuter Parking Lot at 3024 Main St. at 6:15 a.m. It returns by 8 p.m. and costs $270 per person.
Many of these events end around lunchtime, or around dinnertime in the Family Paint Night's case. That leaves the meal afterward open, and CAVA serves until 10 p.m. every day. As Colony Grill's patio, Tiger Belly's ramen and Milestone's live music come online, the center will be competing for the same Saturday afternoons and Friday nights the town fills with its own events, which is the repeat-visit traffic Dumeer described.
Watching storefronts change hands is the same work as reading a local market: pay attention to what moves into the empty spaces and how long it takes to open. If you're thinking about what the Somerset Square area and the rest of Glastonbury will look like a year from now, Schuyler Goines follows those changes closely and is glad to talk them through with you. Let's Connect.
