DANA JENSEN / THE DAY Electric Boat has purchased the former Garbo Lobster site in Groton, seen Thursday.
Company needs parking space after garage closed
June 09, 2022
By Kimberly Drelich
Day Staff Writer
Groton – Electric Boat on Thursday purchased the former Garbo Lobster property and adjacent land with a vacant restaurant building on Thames St. for $3.6 million.
EB says it plans to use the space for employee parking but did not have any comment on longer-term plans for the waterfront property
Employees have been informed that the space, near Electric Boat, will be available for parking starting next week, the company said.
Dieterich SSB LLC of Miami, a holding, owned the approximately 2-acre property, which houses the former Garbo Lobster 34,700 ft warehouse at 415 Thames St., and the adjacent 0.5-acre property at 359 Thames St., which houses a 12,737-square-foot vacant building used years ago for a restaurant, as well as storage. The sites have in total about 100 parking spaces.
The realtor with U.S. Properties who represents the sellers, said the land was sold as a package deal for $3.6 million dollars.
Howard said the land has been on the market for more than four years.
“I think it’s great for Groton,” she said.
City of Groton mayor Keith Hedrick said the city has not received an application for the sites. He said that if the land purchase allows Electric Boat to expand its capabilities, then that’s good for the city, as Electric Boat is the city’s largest employer.
He said in the interim if Electric Boa wants to use the existing open space for parking, then that relieves some of the pressure caused by the LAZ parking garage, across from Electric Boat, which is closing on Thursday.
“The Thames River Garage is closed due to the property’s maintenance needs and aging infrastructure,” said Maru Coursey, LAZ spokesperson. “We are currently evaluating options for the best use of this property and will provide updates when more information becomes available.”
Electric Boat said it always has a demand for parking, and it’s just very convenient that the timing worked out.
The land purchased on Thames Street is located in the city’s Waterfront Business Residence District. The zone is intended “to encourage a mixture of land uses that will enhance the unique qualities of the Thames Street area with emphasis on waterfront access and water-dependent and related uses,” according to the city’s zoning regulations.
In 2019, East Coast Seafood Group, Garbo Lobster’s parent company, closed the Groton facility. East Coast Seafood Group said the closure was due to a planned restructuring to shift work done in Groton to a Prospect Harbor, Maine, facility, which was acquired by East Coast Seafood and Garbo in 2012, and to a new lobster processing line at its facility in New Bedford, Mass.
Garbo representatives had said in the summer of 2018 that after China enacted a tariff on seafood from the United States in response to U.S. tariffs, orders from China were canceled overnight, The Day reported. The state Department of Labor later requested that the former employees of the Groton facility be eligible for federal Trade AdjustmentAssistance funding, which provides training, education and job search for employees affected by foreign competition.
Howard said Deaderick purchased the land in late 2019. GreenFins LLC had plans to raise tuna there in partnership with the University of Rhode Island, but the company found a site closer to the university and the land was put back on the market in 2020.