Demolition of Old Stafford Restaurant Begins Roundabout Project

STAFFORD, CT — For more than a dozen years, Chelle's Place provided great food as a nostalgic, 1950s-style car hop diner. Easily visible due to its glowing pink and blue decor, particularly on the boulders flanking the restaurant, customers enjoyed breakfasts, lunches and dinners in a setting which featured walls dedicated to Elvis Presley and Stafford Speedway, as well as a Happy Days theme section and numerous old photos of the town.

Prior to the diner's opening, a number of businesses had occupied the building since its construction in 1970 - a car dealership, a garage, a gas station, an arcade and an antique shop. Following Chelle's tenure was a brief stint as Bonnie-Jean's Kitchen, which closed in 2018 and the property was acquired by the Connecticut Department of Transportation (DOT).

On Wednesday, a long-awaited plan by the DOT to construct a roundabout, measuring 170 feet in diameter, at the junction of Routes 190 and 319 began to spring into action, as a demolition crew tore down the 50-year-old, 1,940 square foot building. A DOT report dated July 15, 2019 indicates, "Currently the roads meet at a skewed ‘Y’-intersection whose geometry creates poor sight lines for drivers. This has resulted in a high number of stop sign violations and crash incidences."

Eleven other parcels in the surrounding area have been either partially or wholly acquired by the DOT for the project, ranging from several "slivers of land" to the complete purchase of Craig's Auto Repair at 110 West Stafford Rd., for which the state paid $327,500 at the end of January, according to town land records.

Adjacent to the former Craig's property is a manmade pond, "which was constructed at some point between 1950 and 1965," the report states. "The footprint of the new roundabout will cover approximately half of the pond. The entire pond will be drained and backfilled in order to provide solid ground for the new intersection."

A small bridge over a brook and a culvert under Route 319 will also be removed, according to the plans.