National retailer seeks new 'terrain' on Post Road East

A new home-and-garden center could soon take root at the Post Road East site of the former Curran Cadillac car dealership.

Representatives from the Philadelphia-based Urban Outfitters presented to the Planning and Zoning Commission on Thursday a preliminary plan to bring a Terrain store to 561 Post Road East, next to the Fresh Market.

The proposal calls for the new establishment to retain the shell of the existing building, which remained after the dealership closed in 2009. Building footprint on the site would drop from about 22,000 square feet to 17,000 square feet, according to the proposal.

The Terrain plan also calls for extensive landscaping of the property.

"We're going to use our own landscaping team to landscape every free area we can," said Ken Nemeth, Urban Outfitters' senior development manager. "We're going to do some very unconventional, beautiful things with the landscaping."

Commissioners did not take any action Thursday on the plan, but they had an enthusiastic reaction.

"I think this is a fresh and interesting idea," said P&Z Chairman Ron Corwin. "I don't see any huge stumbling blocks."

The store would next require site plan approval from the P&Z to proceed.

Urban Outfitters representatives have not yet indicated when they would submit a site plan. If built, the Westport Terrain store would complement the flagship Terrain outlet, which is located in Glen Mills, Pa.

The Post Road East site, which is still owned by the Curran family, is currently used as a supplemental parking lot for the New Country Toyota of Westport dealership, which is located at 777 Post Road East. Nemeth did not comment Thursday on whether Urban Outfitters Inc. would buy or lease the property from the Currans. The 1.5-acre site has a current appraised value of approximately $4.5 million, according to the Vision Appraisal website.

To conform with zoning regulations for parking, Urban Outfitters may tear down a wood-framed house on the property that sits at the corner of Post Road East and Crescent Road. The house is unoccupied; its razing would require Urban Outfitters to obtain a demolition permit from the Building Department.

The Historic District Commission, however, has recommended that the house be preserved. In a memo sent last Friday to the P&Z Commission, HDC Chairman Francis Henkels described the house as a "significant example of the more residential character of this area in the late nineteenth century."

Urban Outfitters Inc. also owns the Anthropologie women's clothing and home decor store at 1365 Post Road. In 2012, the company plans to open an Urban Outfitters clothing store in downtown Westport on Post Road East.