Fonicello family sells 9-acre parcel

By Rachael Scarborough King, Register Staff
Jan. 25, 2008

GUILFORD — The Fonicello family, which ran one of Guilford’s best-known agricultural businesses until last January, has sold a chunk of property off of Long Hill Road to Guilford Holdings Inc., a Delaware-based company.

According to warranty deeds filed with the town clerk, several members of the family sold the property late last year for a total of about $2.75 million. The land, at 315 Long Hill Road near Hubbard Road, covers about 9 acres and is assessed as a farm use, according to the town’s online property information and map database.

Arthur Fonicello, one of the sellers, did not return calls for comment. Other family members could not be reached. Guilford Holdings Inc. has a Guilford address on the deed documents, but does not have a listed telephone number.

The family closed its longtime Boston Post Road business, Fonicello’s Garden Center, in January 2007. At the time, rumors swirled that grocery chain Trader Joe’s might buy the site, but the empty garden center still sits next to the Big Y supermarket.

Town Planner George Kral said no plans have been filed with the Planning Department for development of the Long Hill Road property. But he added that he has talked to the purchasers “casually” and they have indicated plans for an office building on that site.

The long, rectangular piece of land — which sits across Hubbard Road from the Arkwright factory — had been in the Fonicello family since at least 1952, according to town records.