WINSTED — Can the long-empty Capitol Products building on 35 Willow St. be renovated and leased out?Selectman Michael Renzullo believes that it can.The property has been vacant since Capitol Products went out of business in 2005.Renzullo formed Laurel City Revamp in 2010 for the purpose of rehabilitating distressed and underused properties. Last year, he acquired the building for $1 via a quitclaim deed.Also, after several months of trying, Renzullo was able to convince the Board of Selectmen to let him purchase $89,000 in tax liens for $25,001.Because he now owns the senior lien on the property, Renzullo can foreclose on the building and, through Laurel City Revamp, discharge the other liens on the property.He said the organization is still in the process of getting the liens removed from the property and would not begin renovation work on the building until the process is complete.“I may start work on the building in 60 days or six months, depending on how long it takes to complete the legal process,” Renzullo said. In the meantime, Renzullo gave The Winsted Journal a tour of the building on Tuesday, Feb. 14.At the front of the building is a glass door that has been smashed in.Inside, right near the entrance, is a series of offices that once housed the administrators of the Capitol Products company.Some scattered pieces of office equipment remain on the desks — an old calculator on one, an electric typewriter on another.Save for the assembly belt that runs through all three floors of the building, the factory portion of the first floor is mostly empty.While the wooden floor on the first floor is in good shape, certain planks on the second floor are buckling and in need of replacement.Renzullo said the basement is in need of Brownfield remediation because it was where the factory conducted its chrome plating work. He said the remediation work would include installing a concrete slab on the ground.Renzullo said the roof is in great shape, but several windows throughout the building would need replacement.As for the building as a whole, Renzullo said it was built as a wooden barn some time in the 1850s. The larger brick section of the building was built as an expansion in the early 1900s.“We might tear down the barn portion of the building because it’s not particularly sound,” he said. “It might make for some good deconstruction material that someone might want to buy.”When asked what would go into the building itself, Renzullo said he had several potential tenants interested, but he would not specify who they are.“I have a lot of ideas, but I want to keep it open and leaseable,” Renzullo said. “As soon as we are confident that no one is going to foreclose on us, you will see a transformation of the building from one end to another.”
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Greg Fricke and James Boehmer, co-owners of Peggy Mercury in Kent, recently launched their first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts.”
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Fricke and Boehmer are not there to stock their shelves with the same products customers find at standard makeup retailers. They’re there to help customers find what works for them. That usually means asking customers about themselves and learning about their beauty habits, skin, style and the way they like to present themselves. Fricke and Boehmer believe it’s their job to help customers bring out the qualities that suit them and determine what works best for their look.
So much of the Peggy Mercury world is about emboldening people to become more creative, and possibly bolder, versions of themselves. Some of this comes through the store’s creative collaborations with artists, designers and stylists.
It’s part of an ethos that encourages them and their friends to use the shop as a kind of laboratory, trying out new creative experiments without knowing how they might turn out. Whether in fashion, painting, fiber arts or photography, the projects almost always turn out marvelously.
A line of sterling silver charms they sell started as a small project by their friend Nolan Percival. In the beginning, the pieces were for close friends and loved ones. But Boehmer and Fricke encouraged Percival to get a little more serious about the project and create a whole line for the store. Today, it’s one of their top-selling collections.
Classic styles, bold colors, and creative concerts make up the “Imaginary Concerts” line at Peggy Mercury.Provided
“Imaginary Concerts” has the duo taking their own advice.
The project started as a way for Boehmer to connect with his mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Taking old concert shirts from his own collection, Boehmer and his mother began cutting out the graphics with the idea that they would make a quilt together. Unfortunately, she died before they could complete the project in 2025. The pieces, which were ready for production, were put on the back burner as Boehmer and Fricke dealt with their loss and the whirlwind of projects that never seemed to cease at Peggy Mercury.
But the harsh winter of 2026 presented an opportunity to take some time and focus on themselves. Part of that meant revisiting and redefining the concert T-shirt project. This time, instead of looking to the warmth and comfort of a quilt, they turned to another passion — fashion.
Taking a page from their own book, they wanted to create something that felt comfortable to them. They took two disparate loves — one rooted in simple preppy style, with clean lines and classic silhouettes, and the other in the nitty gritty worlds of punk rock and pop — and blended them together to create something entirely new. Pulling from the staples of vintage Brooks Brothers and Charvet collections, they applied the graphic elements with bold stitching reminiscent of punk jackets of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but with a much more sophisticated air.
But the remixing isn’t just the pairing of prep and punk. The pieces are not canon. They take liberties with the realities of concert tours, combining one band’s dates with another band’s logos, mixing them all up until the reality is lost and imagination is the only truth.
Shirts from Peggy Mercury’s first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts,” hang on display.Provided
Adding to the mix is an element of perpetual creativity. Art can be messy, both figuratively and literally, and many of Fricke and Boehmer’s artist friends carry evidence of their work on them at all times. As a nod to these tireless creatives, the duo added haphazard splashes of bright color, giving the line an even more distinctive feel.
For them, “Imaginary Concerts” passes the “Peggy Test.” The mythical Peggy Mercury is a fictional figurehead for the company, a character who thrives on creativity and change. The name, much like the clothing line, is a mixture of interests: Mercury is a planet, a deity and an elusive, transformative element, while Peggy is the wonderfully stylish and boundary-pushing Peggy Guggenheim.
Everything Fricke and Boehmer put in their store has to pass this test: Would Peggy Mercury approve? For their first collection, the answer is a resounding yes.
Peggy Mercury is at 9 Maple St., Unit 2, Kent.
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