A relative of the late Subway co-founder and philanthropist Peter Buck has bought a prominent Danbury warehouse that had remained in another local family for three generations. The buyer, using the company name Swampfield LLC, purchased the former Dandy Foods property on Mill Plain Road for $6.75 million in March 2025 and plans to invest another $1.8 million in renovations. The project includes a new 10,000-square-foot office building, according to Hearst Connecticut Media’s News-Times and New Haven Register. Read more details about it,as per the reports,here:
A property changes hands
The 4.8-acre warehouse site was developed by entrepreneur Albert Salame and remained in his family for three generations. After Salame’s death in 2023, his family began selling parts of his local real estate portfolio, including the Dandy Foods property. Swampfield LLC completed the purchase in March 2025. The company is connected to a private member of the Buck family, whose philanthropic and land conservation investments are managed through PCW Management Center in Mystic.Ben Benoit, president of PCW Management Center, said in the reports that the long-term plan is for the building to remain a warehouse. He added that the renovation will also create offices for a private Buck family member and a property management office that he runs.
What the renovation will include
The existing warehouse needs substantial work, and the new owners plan to bring it back into good condition. While no tenants have been announced for the larger warehouse space, the family intends to keep the site in productive use rather than redevelop it into something entirely different.Danbury’s planning and zoning department has approved blueprints for a 10,000-square-foot office building attached to the west side of the warehouse. The new offices are intended to support the Buck family’s charities, land holdings and related enterprises.The approved site improvements include additional landscaping, a concrete sidewalk along Mill Plain Road and the formalisation of parking areas. The city made one condition for approval: the new owner must remove six empty semi-trailers parked on the front lawn of the warehouse.
A continuing Buck family legacy
Peter Buck co-founded Subway in 1965 with Fred DeLuca and became one of Danbury’s most significant philanthropists before his death in 2021. The warehouse purchase is being viewed as a continuation of that legacy of investment in the city.Benoit said, as per the reports, that he knew Albert Salame and that the purchase made sense after Salame’s death, when his family was ready to retire from the property. He described the building as needing work and said the family is focused on restoring it. The deal is also part of a wider transition in Salame’s former real estate holdings. In 2025, the Salame family sold the nearby Maron Hotel for $5 million and later sold the adjacent building housing Stop & Shop for $16 million.
Why Mill Plain Road matters
The warehouse is located next to Agriventures Agway and a strip of retail and commercial businesses along Mill Plain Road, a corridor that carries an average of 14,000 drivers each day. Its location offers strong visibility and convenient access for future commercial activity.The renovation is the latest investment in an area that has been attracting attention. City leaders have confirmed serious discussions about converting the former Super 8 motel at 3 Lake Ave Extension into senior housing, while a Ridgefield businessman has said two tenants are expected at the former Puppy Love site at 37 Lake Ave Extension.Farley Santos, economic and community development advisor to Mayor Roberto Alves, said Mill Plain Road continues to be a major engine of economic growth for Danbury. He described the warehouse investment as another vote of confidence in the city’s economy.
A new chapter for an old site
The project will preserve the warehouse’s industrial role while adding modern office space and improving the surrounding property. That approach reflects a broader trend in which established commercial sites are updated rather than abandoned or completely rebuilt.For Danbury, the transaction brings together two local stories. A building associated with one family for generations is passing into the hands of another family with deep ties to the city, but with plans to modernise it and keep it active.With the purchase complete and renovation plans approved, the former Dandy Foods warehouse is set to become part of Mill Plain Road’s next phase of growth. The combined $8.5 million investment suggests confidence that older commercial properties can still play an important role in a changing local economy.