WuKong Tea has signed on as one of the first commercial tenants at The Shoppes at The Standard, the retail component of a brand-new student housing complex just a mile from the University of Connecticut campus. The bubble tea chain plans to open a location at The Standard at Four Corners in Storrs, adding a storefront to a development still filling out its ground-floor retail space.
As reported by The Connecticut Scoop, WuKong Tea has filed building permits for its space inside the complex. The Standard at Four Corners sits at 1725 Storrs Road, a 23-acre, mixed-use property that replaced the former Holiday Mall and Two-Steps sites along the corridor, according to Multi-Housing News. The development includes 14,500 square feet of ground-floor retail and commercial space spread across seven residential buildings, giving WuKong Tea and other prospective tenants a built-in customer base of student residents.
An 890-Bed Complex Built for a Long-Starved Rental Market
The Standard at Four Corners, developed by Landmark Properties in partnership with Manulife Investment Management, officially opened in August 2025 with 392 apartments and 890 beds. The project marks the first purpose-built off-campus student housing community constructed for UConn students in more than a decade, per the same account from Landmark Properties. It was also financed with a $122.5 million construction loan from Wells Fargo Bank, Multi-Housing News reported.
The complex is about a mile from UConn's main campus and roughly three miles from Morrone Stadium, according to the same Multi-Housing News account. Under Town of Mansfield zoning rules in place when the project was permitted, the development was required to set aside 52 of its 392 units as affordable and workforce housing, according to Connecticut Public. Those units sit alongside student rentals that make up most of the complex.
From a Crumbling Mall to a Campus-Adjacent Storefront
Parts of Enfield Square Mall were temporarily closed in February 2026, when municipal building inspectors issued an unsafe structure notice after freeze-related fire sprinkler pipe bursts and heating system failures caused partial ceiling collapses inside the mall, while Target remained open, according to Patch.
A $250 million plan to demolish and redevelop the mall later stalled in July 2026, after a purchase-and-sale agreement between mall owner Namdar Realty Group and developer Woodsonia Real Estate expired, as reported by WFSB. State grant funding of $14 million tied to that redevelopment remained in limbo following the deal's collapse. WuKong Tea is planning a location at The Standard.
The arrival fits into a broader build-out of off-campus retail and housing around Storrs. Landmark Properties purchased land at 134 N. Eagleville Road in March 2025, the former site of Huskies Tavern, to develop The Mark Mansfield, a 738-bed student residential project with 7,000 square feet of its own retail space, according to The Daily Campus. For now, WuKong Tea has not announced when its Storrs shop will open, leaving students and neighbors watching the permit process play out.
