Defying conventional wisdom, companies get creative to meet growing space needs
Depending on the exact locale in the region, from Fairfield to Clinton, the amount and type of manufacturing, industrial and warehouse properties available vary widely. However, most Realtors, developers and companies would agree that there is not an abundance of desirable locations. Many empty buildings, for example, are of World War II vintage and need too many renovations for today's manufacturing processes, or sit on land that requires too much decontamination/remediation to be economically relocation provider that caters to Fortune 500 companies and government agencies, had been looking without any success for a specific site to fill the company's space needs.Matrix provides a range of general and project cargo supply-chain services including route studies, expediting orders with suppliers, arranging technical inspections, receiving, export packaging, preparation of shipping documentation, transport by truck, sea and air, customs clearance, and delivery to site. Angel suggested that the people at Matrix talk with James Caissy, president of the Stratford Development Co., which owned property in this eastern Fairfield County community.
As a result of those discussions, Matrix built a 60,000-square-foot industrial space at 500 Long Beach Boulevard that met the company's needs. Matrix International, earlier named one of Inc. magazine's 500 fastest-growing privately held companies, thus became a full-time tenant and a welcome addition to Stratford's Executive Park, where all properties are zoned industrial.
Located off Exit 30 of I-95, the 575,000-square-foot park is home to buildings used for office, light industrial, heavy industrial and/or warehousing applications. Half of the buildings are designed for flex usage, offering standard low ceilings for offices and/or warehouse space with 24-foot clearance.
The flex offices house a variety of organizations such as ADP Inc., Albertus Magnus College and Lincare Inc. Only a 2,000-square-foot and a 3,600-square-foot space remain vacant. The park will be adding two new 117,000-square-foot spaces for subdivision.
Recently Stratford also welcomed Mr. Shower Door to its commercial roster. Tom Whitaker, president of the Mr. Shower Door Co. of Norwalk, paid $1,705,000 for a 27,500-square-foot building at 260 Hathaway Drive to serve as company headquarters and house its workforce of 50 engaged in materials storage and product fabrication.
In another year, the Hathaway Drive location will also house a retail showroom similar to the one remaining in Norwalk at 651 Connecticut Avenue, the company's former headquarters. By making the move, Whitaker went from paying $100 per square foot in Norwalk to $65 a foot in Stratford. (In Connecticut real estate, it seems, everything is relative.)
Observes Whitaker: "Stratford is on the move, with many fabricating and distribution companies. This relocation of the fabricating department will enhance our business and offer the company future growth."
Incorporated in 1981, Mr. Shower Door to date has eight franchises along the East Coast. It sells luxury doors, including examples in 24-karat gold and sterling silver, to well-heeled clients and celebrities such as Mel Gibson, Donald Trump, Katie Couric and Oscar de la Renta. The company recently sold a handcrafted shower door for $84,000.
Bruce Wettenstein, a partner with commercial Realtor Vidal/Wettenstein, originally sold the Stratford property to Craig and Sandra Hoekenga, owners of Microboard Processing. When the latter outgrew the building, Microboard relocated to a 70,000-square-foot facility in Seymour's Silvermine Industrial Park.
Similarly, AKDO Intertrade saved money by leasing a brand-new 100,000 site on State Street in Bridgeport's West End (the former Bryant Electric site), housing a showroom and manufacturing facility. Across the street, the former Bead Industries property was purchased by a private developer for retrofitting for multi-tenant retail, manufacturing and office use. The 600,000-square-foot former Bic Corp. building in Shelton is also being subdivided.
Other organizations, such as Applied Engineering Products (AEP), are taking a different route to becoming smarter and more efficient about their facilities use.
Nick Lavorato, AEP's organizational development manager, explains how the New Haven manufacturer decided to undertake some major changes when it was acquired by the French Radiall group about a year and a half ago.
"In the past, one of the models of expanding a business was to add square feet," explains Lavorato. "Today it instead means shrinking your footprint through lean manufacturing and freeing up additional space for expansion without adding to the overall size of the facility. This can be a huge cost savings."
It can also allow the company to pursue other opportunities as they manifest themselves. Applied Engineering is an ISO 9001:2000-certified manufacturer of high-end coaxial connectors and cable assemblies for aviation, engines and the military. Earlier this year AEP implemented lean manufacturing, a philosophy of production that emphasizes reducing the amount of resources - not least of which includes time - needed to perform the necessary functions of the organization. It involves identifying and eliminating non-value-adding activities in design, production and supply-chain management, as well as dealing with customers in a new way.
For AEP, the output going "lean and keen" was gaining back 5,000 square feet of space. This gave the company the opportunity to bring in a new product antenna line from Radiall's Vancouver site. Stratford AEP hopes to continue growing and becoming Radiall's top-performing U.S. facility.
Headquartered in Branford, Harco supplies custom-designed sensors, thermocouple systems and cable assemblies for industrial and aerospace applications ranging from ground-based gas turbines to jet engines, air data sensors and mass transit.
According to Christy Mack, the company's human-resources manager, Harco continues to expand due to its lean manufacturing and improved knowledge systems. The company has added a new product line, increased both sales and its workforce 15 percent over the previous year.
Harco President Robert P. Masotti noted that between 1994 and 2005, sales have increased by 300 percent and manufacturing lead times have been reduced by 60 percent. Most recently, Harco was selected for development and sole source of the air-data systems for the new, highly advanced Eclipse 500 jet.
Connecticut has a surprising number of smaller firms that need space as well. For many of these, however, it usually is easier and less expensive to find what they need compared to their larger peers.
Earlier this month Beyond Components expanded its branch office in Wallingford. After having a presence in the town for several years, the firm's branch grew and relocated to 65 North Plains Industrial Park Road. The company paid $380,000 for two commercial condominium units, totaling 6,000 square feet, in Prestige Park, just off Route 68 and Route 5 between the Wilbur Cross Parkway and I-91.
Beyond Components is a national distributor of electronic and electro-mechanical products.
Similarly, Davco Engineering, a design engineering company, relocated to a larger industrial condominium unit of 1,280 square feet in Twelve Oaks Business Park at 375 Morgan Lane in West Haven.
Kristin Geenty, president of the Geenty Group, Realtors in Branford, explains that buildings larger than 25,000 square feet are difficult to sell, mostly because they are older facilities that in many cases need expensive renovations. However, those in the 2,500- to 10,000-foot range are in greater demand for smaller yet growing entrepreneurial or family-run companies.
One of most effective space solutions is to find an industrial or distribution site that names financial sense and meets the company's physical needs. In recent years Shelton has filled that role, and now other towns in the Valley hope to do the same.
Herman Schuler, Oxford's economic development director, announced earlier this month that Omega Engineering of Stamford had petitioned the town's Planning & Zoning Commission to build an 80,000-square-foot building on 215 acres bounded by the Airport Access Road, Route 188, Donovan Road and the Middlebury town line. Over time, Omega officials hope build an additional seven buildings totaling up to 750,000 square feet.
With a tax abatement program and a mill rate of 19.37 as well as the convenience of I-84 and Route 8, Schuler hopes that Oxford will follow Shelton's lead.
"We have ample greenfields, low taxes, a new [high] school being built, and easy access for people to get to work," says Schuler. "Everything to bring companies in."
Offer it and they will come. Sixteen new companies now occupy space in Oxford's growing number of industrial properties. The Willenbrock and Jack's Brook Industrial Parks are fully occupied, and just two lots remain in the Morse Road property. The Hurley Farms Industrial Park is also filling so quickly that the developer is adding more buildings in anticipation of future demand. Commerce Drive, a new town road in the Commerce Park subdivision, is currently under construction. It will access four build-to-suit lots and provide access to a new CL&P substation.
The companies in Willenbrock, for example, are a mixed bag. From its 10,000-square-foot corporate headquarters, Zackin publications provides its 95,000 subscribers with business-to-business information about loan servicing, commercial mortgage finance, residential mortgage banking and similar industries.
Earthworks Inc. just completed site work for a new 34,000-square-foot manufacturing facility for Kenneth Lynch & Sons, a manufacturer of statuary, fountains, weathervanes, sundials and park benches. Jack's Brook was leased in 12 months and houses such businesses as Scott Technology, Magellan Service Corp, Jetek and DRG Surgical.
Oxford also recently approved commercial projects on Oxford Road and 25 industrial lots for the Jack's Hill and Woodruff Hill Industrial subdivisions. Schuler says those projects will add another 1.1 million square feet of commercial and industrial floor space to the town's grand list as more companies locate to Oxford and build their facilities.
The 95-acre Jack's Hill Lot 4 parcel is presently being developed by Earthworks for an eight-lot industrial subdivision, with lots ranging in size from 2.5 to ten acres. Each lot is capable of supporting up to 40,000 square feet of industrial space.
Construction on Woodruff Hill Road will begin later this year and be completed by mid-2007. This includes a gas compression station run by Duke Energy.
Relation to most other states, Connecticut is burdened with higher business costs and less available space than elsewhere in the country. Nevertheless, those that companies that want to remain in the state and be able to boast Fairfield or New Haven County addresses can still find land for expansion. All it takes is a little creativity.
