Sentry Commercial Market News.

Davidson Co relocating to Newington CT.

(5/17/12) The Davidson Company, a Wallingford CT based specialty food distributor, has signed a lease for 120,000 square feet of office and warehouse space at 367 Alumni Road, Newington CT, the former Fafnir Bearing building. Davidson will relocate from its existing warehouse on Research Parkway in the next 60 days. The landlord for the property is Newington 2007 LLC.

FedEx breaks ground in South Windsor CT.

(5/15/2012) Per the Hartford Courant, construction of the new FedEx Ground distribution center has commenced. The 220,000 square foot DC, located on Sullivan Avenue in South Windsor, will replace FedEx's 115,000 square foot facility in Windsor CT.

See attached Hartford Courant article: FedEx Ground

AKO buys Windsor CT property.

(5/8/12) AKO Inc., manufacturers of torque wrench calibration systems, digital torque indicators, transducers and precision torque transducer calibration systems, has purchased 50 Baker Hollow Road, Windsor CT. The 28,500 SF industrial building was sold by Thermodynetics, Inc. for $875,000.

Meadow Direct leases in Windsor CT.

(4/23/12) Meadow Direct, LLC has leased 22,000 SF at 90 Meadow Road, Windsor CT. The 63,000 SF industrial manufacturing facility was built in 1952.

See attached article from the Hartford Business Journal for more information.

The Hartford tower on market for sale.

(4/23/12) The Hartford Financial Services Group has 55 Farmington Avenue, Hartford CT, one of its major office buildings, on the market for sale. The 12-story office tower is home to several divisions of the Hartford Group. The company is going through a major restructuring and its future in Connecticut is uncertain. Less than a year ago, they announced plans to vacate 230,000 SF in Southington and Farmington.

See attached article from the Hartford Business Journal for more information.

Iron Mountain leases in Rocky Hill CT.

(4/23/12) Iron Mountain, an information management services company, has leased 71 Hammer Mill Road, Rocky Hill CT. The 19,540 SF industrial facility was built in 1986.

See attached article from the New England Real Estate Journal for more information.

Hackman and Calare buy Evergreen facility.

(4/21/2012) Hackman Capital and Calare Properties recently formed a joint venture to purchase the 448,000 square foot, former Evergreen Solar facility at 112 Barnum Street, Devens MA. The property was reportedly purchased for approximately $8.5m. There were no tenants in the property at the time of purchase.

See attached Commercial Property Executive article: Hackman/Calare

Hartford pharmacy school expands.

(4/20/12)St. Joseph College School of Pharmacy, recently leased an additional 17,000 SF at Hartford 21. School officials site enrollment growth as cause for the expansion. The new lease brings the total to 50,000 SF for the school at the retail-residential office tower on Trumbull and Asylum Streets.

See attached article from the Hartford Business Journal for more information.

TigerPress relocates to East Longmeadow.

(4/19/12) TigerPress, a commercial FSC-certified custom printing company has completed its move to 50 Industrial Drive, East Longmeadow MA.. The company consolidated operations in Northampton MA and Deerfield MA.

See attached article from masslive.com for more information.

CT loses manufacturing to SC.

(4/19/12) TIGHITCO, Inc., designers and manufacturers of thermal insulation, complex composites and sheet metal for the aerospace, diesel engine and power generation markets is expanding. Despite its manufacturing presence in CT (80 employees in East Granby and 140 in Berlin), the company will build a new factory in Charleston, South Carolina. TIGHITCO's vice president states that Connecticut is "not providing workforce development" while South Carolina offers cheaper operating and utility costs, wages and taxes. TIGHITCO's parent company, The Intertech Group, is located in Charleston.

See attached article from the Hartford Courant for more information.