Hartford Business Journal

8 Hartford Business Journal • February 18, 2019 • www.HartfordBusiness.com Reporter's Notebook Gregory Seay | gseay@HartfordBusiness.com Real Estate, Economic Development/Construction, Banking & Finance and Manufacturing MANUFACTURING Tax abatements lure Forrest Machine to Berlin F or 20 of the 35 years of Forrest Machine Inc.'s existence, family owners of the aerospace metalsmith called Rocky Hill home. That is, until 2017, when the neighboring town of Berlin offered for its first time ever a seven-year tax abatement to entice the Forrest family to uproot their eponymous machine shop into a brand new production facility in the town's Christian Lane commercial- industrial corridor. There, other small, family run produc- ers include Precision Punch & Tooling, from whom the For- rest family acquired acreage to erect a larger, state-of-the- art headquarters- aeroparts produc- tion facility at 236 Christian Lane. Also nearby is the sprawl- ing Assa Abloy plant where human workers and digital "co-bots" churn out door-lock sets and automated entry systems. In all, the Forrest family invested some $6 million to build and outfit its newly erected 55,000-square-foot facility — 5,000 square feet of which is space for Forrest's engineering, sales and administra- tive operations, said Michael Forrest, a third-gen- eration owner who is vice president. Forrest Machine counts Pratt & Whitney and United Technologies Corp. aerospace affiliate, United Technologies Aerospace Systems/Rockwell Collins, as its primary customers. Also among its clients are a number of in-state Pratt and UTAS subcontractors and suppliers, Forrest said. The company, which had 2018 revenues of about $15 million and employs close to 70 people, relies on 12 multi-axis lathes and eight multi- axis mills, machine tools capable of turning, cutting, chiseling, grinding and polishing a wide variety of aerospace parts from billet steel and aluminum, Forrest said. It's the kind of value-added manufacturing that Connecticut policymakers and economic advisers say must be nurtured for the benefit of the state's economy and its workers. It's also work that has been growing in the state in recent years thanks to large defense contracts won by Pratt and submarine-maker Electric Boat that will keep them and their suppliers busy for years to come. Manufacturing jobs have grown in the state over the last two years for the first time in de- cades, despite a shortage of qualified workers. "The pressure is on now to bring in the work," said Forrest, 39, a Wethersfield resi- dent who earned his business degree from Quinnipiac Univer- sity before joining the family enterprise. " … We wouldn't have done this if we weren't con- fident in the market.'' Christopher Edge, Berlin's director of economic develop- ment, said David Forrest, the company president and Mi- chael's father, ap- proached the town in late 2016 about his search for a new cen- tral Connecticut home. As a result, Edge said, Berlin for the first time ever offered Forrest Machine a seven-year tax abatement. Forrest joins more than four dozen other prominent local and international manufacturers, such as Budney Industries, Assa Abloy, Paradigm Precision and a unit of Okay Industries, that call Berlin home. Forrest Machine's next-door neighbor, Precision Punch & Tooling, is a private maker of punches, dies and other so-called "capital equipment'' used to make other equipment and machinery. Founded largely as an agrarian community in Colonial times, Berlin's growing manufacturing base has emerged largely from having New Brit- ain — a blue-collar production hub in the state — as its neighbor, and for its central location ac- cessible to I-84 and I-91 via the Route 9 corridor. "Having this growing family owned aero- space components manufacturer build a new 55,000-square-foot facility here helps to solidify and reinforce Berlin as a great location for manufacturing," Edge said. Berlin only offers incentives for new construc- tion, expansions or large-scale renovations, he said. It offered three tax abatements in 2017 and three more in 2018 that combined contributed to the addition/renovation of more than 150,000 square feet of production space in town. DEAL WATCH Ex-Honda bike dealership site sold The former Middletown home to a Honda motorcycle dealership on Washington Street sold recently for $430,000, brokers say. 392 Washington Middletown LLC purchased the 7,140-square-foot retail building on 1.1 acres at 392 Washington St. from seller Sebastian F. Marino, according to sole broker Trevor Davis Commercial Real Estate LLC. Ex-Bailey's Express site sold The former Middletown home of Bailey's Express has sold for $395,000, brokers say. Accurate Logistics LLC acquired the 7,500-square- foot building on 2.85 acres at 61 Industrial Park Road from Bailey's, according to seller's broker Trevor Davis Commercial Real Estate LLC. The trucking-transfer building has 18 docks. Middletown tract sold A 0.3-acre strip on Middletown's Washington Street sold for $100,000. 733 Washington Street Middletown LLC purchased the parcel at 733 Washington St., at the corner of Boston Road, from Sandro Labbadia. REAL ESTATE Here are Hartford's top 10 property taxpayers Hartford's 2018 grand list of taxable property declined by 1.1 percent, reversing six consecutive years of gains, according to the city's assessor. The grand list, which compiles the assessed value of personal property, real es- tate and motor vehicles as of Oct. 1, 2018, decreased to $4.03 billion vs. $4.07 billion in 2017, the city's first annual decrease since 2011. Hartford's top 10 taxpayers represent more than 21.3 percent of the total grand list. Here are the city's largest taxpayers and the assessed value of their real estate and business personal property. Eversource Energy Co.: $187.1M Travelers Indemnity Co. & Standard Fire Ins. Co.: $143.2M Hartford Fire Insurance: $124.2M Aetna Life Insurance Co.: $108.5M RP Asylum LLC: $72.4M Hartford Hospital: $51.1M Mac-State Square LLC: $49M Talcott II Gold LLC: $44.9M Constitution Plaza Holding LLC: $41.3M Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection & Ins.: $37.6M Forrest Machine Inc. Vice President Michael Forrest on the floor of his family's recently built, 55,000-square- foot production- distribution facility at 236 Christian Lane in Berlin. HBJ PHOTO | GREGORY SEAY 392 Wahington St., Middletown. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED

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