Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/1308871
www.HartfordBusiness.com • November 16, 2020 • Hartford Business Journal 3 In S. Windsor, growing distribution-center network takes center stage By Greg Bordonaro gbordonaro@HartfordBusiness.com I t's been more than a decade since plans for an ambitious $71-mil- lion South Windsor movie studio project were first publicly aired. That development promised to bring Hollywood films and TV shows to the town's I-291 corridor at the intersection of Route 5. But after years of made-for-TV drama surrounding the project, it never materialized. Instead, a different type of indus- try has sprouted in town: distribu- tion centers. In fact, since 2017, about 1.5 mil- lion square feet of distribution space has been erected in South Windsor by a single developer — Indiana- based Scannell Properties. That space has led to more than $100 million in investment and attracted top corporate tenants, including Home Depot, which has signed a long-term lease for a new $50-million, 421,000-square-foot distribution facility currently being developed on Ellington Road — in and near the failed movie studio location. Industrial properties have been the hottest segment of Connecti- cut's commercial real estate market in recent years, and many have been built in north-central Connecticut, where large swaths of open land and easy access to major highways have made it attractive for companies — particularly e-commerce retailers — to set up distribution centers closer to their end customers. Home Depot's Connecticut invest- ment comes as the home-improvement retailer has been spending large sums of money to beef up its online sales. That strat- egy got off to a slow start but has picked up during the COVID-19 pan- demic, as more people purchase goods online and undertake "do-it-yourself" projects while stuck at home. Home Depot's goal is to get online purchases to customers in a day or sooner so it can compete with the likes of Amazon. To do that, it needs to warehouse products closer to where customers actually live. "This [Connecticut] location is part of our strategic investment in our supply chain network to offer same day/next day delivery to 90% of the United States," a Home Depot spokeswoman said. The Home Depot distribution center is nearing completion and Scannell Properties' S. Windsor developments 135 Sullivan Ave. — 292,000-square-foot distribution facility home to Mobis Parts of America. 175 Sullivan Ave. — 167,763-square-foot distribution facility home to Performance Food Group Inc. 360 Ellington Road — 421,152-square-foot distribution facility currently under construction for Home Depot. 240 Ellington Road — 182,000-square-foot distribution facility currently under construction for an undisclosed Fortune 500 tenant. 359 Ellington Road — 200,000-square-foot warehouse facility for the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Northern New England. Up Front Continued on page 4 >> TOWN PROFILE: SOUTH WINDSOR Kim Bushey Senior Vice President CT Commercial Market Head Intimate knowledge of the local business community. "Putnam Bank… a division of Centreville Bank." Those words do more than describe a relationship between financial institutions. They give you confidence that our commercial lending team has the local experience and expertise to help your business succeed here in eastern Connecticut. Local knowledge is essential in developing the robust, flexible, and individualized banking partnership that will work best for your business. putnambank.com/commercialbanking | Kim Bushey at 860.753.8516 That's part of what it means to be a division of Centreville Bank. EQUAL HOUSING LENDER | NMLS#402947 | MEMBER FDIC Centreville-38036 HBJ_Bushey_925x3125_f.indd 1 Centreville-38036 HBJ_Bushey_925x3125_f.indd 1 10/23/20 2:47 PM 10/23/20 2:47 PM Daniel Madrigal, Senior Development Manager, Scannell Properties Avistar, a division of Virginia-based foods distributor Performance Food Group, occupies a distribution center at 175 Sullivan Ave. in South Windsor. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED