Hartford Business Journal

4 Hartford Business Journal | February 8, 2021 | HartfordBusiness.com Deal Watch By Matt Pilon mpilon@hartfordbusiness.com A fter a years-long search, high-tech testing equipment maker Bloomy has found a new headquarters. The company, which sells its systems to aerospace and other manufacturers to test avionics controls, medical devices, lithium- ion batteries and a variety of other components, has been based out of a facility on Marshall Phelps Road in Windsor for more than 20 years. The company outgrew that location and has been searching for a new home for the past five years or so, President and Founder Peter Blume said in a recent interview. "It was difficult to find the right combination of office and industrial space," said Blume, whose grandfather's pronunciation of his family name inspired Bloomy's name. "One big problem has been that we don't have a loading dock in Windsor, so shipping and receiving these large systems was problematic. We always needed a truck with a lift gate." That will no longer be a challenge starting this month when Bloomy moves its operations, including about 30 employees, to neighboring South Windsor, where the company last fall paid $2.3 million for a 28,000-square-foot building at 68 Nutmeg Road South, a property that was jointly owned by Glastonbury- based private investment firm Hollister & Moore and attorney Carolyn Martino. Not only does the new property have a loading dock, but it offers more manufacturing floor and conference space, as well as improved security (an important factor for aerospace work), said Blume, who happens to be a South Windsor native. Bloomy will be able to scale up its production capacity, and compete for new and larger contracts as a result. "We're ready for higher-volume and higher-security contracts," he said. Flying on the ground Bloomy's aerospace simulation systems are housed in 6-foot-tall electronic racks. The systems allow aerospace engineers to test the performance of flight, engine and environmental controls long before they're ever used in the sky. Bloomy's test platforms trick control software and algorithms into thinking they are in flight by simulating the hundreds or even thousands of signals they would receive while in the air relaying information about altitude, temperature, pressure, wing-flap displacement and other parameters. It's known in the industry as "hardware in the loop" testing. Bloomy — which does not disclose its revenue and has approximately 50 employees spread out across its home state, Massachusetts and New Jersey — sells its simulators to airframers, prime defense contractors and major tier-one suppliers. Those end users are also Bloomy's biggest competitors, since they have developed varying levels of testing capabilities and systems in-house over the years. However, Blume said his company has benefited from a gradual and ongoing trend of companies turning more frequently to off-the-shelf testing platforms like those Bloomy makes. "What's happened over time is that it's become very time consuming and expensive to design, build and maintain the automated testing equipment and it's not their core business," he said. "The aerospace companies are gradually outsourcing more and more." The company's bread and butter is serving the aerospace and defense sector, which makes up about 60% of its revenue. Raytheon Technologies Corp., which merged with United Technologies Corp last year, is a customer. However, Blume said he sees a new potential opportunity on the horizon. The expanded headquarters space could create new opportunities in emerging technologies, such as driverless cars. If and when that technology takes off, Bloomy wants to be well positioned, with enough capacity to provide testing equipment to vehicle manufacturers. "We want to have the space to take on the automated testing equipment needs for an entire new vehicle program," Blume said. S. Windsor move ramps up Bloomy's production, contract potential At a Glance: Company: Bloomy Industry: Testing equipment manufacturer Top Executive: Peter Blume, President New HQ: 68 Nutmeg Road South, South Windsor Company Website: www.bloomy.com 2418 Main St., Rocky Hill Office/Warehouse 232,000 sq. ft Listing price: $2.9M Current owner: MR ROCKY, LLC (Robert Danial) Listing Broker: Jeff Dow, jd@dowrealty.com, 203-776-000 Peter Blume Bloomy this month will move into its new headquarters at 68 Nutmeg Road South, in South Windsor. The manufacturing floor inside Bloomy's new South Windsor headquarters. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED PHOTO | COSTAR On The Market Of all Rocky Hill's development prospects, it's the long-dormant former Ames Department Stores headquarters site in the center of town that residents and leaders have most wanted to see revitalized. The property, which includes a 232,000-square-foot, four-story office tower, is currently for sale for $2.9 million and is being marketed as a large development site in the center of Rocky Hill that could be transformed into mixed-use residential, apartments, retail, commercial or self storage. The 12.2 acre site last traded hands in 2014, when Robert Danial's The Morgan Reed Group bought it for $1.8 million via public auction, town records show. Hartford Business Journal reported in 2016 that the town was working with the owner to try to redevelop the property but nothing has come to fruition. The site has been vacant since Ames' 2002 bankruptcy. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED

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