Hartford Business Journal

HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | September 12, 2022 7 Deal Watch Tim Lescalleet, executive vice president of Indus Realty Trust, at a portion of the New England Tradeport off Tradeport Drive. HBJ PHOTO | STEVE LASCHEVER Indus Realty Trust diversifies into new markets as sprawling New England Tradeport development fills By Michael Puffer mpuffer@hartfordbusiness.com In 1978, cigar company Culbro Corp. completed a roughly 40,000-square-foot warehouse on a former tobacco field in East Granby, its first foray into industrial development. Culbro – which today is known as Indus Realty Trust – developed a 600-acre industrial park around that first building, spanning parts of East Granby and Windsor. Forty-four years later, Indus has nearly filled the park. Indus recently received land-use approvals for a 248,000-square-foot distribution center on 59.6 acres at 105 International Drive. It was the last piece of industrially-zoned land available in the development zone. The park still holds about 34 acres of residentially-zoned land, which Indus hopes to eventually develop into an industrial use compatible with nearby residents and agreeable to town authorities. The Tradeport may be nearly built out, but Indus Executive Vice President Tim Lescalleet said the company has enough vacant land in Connecticut to keep it occupied while it focuses on diversifying its portfolio in markets to the south. As of March 31, the company's stated goal was to nearly double its 5.4-million-square- foot portfolio in the coming two to three years. Indus still holds more than 450 acres in Connecticut zoned for indus- trial development, largely in Bloom- field, Simsbury and Windsor. The company owns additional industrial land in Southwick, Massachusetts. Indus owns 16 of 19 buildings in the Tradeport, representing about 32% of its current leasable buildings nationally. That doesn't include the recently-approved project at 105 International Drive, or a 150,000-square-foot expansion of 100 International Drive. Nor does it include two additional sites in Windsor where the company has building approvals for about 500,000 Indus Realty recently received land-use approvals for a 248,000-square-foot distribution center on 59.6 acres at 105 International Drive within the New England Tradeport. HBJ PHOTO | STEVE LASCHEVER BY THE NUMBERS Indus Realty Trust 600 acres Size of the New England Tradeport in portions of Windsor and East Granby. 75,000 to 400,000 sq. ft. Typical size of an Indus industrial building. 34% Growth in Indus square footage between first quarter 2021 and first quarter 2022. 5.4M sq. ft./35 The total square footage and number of buildings in Indus' portfolio, as of March 31.

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