Hartford Business Journal

6 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | September 12, 2022 GET AN MBA YOUR WAY! • 12 in-depth courses for a fast-track MBA • 24 months for an accelerated degree • 100% online or on campus with fall, spring, and summer starts available • AACSB-accredited program both full-time and part-time Start your Master of Administration (MBA) at the Barney School of Business— listed as one of the nation's "Best Business Schools" by The Princeton Review—and we'll help you advance your career in an ever-evolving business world. hartford.edu/mba Take charge of your career. immediately successful. Hess said the Sheridan Drive prop- erty is needed for access roads to the planned distribution center. The 8.5-acre property currently hosts a 55,349-square-foot industrial building that was completed in 1980. A conceptual site plan Bluewater Property Group shared with residents at a June information session shows two driveways moving through that property – absent any building – and connecting with the major artery of South Main Street in Waterbury. The June information session by Bluewater Property Group came as the developer sought to change height restrictions in zoning. That effort was successful, clearing the way for Bluewater to submit detailed plans. At the June forum, Alexandra Escamilla, head of development for Bluewater Property Group, said the 130-foot height allowance would allow a "robotic-sort, multilevel fulfillment and distribution center" in a more efficient and feasible layout. If it were a single story, such a facility would spread out over 2 million to 3 million square feet, she said. In exchange for the increased height, Bluewater proposed increasing setbacks to a 150-foot minimum and requiring a 75-acre minimum lot size to access the taller height limits. The planned facility would store A rendering of a sprawling Amazon distribution center planned for 160 acres of currently undeveloped land straddling the Waterbury-Naugatuck line. RENDERING | CONTRIBUTED manufactured goods, which would be sorted and then sent to delivery stations, Escamilla said. Sorting on the upper levels will be largely performed by robotics using a "massive conveyor system," with most employees working on the ground level, she said. Goods will leave the Water- bury-Naugatuck facility in pallets on trucks, not sprinter vans, Escamilla said. An aerial map of the planned Amazon facility in Waterbury/Naugatuck. "This is not a last-mile," Escamilla said. "This is more of a first-touch in the e-commerce network." The site investment would result in a project that typically assesses around $150 million, according to a slide Bluewater shared during its presentation. "Because of its access to the roadway network, because of the demographic workforce here, it's a great site for this burgeoning e-com- merce demand," Escamilla said.

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