Hartford Business Journal

8 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | JANUARY 9, 2023 economy is going," Braddock said. Hog River has plans to move into the expanding Parkville Market development located across the street from its current Park Street location, according to devel- oper Carlos Mouta, but Braddock declined to comment on those efforts. Braddock did say the brewery will reopen on Wednesdays in early 2023, and continue to do live music on Fridays. Hog River has also been hosting Social Sundays featuring Black and female- owned small business vendors, which will continue through April. Trivia and bingo are also common taproom events at Hog River, he said. "Those events seem to bring people into the city, which is nice," Braddock said. Diamond said the state's breweries all have something different to offer, even beyond beer. "Breweries' emphasis has always been community," she said. "Beer is a symbol for that connective tissue that tie people together from all walks of life. We see it in our taprooms, restaurants, package stores, our homes and even in online discussions. That is the reason why beer is 'recession proof.' We need those connections. Human civilization was built on it." Joy Braddock is the co-owner of Hartford-based Hog River Brewing Co. HBJ PHOTO | STEVE LASCHEVER Deal Watch Seeing value in tight CT industrial market, Brooklyn company paid $33.2M for five properties in 2022 By Michael Puffer mpuffer@hartfordbusiness.com A relatively new and growing Brooklyn-based real estate company headed by a former CBRE executive paid $33.2 million for five Connecticut industrial proper- ties in 2022, targeting sites that could provide shelter for companies fleeing surging prices along Interstate 95. Snowball Developments bought industrial properties in Danbury, Norwich, Glastonbury, East Hartford and, most recently, in Watertown. Snowball is betting that companies getting priced out of the tight indus- trial market along the I-95 corridor will increasingly look afield for space. "You have a land grab taking place along key I-95 interchange exits, where industrial tenants need to be, so they are close to the population base, but there's not a sufficiently deep enough inventory of indus- trial land or industrial product," said Brian Ker, president of Snowball Developments. This is leading to "gentrification" of industrial users, with Home Depot, FedEx, Amazon and other high-volume players claiming prime spots, Ker said. That's pushing less well-to-do users further toward the interior, to places like Wallingford, Watertown, Waterbury, Cheshire and Meriden, he said. "Those are the places where the dominoes getting tipped over fall next, because the Merritt Parkway isn't an effective trucking route, so they have to skip all the way into the interior," Ker said. Snowball's 2022 Connecticut investments included: • 5 Wisconsin Ave., Norwich: a 96,654-square-foot industrial building, built in 1970 on 5.5 acres. Purchased in a $6.8-million deal recorded Feb. 28. • 2 Great Pasture Road, Danbury: a 114,408-square-foot industrial building, built in 1955 on 15.57 acres. Purchased in an $8.9-million deal recorded March 1. • 172 Oak St., Glastonbury: a 50,644-square-foot office and warehouse building built in 1974 on 5.2 acres. Purchased in a $4.7-mil- lion deal recorded April 4. • 47 Leggett St., East Hartford: a 71,500-square-foot building built in 1988 on 3.1 acres. Purchased in a $6.9-million deal recorded May 2. • 169 Callender Road, Watertown: an 86,255-square-foot industrial building built in 1974 on 20 acres. Purchased in a $5.89-million deal recorded Dec. 13. Ker said Snowball also owns three industrial properties in New Jersey. On its website, Snowball said it was created to acquire underutilized and under-invested properties in the greater New York City region that This Watertown industrial property, at 169 Callender Road, was the latest Connecticut purchase by Brooklyn-based Snowball Developments. PHOTO | COSTAR have opportunity for future develop- ment. Ker said the roughly 2-year- old company tries to find properties where it can offer a stable home for existing, strong tenants and expand upon untapped potential. Snowball is particularly interested in properties, like 169 Callender Road, which have room for outdoor storage. With ports congested, producers and users are holding onto greater portions of inventory for longer periods, putting storage at a premium. The Watertown property is also appealing due to Amazon's plans for a massive distribution center — equivalent to 2 million to 3 million square feet — on a municipally owned site straddling the Water- bury-Naugatuck town line. "There will be no lack of suppliers, vendors and other groups that work within the orbit of Amazon," Ker said. "It is going to have a positive eco- nomic effect." Ker has led Snowball since July 2021. Prior to that, he spent nearly three years working on real estate development efforts with the New York City Economic Development Corp., the city's nonprofit economic development arm. Ker started his career with a 15-year run at global brokerage firm CBRE, where he reached the level of senior vice pres- ident before his departure in 2003, according to his LinkedIn profile. Ker said his company is currently negotiating a purchase in South Windsor and another in Wallingford and continues to seek investment opportunities in the area. Connecticut has a stable and highly educated workforce, Ker said, along with rela- tively affordable real estate. "Long term, whether our proper- ties get redeveloped or just perform, the goal on all of our acquisitions is to improve them," Ker said. "So, if it looks like a Class D now, it will become a Class B."

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