Hartford Business Journal

6 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | JANUARY 8, 2024 DEAL WATCH | BUYERS & SELLERS Amid $1.4M HQ purchase, growing welding company pledges 30 new jobs in Waterbury T he welding company Peter Griffin launched from the back of a Dodge RAM pickup truck in 2017 recently paid $1.4 million for a 20,000-square-foot industrial building in Waterbury, with plans for a big staff expansion. Griffin, 30, of Southbury, currently employs 10 people out of a leased 1,900-square-foot shop in Newtown. With the new building, he aims to grow his workforce to 40 in a year. Griffin Welding focuses on commercial clients, including quarry operators, site developers, equipment dealers and highway contractors. The company repairs equip- ment and fixtures. It also fabricates compo- nents for highway signage and signalization. The new location will give it room to serve more clients in a broader area and produce bigger components, Griffin said. Peter Griffin, owner of Griffin Welding. HBJ PHOTO | MICHAEL PUFFER WINDSOR Develop Gregory Vaca, of Grava Properties, recently broke ground on the $30 million Founders Square project that will bring 106 apartments and 12,000 square feet of new retail space to the center of Windsor, near the town's train station. Phase one calls for 40 studio and one-bedroom apartments in the "South" building, with 5,800 square feet of ground-floor retail space, forming a new street wall on Poquonock Avenue. Phase one also includes the renovation of an existing "North" building into a three-story, 30-unit apartment complex with community space. The existing 5,700 square feet of retail space in that building will remain. Phase two includes demolition of an existing one-story building along Prospect Street and construction of a new three-story apartment complex, known as the "West" building, with 36 studio and one-bedroom apartments. HARTFORD Partners converting a former downtown Hartford firehouse and shuttered municipal building into apart- ments are moving forward with plans to construct a new $32.47 million, 126-unit residential building on surface parking lots near Hartford City Hall. Daniel Klaynberg, president of Spectra Construc- tion & Development, said his group recently applied to the city to build an eight-story, reinforced concrete apartment building on a parking lot at 17 and 21 Wells St. It would feature studio and one-bedroom apartments, with 20% of units designated as afford- able workforce housing. The two city-owned lots, which take up about one-third of an acre, sit behind a shuttered municipal building at 525 Main St., across from City Hall. Klaynberg and his partners — brothers Matthew, Dean and Evan Levy — are more than halfway through an $8 million redevelopment of the former municipal building at 525 Main St., into 42 apartments over three retail spaces. They have made similar progress on a $9.5 million plan to redevelop a former firehouse at 275 Pearl St., into 34 apartments and 4,200 square feet of restaurant space. Klaynberg said he expects the firehouse and municipal building to be completed by June or July. Klaynberg is seeking $9.4 million in low-interest financing from the Capital Region Development Authority for the proposed 100,467-square-foot ground-up development. He said he hopes to begin a two-year construction period in "early" 2024. NEW HAVEN Yale University has purchased a life sciences office and laboratory building at 300 George St., in New Haven, for $139.6 million. Yale purchased the 518,940-square-foot building from Winstanley Enterprises of Concord, Mass., which bought the property in 2000 for $27.5 million. The building has multiple tenants, including Yale University, Yale New Haven Hospital and multiple biotechnology companies. Lauren Zucker, Yale's associate vice president for New Haven Affairs and University Properties, said the school plans to continue operating the building "as is." "Over the years, Yale has continued to invest both dollars and people into this building, with Yale's occu- pancy reaching 75% of mostly life-science laboratory space this year," Zucker said. SINGLE SOURCE DESIGN/BUILD EFFICIENT. QUALITY. COST-EFFECIVE. The company that builds and installs the critical systems in virtually every type of facility is the same company you can rely on to maintain them. For over 50 years, our clients have trusted us to provide sustainable, more efficient, greener facilities. Experts in: Design/Build, Pre-Construction, Service, LEED Capabilities 860.871.1111 Toll Free: 800.741.6367 nemsi.com MECHANICAL | ELECTRICAL | PLUMBING | SHEET METAL | BUILDING AUTOMATION | FACILITIES SERVICES License #'s: E1-0125666 S1-302974 P1-203519 F1-10498 SM1-192 MC-1134

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