Hartford Business Journal

HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | JUNE 2, 2025 15 said Jacovino. Also on the innovation front, Otis recently debuted a new, floor-to-ceiling glass, double-decker elevator for Seat- tle's iconic Space Needle. The first of three custom Otis SkyRise sightseeing elevators debuted in May at the 605-foot tall high-rise structure. The elevators — which provide stun- ning views of Seattle, the Puget Sound and nearby Mount Rainier — are the first in North America, and only the second in the world, to use Otis' most powerful SkyMotion 800 machines. Quality assurance Otis' modern history as a standalone company is very recent. It was spun out of its parent company United Technol- ogies in 2020. Marks had been CEO for only a year at the time. "There's growing pains involved in that and a lot of benefits, a lot of making things more efficient," Gottlieb said. "There's a lot of opportunity to really do new things and try new things." At the Bristol test tower, located at 99 Century Drive, Gottlieb is in charge of 13 engineers. The facility is divided into two sections. On one side, the quality assurance Otis lists 188,000-sq.-ft. Bloomfield customer service, light manufacturing center for sale By Harriet Jones hjones@hartfordbusiness.com F armington-based elevator and escalator maker Otis Worldwide recently put up for sale a 188,430-square-foot Bloom- field industrial/office building that houses its customer service center supporting the U.S. and Canada, with the intent to lease it back for a period of time. The site, at 212 West Newberry Road, also houses light manufac- turing that supports Otis' service, repair and modernization businesses. It's been listed by Colliers with an undisclosed asking price. Marketing materials describe the property as "an exceptional investment opportunity." "The goal of this effort is to ensure our facilities in Connecticut are modern, fit for purpose with technology to support our team's productivity, and designed to meet our current and future needs," said Ed Jacovino, an Otis spokesman. He said Otis is still evaluating its options for how to relocate the Bloomfield facility's operations after any leaseback period ends. Most of the elevators that Otis installs in North America are manufactured at a plant in Florence, South Carolina. According to the listing, the Bloomfield property was built in 1986, sits on 18.53 acres and contains a mix of predominantly warehouse and manufacturing space as well as 50,000 square feet of Class A office space that was renovated in 2019. center houses an enormous variety of machines testing elevator components. Those tests take place in a number of temperatures, humidities, vibrations and even in dust chambers, to mimic real-world conditions. In the actual 28-story, 383-foot tall tower, entire elevator systems are tested in one of 14 different hoistways. Here, the team might take a system through half-a-million test cycles to see how it performs. Otis' global engineering team is based in the nearby Farmington head- quarters, at 1 Carrier Place, where they develop products for any one of 200 countries where the company's elevators are installed. "We could be developing something for China, or for Japan, or for Europe out of Farmington where the product is going to land, to meet their code, their needs and so on," Gottlieb said. Those products then go to the Bristol tower for testing, and it's Gottlieb's job to make sure the facility has the capacity on hand to quickly turn around testing jobs. Another big need that the Bristol facility fulfils is testing and verifying parts and materials made by Otis' supply chain companies. "With COVID and drying up supply chains — small mom-and-pop shops going out of business — we were having a hard time getting a hold of parts and keeping production running. So, we do a lot of supply chain verification," Gottlieb said. That turnover in the supply chain may also be intensified by the recent imposition of tariffs. All of that poses some interesting challenges for the engineering team. "The components being tested have to last 20 years. And we don't have 20 years to test the product," Gottlieb said. "We take the component out of the system and we design high stress tests so we can get to answers quicker." But it's a challenge he enjoys. "It's a fun place to work," he said. "You get to break stuff and get paid for it." At Gaylord, we Think Possible Gaylord Specialty Healthcare is a rehabilitation-focused, nonprofit health system that provides inpatient and outpatient care for people at every point in their journey from illness or injury to maximum recovery. Hospital • Physician Services • Therapy Scan to learn more At Otis' 28-story, 383-foot tall test tower in Bristol, at 99 Century Drive, entire elevator systems are tested in one of 14 different hoistways. MODERNIZATION REVENUES Otis Worldwide's 188,430-square-foot Bloomfield industrial/office building at 212 West Newberry Road. PHOTO | COSTAR PHOTO | COSTAR OTIS WORLDWIDE REVENUES FROM MODERNIZATION SERVICES 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 $2B $1.5B $1B $500M $0 Source: Otis Worldwide Annual Report

• Cover