Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com March9,2015•Hartford Business Journal 13 Deal Watch Hometown trio button Cheshire as culture hub F or generations, dating to before the Civil War, Cheshire's Ball & Socket Manufacturing Co. factory churned out millions of metallic buttons and snap fasteners for clothing and uniforms, some of them rare and high-quality enough to be considered collectible. A century-and-a-half later, three Cheshire natives have banded together to invest $2.8 million — $2.1 million of it a state loan and grant — to acquire, remediate and redevelop the idle 65,000-square-foot factory on 3.02 acres in the heart of the town's West Main Street business district into cultural, per- forming arts and dining spaces. By summer 2017, Jeffrey Guimond and his co-partners Kevin Daly and Ilona Somogyi envision opening the nonprofit Ball & Socket Art Center's spaces to the public, Guimond said. He says there are four reasons he and his ex-classmates (Cheshire High Class of '86) are investing their time and money rehabilitating the building that has asbes- tos and other industrial-age solvent resi- dues, some of which have leached into soil beneath the structure. "Once you see it,'' said Guimond, a chef, pianist and secretary of nonprofit Ball & Socket Arts, "you see how remarkably beau- tiful it is. It's big but it's not huge. And its loca- tion is ideal. The fourth reason is we all grew up [in Cheshire] and we love it.'' But the financial transaction involving the trio's nonprofit and the state Depart- ment of Economic and Community Devel- opment's brownfield redevelopment divi- sion plows fresh ground for another reason, said Hartford attorney John Bashaw, who represented the trio in DECD funding talks. It shows, Bashaw said, that brownfield remediation projects are "not just for the developers of malls and housing projects." "Nonprofits can play a role in turning historically contaminated sites into pro- ductive use, where traditional redevelop- ment may not make sense,'' the Reid and Riege P.C. lawyer said. The Ball & Socket redo meshes with the town of Cheshire's long-term vision for revitalizing its West Main Street dis- trict, which the button factory anchored for decades before closing in 1994, said Jerry Sitko, Cheshire's economic devel- opment coordinator. Rehabilitation of the Ball & Socket prop- erty is the final piece of that strategy, which includes laying sidewalk on the north side of West Main, from Grove Street to Maple Avenue, making it more pedestrian friendly. "We're putting all these elements together to make a West Main Street Vil- lage," Sitko said. "We're doing all we can to support this [Ball & Socket] project." The town got $1 million from the state for West Main streetscape improvements. The town's other strategy is to complete about 4.5 miles of the Farmington Canal Greenway, from Cheshire to Southington. Work will begin on 1.8 miles of the trail this spring, Sitko said. The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection also paved way for redevelopment by reviewing and approv- ing plans and permits for remediation of soil contaminants at the site, Bashaw said. "To my knowledge," he said, "this is one of the first times that the Connecticut DEEP is using a comprehensive permitting program to address all federal and state environmen- tal cleanup requirements for a relatively small parcel that is being owned by a nonprofit. To date, these stewardship permits have been used at much larger, commercial facilities." Many of the other remediation projects involving DECD have focused on adaptive reuse in former textile mills sites throughout the state into commercial and housing space. • • • S. Green/hartford listing A historic home turned office building in Hartford's South Green neighborhood is on the sales block with a $700,000 asking price. The three-story brick building at 49-51 Wethersfield Ave., adjacent to Colt Park, has 7,088 square feet on the upper floors and 2,752 square feet of basement storage. Among its many interior-exterior details are a columned front entry; fireplaces with mantels, wainscotings, wood floors and cor- nice and crown moldings. The 0.348-acre site also has secure parking for 28 vehicles. Reno Properties Group LLC has the list- ing for the building it says is ideally suited for an accounting or legal practice, or as offices for a nonprofit organization. n Gregory Seay is the Hartford Business Journal News Editor. Gregory Seay Deal Watch Kevin Daly prepares to remove a sign atop one of the buildings at the Ball & Socket Mfg. Co. property he and his partners have acquired for redevelopment. 49-51 Wethersfield Ave., Hartford P H O T O s | C O n T r i b u T e d P H O T O | C O n T r i b u T e d To subscribe call (845) 267-3008 or go To www.HartfordBusiness.com G r e at e r H a r t f o r d ' s B u s i n e s s n e w s w w w. H a r t f o rd B u s i n e s s . c o m for more B2B news visit March 31, 2014 Volume 22, number 19 $3.00 subscribe online June 5, 2014 Only 10 weeks until C T B E x p o . c o m Index ■ Reporter's Notebook: PG. 5 ■ Week in Review: PG. 6 ■ The List: PG. 10 ■ Deal Watch: PG. 11 ■ Nonprofit Notebook: PG. 19 ■ Opinion & Commentary: PG. 20 Faces oF Business Main Street Mainstay Manchester's Bray Jewelers has survived for almost 100 years. Read about the family business' secrets to success and what makes customers keep coming back. PG. 3 Focus: economic DeveloPment Social Entrepreneurship Hartford business accelerator aims to nurture socially conscious businesses. PG. 8 Music copyright lawsuits cost restaurants unexpected thousands By Matt Pilon mpilon@HartfordBusiness.com A few years ago, nine songs were played inside Shelton's Vazzy's Cucina restaurant that ended up costing owners John Vazzano and Vincent L. Noce $18,000. That's because an agent of licensing giant Broadcast Music Inc., which represents the artists who owned the tracks, attested to being present when the tunes were played and sued Vazzano and Noce for copyright infringement, claiming the restaurant's music qualified as a public per- formance. Under federal copyright law, that meant the restaurant had to pay for the rights to play the songs, BMI said. Vazzano said he thinks a private party actually played the tunes. Broadcast Music Inc. • Founded in 1939 • Represents more than 600,000 songwriters and publishers with more than 8.5 million songs. • Distributed 85 cents of every dollar in licensing revenue in royalties — that amounted to $814 million in fiscal 2013. By Gregory Seay gseay@HartfordBusiness.com B y late May, the Corporation For Independent Living (CIL) expects to have in its hands title to the derelict Capewell Horse- nails factory in Hartford's South End in a bid to convert the idle eyesore into 72 apartments and an adjacent parcel into 24 affordable townhomes. If it does, it will open another fruit- ful chapter for a South End nonprofit that has leveraged — and exported — its talent as a group-home developer to shelter a diverse swath of central Connecticut's population. It, too, will be one of the final swan songs before the yearend retirement of its first and only chief executive. Since its launch in 1979 to finance, build, lease out — then ultimately give away — supportive shelter for thou- sands of the state's physically and mentally disabled, CIL has invested $458 million to construct or convert 2,205 dwelling units into shelter for 7,200 residents in Connecticut and Massachusetts. For at least a dozen years, CIL has applied that same skill set to its expand- ing for-profit realty development opera- tions that include Capewell, and a neigh- boring nonprofit-office-space cluster. In February, CIL announced it bought and will resume work on the $3.34 mil- lion Depot Crossing mixed-use project John Vazzano, owner of Vazzy's Cucina in Shelton, was upset when his restaurant had to pay $18,000 to settle a music copyright lawsuit. P h o t o | P a b l o R o b l e s Continued on page 16 Continued on page 15 Martin "Marty'' Legault, president and CEO, Corporation For Independent Living (CIL) With Legault, developer CIL soars as landlord Sued for a ong G r e at e r H a rt f o r d' s B u s i n e s s n e w s D e c e m b e r 22, 2014 w w w. H a rt f o r d B u s i n e s s. c o m V o l u m e 23 n u m B e r 5 $49.95 ECONOMIC F o r ecas t Find out what's ahead for Connecticut's economy in 2015 Gain insights into the industries that will drive or drag next year's economy Take a look back at the events, deals, and newsmakers that made headlines in 2014 « « « Subscribe You'll find it in print PDS has been meeting the needs of the construction industry since 1965. Our dedicated team of design and construction professionals welcomes the challenge of serving its past and future customers on their most demanding projects. The Eye Center | Hamden and West Haven, CT PDS Engineering & Construction served as General Contractor for interior renovations at two comprehensive medical and surgical eye care facilities located in southern Connecticut. All construction was completed while the spaces were fully occupied, including the demolition and replacement of existing interior finishes. 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