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Postmaster: Please send address changes to: Hartford Business Journal P.O. Box 330, Congers, NY 10920-9894 www.copyright.com Noble REGISTER NOW! 2015 EMPLOYMENT LAW SEMINAR BOSTON HARTFORD NEW HAVEN STAMFORD WOBURN THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2015 8:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Hartford Marriott Downtown 200 Columbus Blvd Hartford, CT 06103 Join the Labor & Employment attorneys of Murtha Cullina for a seminar on practical solutions on the ins and outs of the employment process, how recent changes in the law have impacted that process, and what employers need to know to avoid legal issues. REGISTRATION & DETAILS Contact Jackie Rowe at jrowe@murthalaw.com or visit www.murthalaw.com • Unemployment Compensation Plans • Workplace Investigations • Leaves of Absence/FMLA • Hiring Foreign National Workers/Immigration-related issues • Cadillac Tax (Featuring Guest Speaker from Lockton) • Your Company's Retirement Plan • The Fair Labor Standards Act Additional Seminars September 24, 2015 - Trumbull, CT October 1, 2015 - Dedham, MA Visit www.murthalaw.com for details INDUSTRY INSIGHT MURTHA CULLINA LLP ATTORNEYS AT LAW MURTHALAW.COM ambitious goal to use Connecticut as their base to build their own regional gasoline/ food-service brand akin to bigger, more familiar names as Cumberland Farms and ExtraMart. So confident are they that a sixth gas sta- tion under construction in East Windsor also will house Noble Energy's corporate offices, which will relocate with four staffers from East Longmeadow, Mass. "Connecticut, as far as my business is con- cerned, offers the best business opportunity,'' Frisbie said recently, sitting inside his New Britain ice-cream parlor. "The barriers of entry are more challenging in Connecticut. But I'm willing to take on those challenges to be able to build my brand in the state.'' Site search Newington was actually their initial choice for their first gas station. Indeed, Fris- bie says he, through his Hunter Development property division, had all the approvals in hand to convert an existing station on the Berlin Turnpike. But the town inexplicably, he says, revoked at the last minute its approv- al for them to operate the station. Frustrated, the partners shopped other potential sites before settling on the former Guida family homestead at the corner of Farm- ington Avenue and Alexander Road/Slater Road. New Britain, too, was eager for any devel- opment at the corner that the city considers a "gateway'' site beyond the typical, multi-tenant strip shopping center, said William P. Carroll, the city's economic development officer. "We were looking for something special,'' Carroll said. It took just 18 months from city approval to construction to completion, and Frisbie says he hopes to move almost as quickly expand- ing Noble's presence in Hartford. It bought several years ago and revamped a gas station at 3250 N. Main St., in the city's north end. Frisbie says he also has acquired the gas station Noble ran under a lease from Shell Oil at Broad Street and Capitol Avenue, in the shadow of the State Capitol. Underground fuel tanks were recently replaced, and, even- tually, the store's interior-exterior will be refreshed with Noble's convenience-store/ gas pump layout and colors. However, Tammo says a five-year distri- bution pact requires that it continue buying fuel from Shell, meaning it could take another half-decade before Noble's green-and-white logo dawns at that location. Also pending is Noble's purchase of an existing service-station parcel in downtown Hartford, in the shadow of The Bushnell Per- forming Arts Center, that will be remade to sell Noble gasoline and Frisbie's ice cream, coffee and paninis. Frisbie declines to give the address and other specifics, citing a con- fidentiality pact with the parcel's seller. A gas station was high on the wish-list of down- town residents in a recent online survey. The pending downtown site and the mid- town station at Capitol Avenue and Broad Street are among four station sites under development in the state, Frisbie said. Noble's third station operates in Danbury. By owning its real estate, Frisbie says Noble Energy — and its realty affiliate, Hunt- er Development — has greater control over its operations and business fates, more so than if Noble was a tenant-operator. That way, Tammo said, "Nobody controls us.'' It's a lesson Frisbie and Tammo learned wrangling gas-station sites as regional real estate managers for Shell Oil Co.; Tammo oversaw clusters of stations for third-party owners. Frisbie says he later worked indepen- dently with regional gasoline-convenience outlet operators like Pride Convenience Inc., based in western Massachusetts, where Fris- bie grew up in Westfield. Now living in Ellington, Frisbie started as a financial analyst for Springfield insurer MassMutual. He later moved into procuring convenience-store sites. But the cross-coun- try travel and being away from his wife and four kids took their toll, and he decided to develop real estate for his own portfolio. Frisbie says that he and Tammo's collec- tive insights and experience into the business — plus pooling their equity to leverage bank financing to fund their operations — have enabled them to move swiftly with their expansion. They've also moved swiftly to ingratiate Noble Energy and Frisbie's with the sur- rounding neighborhood and the city. Fris- bie's employs more than two dozen local teens to make and scoop ice cream. The partners also erected a "Welcome to New Britain'' sign on their gas-station property. Both New Britain stores also stock Avery's brand soft drinks made locally. The aim of all that local focus, Frisbie says, was "to build something that was in keeping with the neighborhood. But I also wanted to give something back. I wanted to be able to point to it and say, 'That's what I do.' " n