Hartford Business Journal

12 Hartford Business Journal • May 9, 2016 www.HartfordBusiness.com $1M industrial listing on N. Britain's John Downey Dr. A 34,000-square-foot New Britain commercial/industrial building is for sale at $1 million, brokers say. The building and its 3 acres at 151-167 John Downey Drive offers all public utili- ties, ample parking and is easily accessi- ble to Route 9, according to listing broker Reno Properties Group LLC. Built in 1971, the facility also contains 14-foot ceilings and individual and shared rear loading docks. According to Reno Properties, the building is currently broken up into five suites, ranging from 4,500 square feet up to 8,650 square feet. Of the suites, four are occupied. Two more, each with 4,500 square feet, are available. The owner occupies one of the spaces totaling 7,750 square feet and would con- sider signing a 3-year lease extension, the listing broker said. Pilot Air renews in East Granby Pilot Air Freight Corp. recently renewed its Airport Business Center lease in East Granby, brokers say. The freight-forwarder has occupied 16,320 square feet at 25-27 Kripes Road since 2000, according to sole lease broker Sentry Commercial. Airport Business Center (ABC) is a 64,800-square-foot, multi-tenant flex development whose owner is Airport Business Center III L.P. Commercial Property Advisors is ABC's manager. Brookdale Chatfield redo West Hartford's Brookdale Chatfield senior-living facility has set a June open- ing date for its $26.6 million renovation- expansion, and is accepting applications from new residents. The 75,000-square-foot expansion is creating 50 assisted-living apartments and 34 memory-care units for those liv- ing with Alzheimer's and dementia, said Rose Thomason, executive director of Brookdale Chatfield. Located at 1 Chatfield Drive, next door to the Corbin's Corner Shopping Center, Brookdale Chatfield's 117 independent- living apartments are getting a renovated entrance and a new bistro. Officials have previously said the expansion-makeover would add 40 new jobs at the facility. Starting in May, Brookdale Chatfield is scheduling tours and booking move-in dates for August, Thomason said. $790K Meriden listing A 29,000-square-foot mixed-use build- ing in Meriden is on the market with a $790,000 asking price. According to listing broker Reno Prop- erties Group LLC, the two-story brick- and-glass building on 0.6 acres is adjacent to the town's rail station and within walk- ing distance of city hall, the post office and the police station, and has redevelop- ment potential. Ex-Newington studio listed A 3,000-square-foot former fitness stu- dio is available in the McBride Plaza on the Berlin Turnpike in Newington, brokers say. The space formerly housed Lady Fit Studio, according to listing broker Reno Properties Group LLC. Thus, it's fully equipped with hardwood-floored, mir- rored studios; locker room; showers; laun- dry; massage; reception and office space. The rent is $12 per square foot, triple net, Reno said. n Deal Watch wants to hear from you. E-mail it, along with contact informa- tion to: gseay@HartfordBusiness.com. Gregory Seay is the Hartford Business Journal News Editor. Gregory Seay DEAL WATCH 151-167 John Downey Drive in New Britain. P H O T O | C O N T R I B U T E D P H O T O | L O O P N E T . C O M 25-27 Kripes Road, East Granby. Why Whole Foods CEO envies Trader Joe's By Patrick Gillespie CNNMoney W hole Foods founder and co-CEO John Mackey really envies his rival Trader Joe's. Not because Trader Joe's has many fans. Or because its Hawaiian shirt-wearing work- ers seem to have a lot of fun. What he envies is that Trader Joe's is a pri- vate company. "Companies have less incentive and moti- vation to go public," Mackey said during a panel discussion at the Milken Global Con- ference in Los Angeles. "I have great envy for some of my private competitors. Trader Joe's is a great example of a company that nobody knows anything about." Whole Foods is listed on a stock exchange and has to release quarterly earnings and dis- close a litany of information to the Securities & Exchange Commission. Mackey says publicly-traded companies are "under this microscope all the time." Whole Foods certainly has been under scrutiny. But the recent attention didn't have much to do with whether it was a public or private company. Last June, Whole Foods came under fire for overstating the weight of pre-packed goods and "systemically overcharging" customers for them. Whole Foods was investigated by New York City's Department of Consumer Affairs. It came after Whole Foods had already paid a fine in California on allegations of overcharg- ing customers there. Whole Foods first apologized for the New York pricing errors, saying they were unin- tentional. But it finally ended up paying a fine of $500,000. But regulation is just one hurdle for Whole Foods, which faces stiff competition from organic rivals like Trader Joe's and bigger supermarkets like Walmart and Costco. In September, in an effort to lower prices, Whole Foods announced it would cut 1,500 jobs. That strategy has yet to bear fruit: A report in March by Deutsche Bank analyst Karen Short found that a basket of 77 products was 21 per- cent cheaper at Trader Joe's than Whole Foods. Mackey and his co-CEO Walter Robb are determined to shake off the company's "Whole Paycheck" image. All the bad publicity has hurt. Since the New York allegations in June, Whole Foods' stock is down 30 percent. In the first quar- ter this year, Whole Foods same-store sales declined 1.8 percent compared to a year ago and profits declined about 6 percent. Still Mackey argues that the incentive to become a public company is dwindling fast: Why would big private companies like Uber and Trader Joe's want to open their books? "They fly under the radar largely and Whole Foods never does," Mackey said. "Everybody sees what we're doing. We can't see what our competitors are doing if they're private." Some agree. Blake Mycoskie, founder of Toms Shoes, spoke on the panel with Mackey and expressed little, if any, interest to take Toms public for now. "I don't have a desire to rush to go public," Mycoskie said after listening to Mackey's grievances. n Whole Foods has nine Connecticut locations, including two in West Hartford and one in Glastonbury. P H O T O | C N N M O N E Y Rendering of a renovated/expanded Brookdale Chatfield in West Hartford. R E N D E R I N G | C O N T R I B U T E D

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