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www.HartfordBusiness.com September 26, 2016 • Hartford Business Journal 3 FACES OF BUSINESS Valente is Hartford's paper records archivist By Stan Simpson O n the office wall of Frank Valente Jr.'s Laurel Street office is a framed original blueprint, circa 1860, of an insur- ance company's fire sprinkler system. Near that artifact is a framed original front page of The Connecticut Courant (later to be known as The Hartford Courant) from Sept. 24, 1798. For 35 years, Valente's business — Capitol Archives and Record Storage — has carved a niche as a Hartford-based records storage and management com- pany, cataloging such things as medical records, wills, original documents, account- ing files and computer tapes. As the company evolved, it included paper-shredding ser- vices, document restoration and a full-service copy center to its port- folio. Its clients include lawyers, doctors, hospitals, insurance com- panies, banks and architectural firms — entities that need a place to store important paper work. "I love pediatricians,'' boomed Valente, a burly man with close- cropped gray hair and a goatee. "Because they have to keep their charts for 28 years — 18 years and 10 more after they leave. Give me all the pediatricians in the world." Pediatrics wasn't exactly the sector Valente's father, Frank Valente Sr., was looking for in the 1970s. In 1977, the father, who worked in construction and was a cabi- net maker, purchased the bank- owned building on Laurel Street with the intention of setting up a wood-working company. The following year, Valente Sr. decided to turn the 100,000-square- foot building into a "You Store It" warehouse operation, renting out space to individuals who needed storage. Capitol Archives and Record Storage was officially launched in 1981. Later, another 100,000-square-foot storage facility was purchased on Wind- sor Street a few miles away. Today, the company has about 500,000 boxes stored in 2 million cubic feet of storage space. "When I started, you could give me a customer's name and a box number and I could tell you where it was in the building," Valente, 57, said. An automated-computer sys- tem, with bar codes and digital mapping, handles those duties now. "My motto is I want to make it feel like your file never left your office," Valente said. "That's how we service our customers. I'm saving customers a lot of money by keeping the records here.'' The business generates about $1 million in revenue; with storage costs ranging from $20 to $3,000 a month, depending on the number Continued DESIGN/BUILD SOLUTIONS…ONE SOURCE 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 50 years, our clients have trusted us to manage projects from concept to completion. We are experts in: Design/Build Pre-Construction Services LEED Capabilities 860.871.1111 Toll Free: 800.741.6367 nemsi.com License #'s: E1-104939 • S1-302974 • P1-203519 • F1-10498 • SM1-192 • MC-1134 MECHANICAL • ELECTRICAL • PLUMBING • SHEET METAL • BUILDING AUTOMATION • FACILITIES SERVICES 196 6-2016 196 6-2016 P H O T O | S T E V E L A S C H E V E R Frank Valente Jr. said the digital revolution will reduce but not eliminate the need for paper document storage, meaning his Hartford company — Capitol Archives and Record Storage — still has a future. Stan Simpson