Hartford Business Journal

16 Hartford Business Journal • November 14, 2016 www.HartfordBusiness.com 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 from page 1 Rebooting the old Ames site is a goal unemployment rate — which never exceeded 7 percent during the Great Recession — repu- tation for good schools, central location, low property-tax rate and land-use boards and local government eager to embrace reasonable development, have all played a major role in the town's steady growth since the Great Recession. That Rocky Hill, a predominately white- collar, "bedroom community'' eight miles south of Hartford, beat out larger Connecti- cut cities and more affluent towns, such as Hartford, Farmington, Stamford and West Hartford, was unexpected, he said. The state's two-year-old Connecticut Town Economic Index, from the state Department of Labor's Office of Research, reported in Octo- ber that Rocky Hill's 29.5 percent growth rate from 2010 to 2015 ranked it No. 1 in central Connecticut and fifth among all 169 cities and towns, making it one of the fastest-growing communities in the state. North Stonington led with 36.6 percent, followed by Kent (+32.1 percent), Eastford (+31.2 percent), and Canaan (+30.2 percent). The state's data, which takes into account such economic metrics as average wages, num- ber of business establishments, unemployment and employment rates, bears out what many Rocky Hill residents have recognized anecdot- ally for some time: Their town — home to five business parks, 526 lodging rooms and some 1,300 businesses employing an estimated 17,000 people — is on the move. The latest evidence of Rocky Hill's good economic fortunes is the sprawling Town Cen- ter West development, with the Montage Apart- ments complex about to open at the corner of Cromwell Avenue/Route 3 and West Street. Fronting the apartment community on Route 3, is a 70,000-square-foot retail center under construction that will house a new location for Carbone's Kitchen restaurant, as well as a new 2,000-square-foot branch home for Citizens Bank, which has an existing sat- ellite directly opposite Town Center West, on Cromwell Avenue/Route 3. Farther up West Street, in the Corporate Ridge development, several new buildings have sprung up, one housing the relocated Connecticut operations of German manu- facturer Arburg SA. In 2011, Burris Logistics, which supplies BJ's Wholesale stores in the region, bought the former Gardner Nursery property to build its refrigerated distribution center employing 208 workers, officials said. The Connecticut State Lottery, Chief State's Attorney Office, Connecticut Innovations and the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority have Rocky Hill headquarters. Growing jobs The town's population is a diverse mix, Car- pentino said. Its residents are executives, busi- ness owners and other "white-collar'' profession- als. A growing slice of its population are of Indian and Asian descent. It, too, has blue-collar resi- dents, some of whom live below the poverty line. It's been the ability of Rocky Hill's employers to retain and create new jobs for its residents and non-residents that has ranked it No. 5 in 2014 and 2015 among communities in the state for its economic growth, according to state Labor Department economist Patrick Flaherty. "Of all the four indicators," tracked by the agency's second annual municipal index rank- ing, "it was the number of jobs that worked in their favor,'' Flaherty said. "It increased significantly more than the statewide average.'' According to labor department research, Rocky Hill counted 16,801 jobs in 2015, a 3.6 percent gain from 2014. By comparison, Connecticut's total 2015 employment was an anemic 0.6 percent greater than a year earlier. But little of that is news to long-time resi- dents like retired Realtor Larrye deBear, who moved to Rocky Hill 20 years ago. As chair of the town's economic development commis- sion, deBear says his community is the bene- ficiary of a new round of economic expansion taking root in suburban Hartford. "Since the late 1990s, early 2000s, the inner-ring communities have developed,'' deBear said, pointing to towns that directly border Hartford, such as West Hartford, Wethersfield and Bloomfield. "Those commu- nities are pretty much built out. The second ring [of communities] around Hartford are developing. Farmington, Plainville, Crom- well, Rocky Hill, Berlin are the next ring." Rocky Hill's rapid growth hasn't come with- out some extra pressure and cost to residents. On Election Day, town residents approved a referendum to bond $45 million to build a third elementary school to accommodate a project- ed continued rise in grade-school enrollment. It's no coincidence that two of Rocky Hill's largest property taxpayers are apartment com- munities — the 940-unit Century Hills Apart- ments, with $38 million of assessed value, and the 400-unit The Glenbrook At Rocky Hill apartments, assessed at $24 million. The town's inventory of single-family housing covers a broad swath, Carpentino said, ranging from the low-$100,000s to more than $1 million. "We're not affluent like Simsbury or Avon,'' he said, "but the average home is close to $250,000 to $300,000." Planning for the future Recently, Rocky Hill hired the town-based Connecticut Economic Research Center (CERC) to conduct a $12,000 inventory of the town's economic and development assets, and to recommend an action plan for promot- ing those assets for growth. "It's really to focus on industries that would grow in the town,'' said Courtney Hen- dricson, a former economic-development official in Enfield and Farmington who is CERC's vice president of municipal services. "Also, the town wants to identify which retail it has too much of and not enough of.'' "A lot of these towns are doing similar efforts,'' Hendricson said, "but I would say Rocky Hill stands out as a town that's leveraging Rocky Hill's Key Economic Performance Metrics Rocky Hill Statewide Average 2010 2015 % Change 2010 2015 % Change Average Wages $57,825.0 $73,651.0 27% $59,463 $65,517 10% Business Establishments 827 904 9% 111,294 116,468 5% Unemployment Rate 7.0 4.2 -40% 9.1 5.6 -38% Average Employment 13,361 16,801 26% 1,596,050 1,662,800 4% Current Mill Rate 31 S O U R C E : C T D E P T . O F L A B O R

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