Hartford Business Journal

12 Hartford Business Journal • January 30, 2017 www.HartfordBusiness.com Mooney family reaps $1.25M from E. Hfd. property sale A n East Hartford industrial property that for more than a century housed a local family's freight-forwarding and household-moving operations has sold for $1.25 million, brokers say. Teds Fourth LLC acquired the 155,890-square-foot facility on four acres at 225 Prospect St. from The Mooney Fam- ily LLC, according to sole broker Sentry Commercial. In 2013, Hartford Despatch, founded in 1906 as a trucking company that subse- quent owner E. B. Mooney later evolved into moving household furnishings, split off its household-moving business from its on-site storage operations. Two more generations of Mooneys have run the business since. $2.1M Cromwell sale A Torrington commercial contractor and building-products vendor recently purchased for $2.1 million a leased Crom- well office-warehouse and companion self- storage facility as investments, brokers say. O&G Industries bought the 28,800- square-foot warehouse/office building and the 69-unit, 10,000-square-foot Cromwell Secure Self-Storage, both at 50 Sebethe Drive, from Sebethe Drive Partners LLC, said seller's broker O,R&L Commercial LLC. $795K Manchester listing A 13,034-square-foot Manchester industrial-warehouse building is on the market at $795,000, brokers say. The 29-year-old building, with 2,300 square feet of offices, two dock doors and one drive-in door, sits on 1.22 acres at 23 Sanrico Drive, according to listing broker Sentry Commercial. Last fall, a 41,000-square-foot industrial building at 118 Sanrico Drive that swim- ming-pool equipment retailer NAMCO used as a warehouse drew a $1.375 million sale price from buyer Sanrico RP Realty LLP. $275K Berlin sale A Southington vendor that provides a safe environment for coordinating educational, rehabilitative, and support- ive services to healthcare professionals has acquired a Berlin office building for $275,000, brokers say. Health, Assistance, Intervention, Educa- tion Network for Connecticut Health Pro- fessionals Inc. bought the 2,976-square-foot building at 1210 Mill St. in the town's East Ber- lin section from seller 1210 Mill Street LLC. Sentry Commercial represented the seller and CBRE-New England represent- ed the buyer in this transaction. Favrah picks designer Farmington architects Don Hammer- berg Associates has been hired to design two build- ings for the non- profit Favarh's Canton campus. The $3.5 million project involves design of a 7,500- square-foot day- program and transportation hub at 100 Commerce Drive. It also requires reno- vation of an adjacent 12,500-square-foot warehouse at 150 Commerce into class- rooms, recreation space and a teaching kitchen, said Favarh Executive Director Stephen E. Morris. Both buildings will connect with Favarh's headquarters at 225 Commerce, and another day-program facility on Can- ton Springs Road. Favarh supports peo- ple with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Pending land-use approvals from the town, construction is expected to start this summer, with completion in late 2018. Morris noted this project is sepa- rate from a Favarh proposal recently approved by the town for 40 units of affordable housing, including 10 units specifically designed for Favarh partici- pants. The site for these units is also on Commerce Drive. 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 225 Prospect St., East Hartford. The office-warehouse and self-storage facilities at 50 Sebethe Drive, Cromwell. 23 Sanrico Drive, Manchester. 1210 Mill St., Berlin. P H O T O | 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 P H O T O | C O N T R I B U T E D P H O T O S | C O N T R I B U T E D Budget panel backs deal to stretch out spiking CT pension costs The legislature's Appropriations Committee issued a dual-endorsement last week of a new plan that would allow Connecticut to defer bil- lions of dollars in required contributions to the state employees' pension fund until after 2032. Senators on appropriations endorsed it 10-2, while representatives voted 30-10 in favor. Because of a technicality in the way the legislature considers labor agreements, the committee's senators and representatives have to vote separately on the deal. The votes represent only an endorsement, not approval, by the committee members. House and Senate leaders have said they expect the deal to be brought up for a vote before their respective members on Feb. 1. But several Republican lawmakers who endorsed the deal, as well as a few Demo- crats, also encouraged Gov. Dannel P. Mal- loy's administration to secure more tradition- al concessions from unions — such as higher worker contributions toward pensions, and reduced benefits. These changes, they said, would complement a deal that, while mitigat- ing costs to taxpayers over the next 15 years, still would shift $14 billion to $21 billion in costs onto future taxpayers after 2032. In recent years, House and Senate Repub- licans have recommended some new restric- tions on the pension program, including removing overtime earnings from pension cal- culations and requiring all workers to contrib- ute 4 percent of their pay toward this benefit. – Keith Phaneuf | Connecticut Mirror CT lawmakers advocating for $15 minimum wage Connecticut lawmakers are proposing to gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, despite this year's bump up. State Rep. James Albis (D-East Haven), 37 other state representatives and six state senators have introduced the bill in the General Assembly. House Bill No. 6456 would raise the minimum wage on Jan. 1, 2018, to $11 an hour from its new level of $10.10 an hour, followed by successive annual increases that bring it up to $15 an hour by 2022. The legislation is currently in the Labor and Public Employees committee. – Patricia Daddona Malloy continues to prep CT for lean budget Gov. Dannel P. Malloy continued to set expectations last week for his upcoming state budget proposal, hinting at a lean plan that avoids major tax hikes and realigns municipal aid in favor of distressed cities. But the governor, who has kept his budget cards close to the vest, also would not promise that overall aid to municipalities would stay constant or grow as it has throughout most of his tenure. Malloy, who must work with lawmakers to close pro- jected deficits of $1.4 billion next fiscal year and $1.6 billion in 2018-19, also stressed that fixed retirement benefit costs — including payments on behalf of communities into a municipal teachers' pension program — are spiking after decades of insufficient funding. Required contributions to the teachers' and state employees' pension funds com- bined will grow $360 million next fiscal year, Malloy told a crowd of more than 100 gath- ered in the Capitol for the 16th annual bud- get forum sponsored by Connecticut Voices for Children, a progressive public-policy and social-services advocacy group. And about 80 percent of those pen- sion contributions aren't tied to benefits for current workers, but rather are needed to com- pensate for contributions not made, or investment earnings not achieved, in the past. The governor and his budget director, Ben Barnes, both have said they believe major tax hikes to close the projected deficits would be particu- larly harmful to Connecticut's economy. They also have said it would be difficult to close the projected deficits — which represent gaps of about 8 percent in the General Fund — without reducing overall aid to cities and towns. – Keith Phaneuf | Connecticut Mirror CAPITOL BIZ Gov. Dannel P. Malloy speaking to business leaders. P H O T O | H B J F I L E

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