A local commercial developer is looking to build about 90,000 square feet of space in Glastonbury for small construction businesses, contractors and tradesmen.
Rich Rotundo and business partner Butch James plan to put up nine buildings of about 10,000 square feet each that will be divided to serve plumbers, electricians, small general contractors and similar businesses.
The concept for the Glastonbury Pro-Park is similar to what Carrier Construction wants to build at the Bristol Business Hub, which it envisions as a contractors office park along Route 229 in Bristol.
In both cases the developers are looking to create a series of commercial condominiums to sell or lease to small contractors and tradespeople who need storage areas, office room and garage space, but not on the scale of large contractor with fleets of vehicles.
“This will be available for guys who have too much equipment to store at home,” Rotundo said Monday. “Some businesses might need a little office or storefront space. I have a tile company going in that wants a small showroom area. We also have an electrician, a plumber, an HVAC company signed up already.”
Rotundo’s company specializes in commercial construction, and has completed two dozen medical and dental offices from Trumbull to Simsbury.
In addition, Rotundo built a much smaller version of the Pro-Park project 23 years ago on Rocky Hill’s Brook Street. The five-unit Contractor’s Plaza has operated successfully as a commercial condo operation geared toward small contractors and trades businesses, and his Rotundo Developers LLC is headquartered there.
Pro-Park will be vastly larger, hosting dozens of small commercial businesses connected to the the construction and building maintenance industries.
The project is planned for an 8.8-acre property on Sequin Drive in the town’s Addison section. The site is near the end of Sequin, and is zoned for industrial use. It’s surrounded by other commercial uses in three directions, and the Dutton Place condominiums in the fourth.
James and Rotundo, operating as Glastonbury Pro-Park LLC, have a contract to buy the land. They anticipate that each of the nine buildings would house anywhere from one to five companies, so ultimately the property could become home to as many as 45 small businesses.
“A user could be a plumbing company that would be able to store their materials inside the units, have a small office, and park their employees’ and company vehicles on-site,” according to a Jan. 5 letter to the Town Plan and Zoning Commission from the law firm of Alter, Pearson & Hope, which is representing Pro-Park.
Commercial condo parks for small contractors have been popular with some town governments because they reduce the number of homeowner complaints about commercial vehicles parked regularly in residential zones.
Carrier proposed the Bristol project last year. It paid the city $625,000 for a 15-acre site along Route 229, but the company can use only part of it because of extensive wetlands.
Carrier was the only company to propose a plan for developing the site where it now plans to construct the seven-building business park over the next three years or so.
“My family has a couple of these small industrial parks; one is Plainville. It’s been built out for at least 10 years,” said Ryan Carrier, an executive in the family-owned Carrier business, said.
Several of Carrier’s own subcontractors were interested in spaces there, he said.
“There’s such a need for these small contractor garages that nobody moves out. It’s not like a residential building where people move in and out, there’s been a waiting list for people to get into our park in Plainville for more than a decade,” Carrier said.