Turnover In Many Ways
In Connecticut

The business advantage in Connecticut begins with market proximity and educational attainment levels. It continues with a corporate tax rate lowered to 7.5-percent and a high-technology company property tax exemption of up to 6 percent. And it includes a unique tax credit exchange program and a net operating loss carry-forward period that has been extended from five to 20 years.
        In October 2003, after acquiring Connecticut-founded firm Torrington Co. earlier in the year, The Timken Co. announced it would sell its 190-employee Standard Plant in Torrington, Conn., to another Connecticut-based firm, Roller Bearing Co. of America Inc. (RBC). It was all part of a traditional post-merger operations review as Ohio-based Timken seeks to integrate functions and competencies throughout the 29 countries in which its 28,000 employees work. But the new owner, based in Fairfield, was ready to roll.
        "We are the right company to buy the airframe business at the Standard Plant," said Michael J. Hartnett, president and CEO of RBC. "The business complements our own line of products for the aerospace industry. We are committed to making the Standard Plant competitive and profitable."
        Not so for the vast majority of southeast Connecticut manufacturers, who saw the region's defense industry employment drop by around 20,000 in the past decade while tourism and entertainment filled about the same number of jobs, at significantly less pay.
        A February 2004 search of the state site database for larger industrial properties turned up 24 sites, with the largest being a 562-acre (227-hectare) site at the New England Tradeport in Windsor, asking $100,000 per acre ($40,470 per hectare) and requiring an environmental assessment. A similarly priced 430-acre (174-hectare) Pratt & Whitney site is being offered up by longtime Connecticut corporate resident United Technologies Corp. (UTC). Designated as an Industrial Design Development District, the property at Rentschler Field in East Hartford pays taxes of some $137,000, and also carries the burden of an "unknown" environmental assessment. At the opposite end of the price spectrum, a 400-acre (162-hectare) industrial site in Willington, at Exit 71 of I-84, is going for $3 million.
        One industrial park on the make is Putnam Industrial Park, 25 minutes south of the Massachusetts Turnpike on I-395 in the northeast corner of the state. Only 45-percent occupied, the park's enterprise zone includes an 80-percent, five-year abatement on both real and personal property taxes, with up to a 50-percent, 10-year credit on state corporate business taxes. In addition, Putnam makes loan funds available to companies whose location or expansion would result in the creation or retention of jobs available to low/moderate income persons. The funds can be used for land acquisition, equipment and working capital.
        Perhaps one of the more attractive parcels in the state is on the banks of the Thames River just off Long Island Sound. Brewster Point Corporate Center is a 470-acre (190-hectare) site, including an enterprise zone, just north of I-95 and near I-395 in Norwich. It's master planned to accommodate a mix of office, manufacturing and R&D, but is also available to a single corporate user. And not only does it have a Phase 2 environmental assessment, it has a rail spur as well, plus all utilities in place.