EMCOR tops list of specialty contractors
EMCOR Group Inc. held onto the No. 1 position on a ranking of the top specialty contractors in the country, published by the Engineering News Record.
As the case in 2010, Norwalk-based EMCOR edged out Quanta Services Inc. of Houston on the ENR survey.
Norwalk maintains HVAC, electric and other facility systems on an outsourced basis for owners. In the third quarter, EMCOR earned $32.3 million as sales shot up 21 percent to $1.5 billion.
In October, the company sponsored several gatherings throughout the country to mark National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, featuring “human pink ribbons” of workers wearing pink hard hats.
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Report: DRS to expand
DRS Technologies reportedly is expanding its Danbury plant, months after initiating layoffs at a Bridgeport factory that made electric generators for the U.S. military.
DRS is adding 40,000 square feet of space to its facility on South Street, which has about 65,000 square feet of space, according to the Danbury News Times. The newspaper cited Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton saying the company could add as many as 70 jobs over five years at its South Street facility.
DRS makes power plant control systems in Danbury.
Cytec in lease-back deal
Cytec Industries sold off a research and development facility at 1937 W. Main St. in Stamford for $11 million, with an agreement to lease back portions of the building for seven years.
Woodland, N.J.-based Cytec sells specialty chemicals and materials. The company also has a location in Wallingford.
Cytec said the Stamford facility had a carrying value of $32.5 million at the time of the sale and that it cannot recognize the sale on its books until it has completed environmental remediation measures. The building was once the main research lab for American Cyanamid.
Construction jobs drop
Connecticut builders cut an estimated 1,600 jobs in September, a 3.2 percent drop according to estimates by the U.S. Department of Labor, capping a string of employment increases four straight months.
The Labor Department estimated construction employment at 48,600 jobs, down 1.8 percent from September 2010. The real estate leasing sector had a slight gain in September, but remains off its year-ago job count by 2.1 percent.
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Hubbell land sold
Hubbell Inc. sold more than 370 acres of company property to the town of Orange where it formerly was based, a year after relocating its headquarters to Shelton.
The town paid $7.1 million for the land. Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT, which represented Hubbell in the transaction along with USI, said it was the largest land sale in the state of Connecticut the past two years.
Hubbell”™s former headquarters complex remains on the market for just under $7 million, totaling 70,000 square feet of space and a parking garage on more than 45 acres abutting the Merritt Parkway.
Rugby buys Shelton offices
An affiliate of Rugby Realty Co. bought a commercial office building on eight acres at 889 Bridgeport Ave. in Shelton.
Washington Trust said it provided a $2 million mortgage in the acquisition of the building, which has two floors and more than 55,000 square feet of space.
Rugby Realty is co-developer of Fairfield Metro Center, a mixed-use development in Fairfield originally slated for more than 1 million square feet of space.
Construction costs flatten
Prices on construction materials flattened in September, according to a trade group index, but remain up more than 8 percent from a year ago, with builders absorbing much of those costs.
The Associated General Contractors of America said the discrepancy is putting many contractors nationally at risk of going under.
The cost of diesel fuel edged up again in September, and is now up nearly 40 percent from a year ago.
