Shelton keeps steady

Shelton has shaken off a year marked by a relentless recession, downsizing and federal indictments by focusing on the positive ”“ new construction, commercial expansion and corporate growth.

“This community has been growing at a steady rate for about five years now,” said Bill Purcell, president of the Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce in Shelton.

“Fortunately, we didn”™t have a lot of downswing during the recession. It has really become a desirable place to do business.”

Also adding to Shelton”™s cachet are its location, lower rents and investments by developers such a Robert D. Scinto, whose name is synonymous with the town.

While he awaits sentencing for lying to the FBI in connection with a federal corruption probe, the chairman of R.D. Scinto Inc. has begun construction on two projects on Waterview Drive.

One is a multi-tenant, three-floor corporate center with 675,000 square feet of space. The other is a 70,000-square-foot facility at 50 Waterview, directly below his building, the Hubbell Inc. headquarters. The project is expected to create nearly 550 jobs.

“We”™re really doing some building out there,” Scinto said in an interview last week. “The construction is under way; we”™re moving the ground as we speak.”

Scinto”™s son, Robert A. Scinto, the company”™s COO, has become more and more visible, often by his father”™s side at press events and corporate functions.

“It”™s a great project we have going on down there,” Robert A. Scinto said. “We”™ll be pouring concrete in a matter of days.”

R.D. Scinto owns and operates more than 30 commercial property buildings and 2.9 million square feet of office and industrial space in Fairfield County, with more than 235 commercial tenants in Shelton, Trumbull, Fairfield and Wilton. The R.D. Scinto property portfolio is in excess of $250 million. The company is the largest owner of corporate space in Shelton.

”˜A really great corporate image”™

In addition to Scinto, other developers have continued construction as commercial tenants consider the town a prime location.

The Planning and Zoning Commission recently rezoned 13 acres of the former Crabtree auto dealership property along Bridgeport Avenue for retail development by construction and development company Monty Blakeman Construction.

CEO Monty Blakeman has yet to disclose any tenants, but said the plans are for a commercial development with space enough to include a grocery store.

One of the larger new companies to move its headquarters to Shelton has been Lex Products Corp.

“Lex is an example of one of the many companies who outgrew their space lower in the county and was able to utilize the space available in Shelton,” Purcell said. “As companies seek greater value and ease of doing business they gravitate here. Lex has already made significant investments.”

Mike Scala, senior vice president of operations at Lex, said the company, which provides power distribution to the entertainment and military industries, came north from Stamford because of its growth.

“We looked up the (Interstate) 95 corridor as far north as Bridgeport and south as Stamford and there were no products that could meet our need,” Scala said. “We were looking for between 50,000 and 80,000 square feet and Shelton had available product and the ability to grow on top of that. We are currently looking at either expanding on our current building or leasing more space in Shelton. Shelton has the ability to give you a really great corporate image, between the building”™s look, the landscaping. You”™re more challenged in Bridgeport and Stamford to create the image you want to portray.”

Since coming to Shelton, Lex has added 30 employees to its existing 160. Scala said the new location has given the company the capacity to keep that kind of hiring going, holding about five interviews with candidates every week.

The situation was similar for Perkin Elmer, which recently signed on for 10 more years in Shelton, after consolidating its operations from Wilton and Norwalk.

Among others, Shelton has over the past few years become home to the corporate offices of Bic, Hubbell, United Rentals, Prudential, New Castle Hotel Corp., Sikorsky, Dianon and Energizer.

Hospitality sector finds room to grow

On the other side of the city in downtown Shelton, Inline Plastics Corp., maker of plastic food containers, has received an $800,000 state loan to expand and improve its operations. The company said it is using the money for additional equipment and hiring 18 people.

A major loss in 2010 for the Shelton corporate stable has been that of health insurance provider HealthNet, which was sold to United Healthcare and is undergoing a two-year dismantling process, leaving in excess of 750 people jobless. The company will also leave behind a three-building campus and freestanding parking structure.

Purcell, who is conducting job-training classes for HealthNet staffers, said the one blessing is that health care is very much a growth field. “It”™s not a saving grace, but it puts them in a better position,” Purcell said.

Hotels continue to follow the influx of corporations with major renovations. Shelton-based New Castle Hotels and Resorts has renovated the Hilton Garden Inn and is overhauling the former Holiday Inn Express and Suites at 695 Bridgeport Ave., which is expected to open by July as a Hampton Inn. According to Julie Bisignano, sales manager with the hotel, the renovation will cost $6 million.

The Residence Inn by Marriott has also begun the preliminary stages of an extensive renovation this year planned to start April 1.

The Hotel Sierra is the newest of the Shelton hotels, of which there are six along the three-mile Bridgeport Avenue strip.

“We”™re the new kids in town and this town has steady growth,” said Yolande Lacan, general manager of the Hotel Sierra.

“We hope to be the go to place for visitors looking for something a bit different than your average hotel,” Lacan said.

The hotel was developed by James Botti, who is serving a six-year prison sentence after being convicted of honest services mail fraud, structuring bank deposits and conspiracy to structure in regard to a corruption scandal in Shelton.