Subject:
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LEGO (Enfield, CT) property being marketed as biz park
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.mediawatch, lugnet.general
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Date:
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Wed, 8 Apr 2009 22:55:00 GMT
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Viewed:
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17516 times
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Enfield, CT
April 8, 2009
LEGO property being marketed as biz park.
Danish-based toy maker LEGO Group’s vacant Enfield factory and warehouse are
being marketed by their new owners as the Enfield Business Park in an effort to
lure industry to the site.
LEGO ended all manufacturing at its Enfield plant in 2000, farming that work out
to its plants overseas, and in 2006 it closed its huge distribution center as
well. That left only the North American headquarters corporate functions in
Enfield.
But according to a joint announcement Tuesday from town officials and Hackman
Capital Partners, one of the members of a joint venture that now owns the
buildings, the site is a prime prospect for new occupants, despite the current
state of the economy.
“This is a tremendous space, exceptional architecture in a prime location with a
highly skilled work force,” Michael Hackman, founder and CEO of California-based
Hackman Capital Partners said. “This site is one of the most cost-effective in
most of the country, and certainly unmatched in the Northeast.”
In addition to Hackman Capital, the newly dubbed Enfield Business Park is owned
through a joint venture including California-based KBS Real Estate Investment
Trust and Massachusetts-based Calare Properties. Enfield Business Park is
currently leasing space at 300 Shaker Road and 555 Taylor Road in Enfield,
according to Hackman.
The former LEGO distribution center features “one of the highest clearances in
the region - 48-foot ceilings - which made it possible for the toy maker to
stack 40,000 pallets at one time, utilizing much of the 20 million cubic feet of
space,” he said.
“Of the available space, the bulk is prime warehouse and distribution space,
which besides the high ceilings boasts 56 dock doors, as well as easy access to
Interstate 91 and Bradley International Airport in nearby Windsor Locks,”
Hackman added.
Also in Tuesday’s statement, Raymond L. Warren, director of Enfield’s Economic
Development Department, said that the town “is eager to see the campus
rejuvenated by the presence of new and different businesses.”
Warren also said that the town “remains committed to quickly approving new
projects, same as when LEGO plans were approved 35 years ago.”
LEGO has had a presence in Enfield for 35 years.
Since 2006 the company has laid off 250 of its 650 workers Enfield - roughly 44
percent - and also sold its Enfield buildings and leased back space in some of
them for its operations, which are the company’s North American headquarters.
LEGO also closed its Enfield packaging operation, subcontracting all
warehousing, packaging, and distribution to the Flextronics Corp., an
international company based in Singapore.
LEGO sold the Enfield buildings for $58.88 million in December 2006. The company
signed a long-term lease on buildings that it will continue to occupy, which
include Compass House on Taylor Road and a small building on Print Shop Road,
company officials said at the time of the sale. The LEGO Creative Childcare
Center remained in the small building at the corner of Moody and Taylor Roads.
All of the warehousing and packing work previously done in Enfield was
subcontracted to Flextronics Corp., which handles the work at its plant in
Juarez, Mexico.
Distribution of North American products also has been subcontracted to Exel
Inc., a wholly owned entity of Germany’s Deutsche Post World. LEGO products are
now distributed from Exel’s new warehouse in Texas.
Also, LEGO direct-to-consumer sales division entered a partnership in 2006 with
PFSweb Inc. to fill Internet orders of LEGO products from its catalog and online
store.
In 2008, the LEGO Group changed its production arrangements, phasing out a
subcontracting agreement with Flextronics that it entered into in 2006, and
taking over two factories, one each in Juarez, Mexico and Nyiregyhaza, Hungary.
The Juarez production was moved to a new site in Monterrey, Mexico.
http://www.journalinquirer.com/articles/2009/04/08/business/doc49dce2a50166e248532857.txt
-end of report-
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