The
insurance and investment company, which currently leases facilities in New
Hartford at 4401 Middle Settlement
Road and 8364 Seneca Turnpike, plans to
consolidate into one new building.
NEW
HARTFORDOFFICE PARK
* The
New Hartford Office Group LLC, an affiliate of the Cameron Group LLC, a
Syracuse-based development firm, is moving ahead with plans to develop the NewHartfordOffice Park.
* The property is bordered by Woods
Highway, Seneca Turnpike and Route 840. When its
developer proposed the project to the town of New
Hartford's Planning Board in January 2006, the office park called
for developing about 120 acres of vacant land behind PARTechnologyPark.
* The $25 million project's plans included building up to 50 office buildings
for tenants, including doctors, lawyers and insurance companies, as well as
the creation of a road to connect Woods Highway with Route 840.
* An application for a break in access to Route 840 was submitted by the town
of New Hartford to the Utica
office of the state's Department of Transportation, which has recommended it
for review by the state office in Albany, said
Alice Romanych, spokeswoman at the Utica
office.
* The Hartford
insurance company will be the first tenant to break ground in the park. The
Ryan Companies is purchasing 13.5 acres and building a 120,000-square-foot to
150,000-square-foot building for The Hartford, which will lease the building
it plans to occupy by late 2008.
* The price for developing the office park could double to $50 million,
especially since The Hartford project is a $23 million investment, said Larry
Adler, who is a principal in the New Hartford Office Group LLC and the
Cameron Group LLC.
* Costello Eye Physicians & Surgeons and Mohawk Valley Urology will build
a 15,000 square foot to 25,000-square-foot building that could house three
doctor offices in the office park. They will likely break ground this spring
in order to open in the fall, Adler said.
“This
is a great kickoff to the office park,” said Larry Adler, who is a principal in
The New Hartford Office Group and Cameron.
The
New Hartford Office Group LLC, an affiliate Syracuse-based development firm
Cameron Group LLC, owns the 120 acres that will be developed as the office
park. The property is bordered by Woods
Highway, Seneca Turnpike and Route 840. The
Hartford’s new site will
occupy about 13.5 acres along Route 840, Adler said.
Last
year, the New Hartford Town Planning Board approved a final site plan for the
first phase of the office park, but said an access road from
Woods Highway needed to be built for
subsequent phases.
Adler
wants to connect the road to Route 840 from an exit off the highway.
That application for a break in access to Route 840 was submitted by the town
to the Utica office of the state’s Department of
Transportation, which has recommended it for review by the state office in
Albany, said Alice Romanych, spokeswoman at the
Utica office.
The
Hartford, which has 689 employees, is part of
The Hartford Financial Services Group, which is based in Hartford, Conn.
The
new building in New Hartford will be between 120,000 square feet and 150,000
square feet, said Shawna Papale, executive director of the Oneida County
Industrial Development Agency.
The
Ryan Companies U.S. Inc., based in Minneapolis,
will construct the building on 13.5 acres it is purchasing from the New
Hartford Office Group, then lease the building to The Hartford.
Ryan
will begin construction today and expects the project to be finished by Nov. 1,
2008, said Ryan Soukup, project manager at Ryan Companies.
The Hartford
plans to open at the new location in late 2008, according to company
spokeswoman Debora Raymond.
The
project is estimated to cost $23 million, including an estimated $15 million to
construct the building, Papale said.
The
Oneida County Industrial Development Agency’s board of directors Thursday
granted preliminary approval of a tax relief package for the project.
The
development agency approved a 10-year payment in lieu of taxes program, or
PILOT, that will allow one-third of the property taxes to be paid for the first
five years and two-thirds to be paid for the remaining five years.
The
agency also granted a sales tax exemption, on construction materials and
equipment, that is valued at an estimated $700,000.
The
tax relief package is tied to the company maintaining 689 jobs for the 10-year
period.
“The
finance, insurance, real estate cluster is one that we want to see growth
opportunities for,” said Papale, who said
The Hartford is one of the area’s biggest companies in terms of pay and
employees.
The average salary at the company is in the mid-$40,000s, she said.
A
public hearing on the tax relief program will be at 9 a.m. Friday, Nov. 2, at
the NewHartfordCommunity Center
on Kellogg Road.
The development agency is scheduled to vote on final approval Wednesday, Nov.
7.