A Connecticut developer is looking to buy three Milford properties owned by Subway and build a new multibuilding industrial campus for an auto-parts distributor.
Robert Scinto, of Shelton-based R.D. Scinto Inc., said he is planning to buy the properties at 330, 325 and 336 Sub Way — for an undisclosed sum “in the eight figures.”
The property at 325 Sub Way is the sandwich franchise’s current 90,000-square-foot headquarters. The company has announced plans to relocate in September to a Shelton corporate office space, also owned by Scinto.
His plans call for demolishing the corporate headquarters building and erecting a new 160,000-square-foot distribution center. He would also renovate two buildings at 330 and 336 Subway, then lease the three-building campus to Milford-based FCP Euro, an e-commerce auto-parts distributor.
FCP Euro is an e-commerce auto-parts distributor that sells to vehicle owners who do their own repairs. Its customers are owners of BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Volkswagen, Volvo, Land Rover and Jaguar vehicles.
FCP Euro currently runs operations in two Milford locations, totaling 105,000 square feet, in the Hill Street Business Park, and a leased warehouse along Bic Drive that has low-bay ceilings.
The campus would contain the new warehouse with 20 loading bays and higher ceilings to allow for more storage and distribution capabilities, as well as a renovated 45,000-square-foot corporate office building and a remodeled 25,000-square-foot production studio to make instructional videos for car owners to install parts.
FCP Euro President and Founder Nick Bauer said he has been looking for a larger and more centralized facility since “the company has been growing steadily for the past 23 years and we are out of space.”
Bauer said the company is on track to reach $1 billion in revenue in the next five to seven years.
The company has 245 employees, and Bauer said he anticipates growing the staff as the distribution operation expands.
Scinto said it’s a major commitment for a Connecticut company to expand within the state, and that the new project is a boon for the city of Milford.
“This is a great project for the state, it’s hard to work in this state, with housing and energy costs, so to get a company to stay in the state, they could’ve gone anywhere, so this is a pretty significant transaction for Milford,” Scinto said.
Scinto estimates the entire project — building the new facility and renovating the smaller spaces — will cost more than $20 million.
He said it’s more cost effective to demolish the main Subway building instead of renovating since it’s office space that was designed exclusively for Subway.
“There’s a lot of empty office space in Milford, the building has to be taken down,” Scinto said. “New buildings are very economical, and it’s hard to find space,” for manufacturing and distributing.
