TicketNetwork, a Vernon online entertainment ticket site, has paid $6.8 million for Gerber Scientific Inc.’s former headquarters site for a corporate relocation to neighboring South Windsor.
Town records show TicketNetwork paid $6.5 million for a 194,000-square-foot building on 13.76 acres at 83 Gerber Road, visible from I-84. The buyer also acquired an adjoining secondary parcel with 30.5 acres for $273,500, records show.
Although the main building and land are in South Windsor, the combined acreage straddles the southwest boundary of South Windsor and Manchester, a town official said Thursday.
According to TicketNetwork, by yearend some 325 TicketNetwork employees will share space in the building with the remaining employees and operations of Gerber, the manufacturing technology firm which late last year relocated corporate headquarters to its Tolland facility.
TicketNetwork’s move caps an acrimonious feud between one of Vernon’s largest employers and the town over the broker’s original intention to expand its facilities there.
Founder and CEO Don Vaccaro said in a statement Thursday that South Windsor was one of a half-dozen communities that aggressively courted TicketNetwork to relocate within their borders.
“South Windsor’s government officials seized the opportunity,” Vaccaro said.
