Deteriorating sections of a sprawling, World War II-era factory complex in New Britain will undergo a major renovation, thanks in part to a $2 million state brownfield grant aimed at advancing industrial redevelopment.
The grant, awarded to the City of New Britain, will support an $8.5 million cleanup and renovation of roughly 123,000 square feet of long-vacant factory space in a five-building, 551,218-square-foot industrial complex that straddles the New Britain-Berlin town line.
The complex sits on 57.2 acres and is owned by Los Angeles-based Industrial Realty Group (IRG), which acquired the property in 1997.
IRG has gradually restored portions of the facility over the past two decades, securing tenants piece by piece. Today, 12 companies operate within the site, employing more than 100 people, IRG staff said.
This $2 million grant helps make the next phase of cleanup financially feasible, Stuart Lichter, IRG founder and president, said Tuesday during a news conference held amid rusting beams and dry-rotted wood inside one of the buildings slated for renovation.
“We’re highly confident we’ll get a manufacturer with a decent number of jobs and that is going to be a huge, huge asset for the community,” Lichter said.
The grant is part of a larger $18.8 million package of brownfield remediation funds announced in June by Gov. Ned Lamont. The funding supports pollution cleanup projects across 19 municipalities and is intended to pave the way for new housing and commercial development.
Deputy Commissioner Matthew Pugliese of the state Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) noted the broader impact of the state’s brownfield efforts, which have totaled $170 million in grants since the program began, resulting in the remediation of more than 2,200 acres of polluted land.
IRG’s New Britain project will prepare three spaces within two buildings for future tenants. The company’s national portfolio spans more than 100 million square feet of industrial space in 32 states. In Connecticut, it controls eight properties.
The South Street complex had once hosted the New Britain Machine Co., a manufacturing outfit that emerged from the merger of a manufacturer of railroad engines and a company that made woodworking machines, according to Connecticutmills.org.
The company expanded with a second plant on the southern outskirts of New Britain during World War I, making fuses, machine gun tripods and other wartime goods. More buildings were added during World War II as the company began making aircraft parts and employment jumped from 950 to a peak of 4,100, according to Connecticutmills.org.
After the war, the company returned to making hand tools, mechanics tools, office furniture and precision machine tools. The New Britain Machine Co. later merged with a California-based conglomerate and then closed the New Britain plant in 1990, according to Connecticutmills.org.
