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A rendering of Berlin Commerce Park, featuring industrial condo buildings designed to resemble large country barns.<\/p>\nAn 8-acre site in Berlin is being developed into a rare type of project in Connecticut: small commercial condo units for sale \u2014 not lease \u2014 aimed at tradespeople and light manufacturers priced out of the state\u2019s tight industrial market.<\/p>\n
The planned 81,000-square-foot Berlin Commerce Park at 680 Four Rod Road will feature multiple buildings subdivided into units as small as 1,500 square feet \u2014 a size that is difficult to find statewide, particularly for ownership, experts say.<\/p>\n
The project also includes an uncommon financing partnership. Hamden-based nonprofit lender Community Investment Corp. (CIC) is working with the developer to promote and expedite access to U.S. Small Business Administration 504 loans, which can finance up to 90% of real estate and equipment purchases through a partnership of private and federal funding.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe intersection with us at CIC is that these commercial condos will be suitable for small businesses that we typically finance,\u201d said Louis Silva, president of the nonprofit lender. \u201cThink about clean contractors, light manufacturing, food service \u2026 things of that nature.\u201d<\/p>\n
Commercial spaces suitable for small businesses are in such short supply that Silva said he has repeatedly seen potential SBA borrowers lose out to cash purchasers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t have enough fingers and toes to count how many times that has happened already, just in the last six or seven months,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
CIC plans to market the development through brokers, banks and on-site signage highlighting the availability of SBA-backed financing. The initiative marks a first for the lender, but Silva said he expects similar partnerships to follow.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s already speaking with another commercial condo developer about a potential partnership.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think these smaller industrial condos for small businesses are a groundbreaking idea,\u201d Silva said. \u201cThe cost of ownership is relatively low, and it gives the businesses a chance to build wealth by owning their asset. You don\u2019t see many of these projects coming online, which is why I say they probably won\u2019t be able to build them fast enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Designed for ownership<\/p>\n
The development is being led by Sal Morello, owner of Hamden-based Morecon Builders, and his partner, John Gagas, who purchased the property for $712,500 last May.<\/p>\n
The pair met through a mutual friend and have built and sold several single-family homes together over the past five years.<\/p>\n
Plans call for nine roughly 9,000-square-foot, wood-framed buildings, each divided into as many as six units. Spaces will include individual bathrooms and bay doors, and buyers will have the option to combine adjacent units.<\/p>\n
Morello said he expects 1,500-square-foot units to sell for about $379,000.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn most of Connecticut, units like these are extremely valuable, but nobody can buy them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A rendering of Berlin Commerce Park, featuring industrial condo buildings designed to resemble large country barns.<\/p>\n
Construction is underway, with slab foundations completed for the first two buildings. The first is expected to be ready for occupancy in June, with additional buildings built as demand warrants.<\/p>\n
Morello said the site could be fully built out within two years. No units have sold yet, he said.<\/p>\n
The buildings are designed to resemble \u201clarge country barns,\u201d reflecting feedback from residents and officials during the land-use approval process, Morello said.<\/p>\n
The concept builds on Morello\u2019s recent experience in Cromwell, where he developed a five-bay, 7,200-square-foot multi-tenant industrial building. Two bays are leased, and his own business occupies the remainder of the space.<\/p>\n
He said several prospective tenants there expressed interest in ownership rather than leasing, reinforcing what he sees as significant pent-up demand.<\/p>\n
Morello\u2019s partner, Gagas, has spent his career as a manufacturing manager at plants across Connecticut. He also worked for his uncle\u2019s construction company for several years before age 21, building houses and small strip malls.<\/p>\n
In the partnership, Gagas has focused primarily on financing.<\/p>\n
Berlin Economic Development Director Chris Edge, who is a CIC board member, said he connected Gagas and Morello with the nonprofit lender.<\/p>\n
Commerce Park will provide much-needed space for small manufacturers and tradespeople, Edge said, noting there is a backlog of at least seven companies seeking small industrial space in Berlin.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s exciting is the ability to purchase, given the ability to buy a small industrial space is a huge challenge statewide,\u201d Edge said. \u201cI think it\u2019s going to be pretty well-received because you are paying a pretty hefty rent these days for industrial space.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An 8-acre site in Berlin is being developed into a rare type of project in Connecticut: small commercial…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74821,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[112,190],"class_list":{"0":"post-74820","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-berlin","8":"tag-berlin","9":"tag-germany"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116519421082690364","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}