Atrium cafeteria, 1 Research Drive, Shelton
Leggette, Brashears & Graham, the nation’s first consulting firm to specialize in hydrogeology, recently announced a plan to relocate its corporate headquarters to 1 Research Drive in Shelton. The company signed a 10-year lease for 18,315 square feet and has plans to occupy its new space in the office property by next month. The firm is currently located at 126 Monroe Turnpike in Trumbull and provides professional groundwater and environmental engineering services.
Ted Grogan and Sean Cahill of CB Richard Ellis’ Stamford office negotiated the terms of the lease on behalf of the property owner, ATC Group. Leggette, Brashears & Graham was represented by Chris O’Hara of Coldwell Banker NRT.
Leggette, Brashears & Graham will occupy part of a 50,000-square-foot block of space formerly leased by Southern New England Telecommunications, or SNET.
“In its entirety the large block was not conducive to smaller tenants, who currently make up the majority of the office space users in the eastern part of Fairfield County,” Grogan said. “Once demised into smaller blocks, the space has seen significant interest from users, and now has attracted a great tenant to the building.”
The 2-story, 155,000-square-foot, Class A building at One Research Drive is located on 15 acres of land with views of the Trap Falls Reservoir and offers on-site security and property management, an atrium cafeteria, a state-of-the-art fitness center and abundant parking. Corporate neighbors include Prudential, CBS Corp., Wachovia, General Electric, HealthNet and Swiss Army Brands. Grogan said the north-south connector to Interstate 95 is only minutes away and Exit 52 of the Merritt Parkway is close, offering a congestion-free commute near reasonably priced housing and an abundant labor pool.
Price Chopper Store Finished
The Kay Cos., one of New England’s leading general construction and construction management firms, recently completed construction of the newly opened Price Chopper Supermarket on the Berlin Turnpike (Route 15) in Newington.
Mercantile Construction Corp., a subsidiary of The Kay Cos., served as the general contractor for the 75,000-square-foot Price Chopper, the newest location of the New York-based, 92-store supermarket chain owned and operated by the Golub Corp. The supermarket opened in the early spring. Jay Miller Architecture was the architect.
“We’re very pleased that the new Price Chopper Supermarket was completed on schedule and to the complete satisfaction of our client, despite the scheduling challenges caused by a particularly bad winter,” said Bernard F. Lannquist, president of Mercantile Construction. “It was a great experience working with Price Chopper on this project and we look forward to working with them more in the future.”
The project included the ground-up construction of the new store on the site of a previously torn-down Ames Department Store. One of the bigger challenges that Mercantile Construction encountered on the project was dealing with the near record-setting snowfall this past winter. The cold and snowy weather slowed down construction and was particularly disruptive when it came to the delivery of materials. Despite the weather, Mercantile was able to revise work and delivery schedules and finish the job on time.
As with most retail projects, there was also the challenge of working in a busy retail plaza and related safety concerns. The Price Chopper was built adjacent to a fully operational Dicks Sporting Goods. The two stores anchor the Pascone Place Retail Plaza, which also includes Chili’s Restaurant, Subway and Laser Quest, among other tenants. To maintain public safety, Mercantile used barricades to create “Work Only” areas and created truck-only access roads for deliveries and debris removal in areas away from the plaza traffic and shoppers. That also helped to minimize disruptions to neighboring retailers and the general shopping public.
