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November 13, 2019

Express Kitchens eyeing purchase of fourth Hartford building

PHOTO | DOWNES CONSTRUCTION CO. Express Kitchens is taking over a three-story office building at 20 Sargeant St. in Hartford.
By Joe Cooper

Hartford kitchen cabinet and countertop retailer Express Kitchens is looking to grow its local presence at a three-story office building on Sargeant Street.

The city council is considering a resolution that would allow the city to sell a 183,490-square-foot building at 20 Sargeant St. to Express Kitchens in exchange for the company paying part of the outstanding tax liens on the property. Council members on Tuesday voted to refer the resolution to the city’s operations, management and budget committee for further consideration.

Outstanding tax liens on the 3.63-acre property, dating back to the 2010 Grand List, total roughly $1.6 million. Under the proposed sale, Express Kitchens would pay $639,766 for the property, or 40 percent of the value of the outstanding liens in payments over four years. Express Kitchens would also pay $128,655 in taxes for 2018.

A tax lien is typically a legal claim against a property for unpaid property taxes. It also prohibits land from being sold or refinanced until the outstanding taxes are paid and the lien is removed.

Express Kitchens plans to acquire the property to use a portion of the vacant building space for a storage facility, city records show. The property is owned by MJB Corp. of Bristol.

Founder and CEO Max Kothari recently told Hartford Business Journal he was searching for a vacant building in the city for future development. The retailer is headquartered in a 130,000-square-foot warehouse on Weston Street, and operates a showroom and warehouse on 3080 and 3030 Main St., respectively.

Express Kitchens, which employs nearly 150 people in Connecticut, and operates 12 showrooms in the state and three in Massachusetts, is also investing more than $5 million to launch eight new showrooms in Greater Boston by summer 2020.

Built in 1900, the Sargeant Street building, situated just over three miles from Express Kitchens’ headquarters, is home to Hartford Public Access Television, not-for-profit Our Piece of the Pie and affordable housing consultancy Co-Opportunity.

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