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Updated: September 9, 2019

Sardilli Produce & Dairy Co. to expand in Windsor instead of East Windsor

Photo | LoopNet.com Hartford-based Sardilli Produce & Dairy Co. is planning to move its headquarters to the former Konica Minolta distribution and training center, 550 Marshall Phelps Road, in Windsor.
By Joe Cooper

Hartford’s Sardilli Produce & Dairy Co. has shed plans to expand its manufacturing and warehouse operations in East Windsor, and is now looking to relocate to a recently vacated facility in Windsor, according to town officials.

The family operated food distributor, which has called Hartford’s South End home for four decades, had planned to acquire vacant farmland in East Windsor and build a 202,400-square-foot distribution center there after receiving several site approvals and a tax abatement from the town over the last year. The facility was expected to be significantly larger than its current 22,500-square-foot footprint in Hartford on Locust Street.

Hartford Business Journal first reported Sardilli’s plans to relocate and expand in East Windsor this spring.

But the company has since moved its way through a similar approval process just south in the town of Windsor, where it also received a tax abatement in July, and plans to purchase, renovate and expand in a former Konica Minolta distribution and training center at 550 Marshall Phelps Road, Windsor officials say.

Konica Minolta, a business-equipment vendor, closed the facility last year, leaving behind more than 200 local jobs.

According to plans, Sardilli expects to invest $15.4 million into the 217,496-square-foot facility to create refrigerated processing and storage areas, expand existing loading docks and build a vehicle maintenance building. The company will spend another $600,000 on improvements to the nearly 30-acre parcel.

As of July 1, the company said it had 113 employees and expects to add 50 to 100 new jobs as operations grow in Windsor over the next five years, town records show. The jobs include food prep workers, material movers and drivers, and administration, among other positions.

Sardilli has a purchase and sale agreement pending with the current property owners, listed as The Fremont Group LLC, of West Hartford. The Windsor site has an assessed value of more than $4 million, land records show.

Windsor Town Manager Peter Souza said the company has received all necessary town approvals -- and others from the Office of The State Traffic Administration -- and plans to close on the purchase this fall. Renovations, which will take between a year to 18 months to complete, will begin shortly after the closing on the property, Souza said.

“We look forward to Sardilli joining the Windsor corporate community,” he said. “Not only will it reutilize a partially vacant building, it will also provide an opportunity for the company to grow within the region.”

Photo | LoopNet.com
The Silverman Group is investing at least $15 million for the planned industrial facility on vacant farmland.

It’s not yet clear why the company, led by third generation brothers Devin and Jason Sardilli, plans to expand in Windsor rather than in East Windsor. 

Sardilli did not respond to requests for comment on this story, and did not explain its reasoning to officials in either town.

East Windsor First Selectman Robert Maynard suspected, among other factors, that the company selected the Windsor site because it offers an existing building where it can relocate sooner.

“We enjoyed working with Sardilli and we are disappointed they decided to not come to East Windsor,” Maynard said. “But that also means there is an excellent piece of property up for sale in town.”

Sardilli may have also been seeking a smaller tax bill.

In July, Windsor’s town council at a special meeting unanimously approved a four-year tax abatement for Sardilli, which, based on the town’s 32.38 mill rate, provides the company with a total tax benefit of $342,463, according to meeting minutes.

The town, meantime, will receive tax revenue of $513,695 from the new investment, in addition to the taxes from the existing building worth approximately $130,000, records show.

“The approval of the abatement will allow us to move forward with the sale and begin the renovations,” Don Sardilli, president of the company, wrote in a letter to Souza before the abatement was greenlit. “If we do not have the abatement approval it will affect our decision to move forward with the property.”

By comparison, East Windsor’s board of selectmen last year approved a seven-year tax abatement for the company worth savings of about $290,000 per year, Maynard said.

Hartford’s 74.29 mill rate is more than double the mill rate in East Windsor and Windsor.

Sardilli has been headquartered on Locust Street in Hartford's South End since 1989.

Earlier this year, Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin said the city in recent years explored tax incentives and potential sites for Sardilli to expand. However, the city lacks the level of undeveloped land sought by the company, he said.
 
In early 2018, Sardilli and FreshPoint, a division of Houston-based food distribution giant Sysco Corp., both proposed to lease land in Hartford at 100 Reserve Road, and build a 100,000-square-foot distribution center.
 
That land is currently owned by the quasi-public Materials Innovation and Recycling Authority (MIRA), operator of the nearby waste-to-energy plant, and is considered one of the largest remaining city tracts open for development.
 
However, Sardilli withdrew its proposal weeks before Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA), which was overseeing the bidding, recommended FreshPoint's $39 million bid to MIRA last summer. CRDA at the time said that Sardilli planned to expand elsewhere.

Founded as Sardilli Fruit Stand in Southington during the 1950s, the company eventually relocated to a larger space at the Hartford Regional Market in 1980 before moving to Locust Street in 1989. 

Sardilli’s main products of fruits, vegetables, dairy and specialty dry goods are currently distributed to customers that include restaurants, hospitals, schools and caterers in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Westchester County, N.Y.
 

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