South Windsor Seeks Grant To Attract Businesses | Town wants financial help to fill vacant industrial and commercial buildings
Town officials will soon be asking the state for help in attracting businesses to fill its vacant industrial, commercial, and manufacturing buildings.
The town plans to submit an application to the Small Town Economic Assistance Program by the Feb. 29 deadline for a $500,000 grant to work on luring businesses to South Windsor, according to consultant Craig Stevenson of East Hartford-based Connected to Connecticut.
The money would be used to offer businesses incentives to move into town, such as grants to reconfigure older facilities to meet their needs, Stevenson said.
Business Incubator
If approved, the state grant could come on the heels of a business incubator discussed at this week’s town council meeting. Stevenson told council members that a feasibility study could be done for about $15,000 by a local company that would help town economic planners such as the Economic Development Commission and the Chamber of Commerce.
The results of the study would point officials toward the best uses of commercial and industrial space, such as working with area universities to attract technology-based businesses by promoting assets such as fiber-optic access.
While no provisions have been made for the study yet, council members said last week that a more comprehensive plan to attract businesses — for a relatively small price — was something that should be done.
Decade Of Growth
“I think that may be money well spent,” Councilman Edward Havens said. “It’s a good investment in our future. And we can fill up some of those empty buildings and get them back on the tax rolls.”
Growth has yet to be a problem for the town, however.
Business has continued to move in regularly for more than a decade, including Evergreen Walk, the multimillion-dollar retail village that opened two years ago and is still expanding, Assessor Charles Danna said.
“Our growth isn’t really centered in any area in particular; it’s pretty even,” he said. “We’re not sitting as bad as we could be.”
For tax purposes, the town considers a building occupied as long as its owners pay their bills, Danna said. Officials are developing a system to track the occupancy status of buildings, he said.
The Chamber of Commerce does not keep a record of vacant properties, but is notified by Chamber members when they’re leaving a property or putting it up for sale.
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