Bradley Regional Chamber of Commerce

Doing Business In: Windsor Locks and East Granby, Business West Magazine

Traffic from Airport Has Business Soaring Here

Carl Barnes says the town’s location, with so much travel coming into the area, offers business owners a significant growth opportunity. A steady stream of traffic can create tremendous opportunities for businesses to sell their goods and services. And heavy traffic is just one of the reasons why Windsor Locks and East Granby, Conn. is an ideal location to own and operate a business. The town is home to Bradley International Airport, Route 75 runs through it and Route 91 and I-84 are minutes away. The community also boasts a railway with freight trains and an Amtrak line, and town officials are hoping to move the train station from the south end of town back to the center, where it once stood. The move is part of their transit-oriented development plan, which will add bus service back and forth to the airport and encourage people to commute by rail. “Our location cuts across all modes of transportation,” said Economic Development Consultant Patrick McMahon. “We have rail lines; state highways for trucks and cars; and passenger, cargo, and military planes.” Still, town officials consider the airport their trump card. “Bradley International Airport is our number-one feature,” said First Selectman Steven Wawruck. “It’s the second-largest airport in New England, and 5 million people pass through it each year. It makes it easy to ship products in and out of Windsor Locks and East Granby.” Although the airline business has dropped off throughout many parts of the country, eight new services are being put into place this winter at Bradley by Delta, JetBlue, Southwest, and US Airways. “So, we are on the upswing in regard to airlines. Plus, we are right between the smaller cities of Hartford and Springfield and only two hours from Boston and New York City,” Wawruck said, adding that the town’s tax rates are very low due to the airport, the businesses that support it and the fact that the town is home to the international headquarters of Ahlstrom paper products, which employs 450 people, and Hamilton Sundstrand, which boasts about 3,000. Businesses around the airport are thriving, and there are 1,600 hotel rooms and about two dozen restaurants on Route 75. “We have the whole package,” McMahon said. “There is entertainment here — we have Bradley Teletheater with horse and dog racing, Bradley Bowl, Pool Table Magic, and the New England Air Museum for families, which are all available to business employees or their patrons. “Windsor Locks and East Granby is a major job center and economic-development asset for the state,” he added, noting that major businesses such as Ford Motor Co. and American Honda Motor Co. utilize services from smaller businesses in town. The location was the selling point for Tyrone Jackson and Michael Beaulieu, who opened the Ink Spot on Main Street in November 2004, specializing in graphic design, digital black-and-white and color printing, large-format printing, and document services. “I had worked at a print shop in Windsor Locks and East Granby from 1997 to 2002. But it closed, and there wasn’t another business like that here,” Jackson said. “Windsor Locks and East Granby is a very good place to own and operate a business. We are 10 minutes away from Bradley International Airport and seconds away from the highway. Our business caters to people in Springfield, Hartford, Windsor, and East Windsor, so this was a good, centralized spot for us.”

Supportive Atmosphere
Carl Barnes, who manages Bradley Bowl on Ella Grasso Turnpike, says the town’s location offers business owners a tremendous opportunity for growth. “With so much travel in the area, there will always be an influx of people coming in and out of Windsor Locks and East Granby,” he said. He also cites support from the business community as a plus. “Everyone is pulling for each other and is so supportive. We hold Chamber After Hours events and meetings here, and everyone promotes each other, which is kind of unique,” Barnes said.

Jared Carillo says businesses support each other because of the strong sense of community in Windsor Locks and East Granby. Jared Carillo agrees. He is president of the Chamber of Commerce, and his family has owned the Charles S. Carillo Insurance Agency in town since 1957. “Businesses are very supportive of one another and patronize each other because of the strong sense of community that exists here,” he said. “What is also nice is that town officials are very accessible.” Carillo is proud of the town’s low tax rate, and Stacy D’Amato, who co-owns the Skyline Restaurant with her husband, John, and Gina and Albert Pastula, says it’s one of the aspects that makes Windsor Locks and East Granby desirable. “The tax rate is great and there is a lot of opportunity, especially on Route 75 due to the traffic that passes through not only to and from the airport, but also because this is a main throughway to get the highway if you are going south,” she said. But D’Amato believes the number-one reason to establish a business in Windsor Locks and East Granby is the community itself. “The town is very diverse from a business standpoint. It’s big enough where we have great town facilities such as police and ambulance services, but small enough so that we all know one another,” she explained. “There are great schools and nice neighborhoods here. It’s a family-based community where you feel safe and where people recognize one another.” Carillo says 50% of his employees either reside in town or did so at one time. “There is a fairly strong employee pool here, and it’s not difficult to attract employees from surrounding towns due to the infrastructure,” he said. The town welcomes new businesses, and opportunity exists in a variety of places. One of them is the old J. R. Montgomery Co. textile mill, which is available for redevelopment. “It was taken by the town in foreclosure action, and we are hoping to find a developer who will convert it to 120 units of residential living,” McMahon said. “It sits right on the Connecticut River, so it has incredible scenery, and we are hoping it will put more feet on the street.” That will help revitalize the downtown area, especially since town officials are working to relocate the train station back to the center. “We have a master plan for Main Street and are working toward improving it,” McMahon said. “We want to move the train station back for purposes of synergy and transit-oriented development. We are hoping it will become a major stop, as there will also be a bus connection from the train station to the airport.” The area is also attractive due to the 4.5-mile Windsor Locks and East Granby Canal State Park Trail. “It’s absolutely gorgeous. It has the river on one side and the Windsor Locks and East Granby canal on the other,” McMahon said. Other sites in town are also being redesigned to accommodate new businesses, and a roadway for a new development will be built next spring off Route 75. Not only will it alleviate some of the airport traffic, it will provide access to a 17-acre plot of land on which town officials expect to break ground sometime next year. A small village is planned, which will include condominiums, a hotel, a restaurant, a pharmacy, a bank, and a gym. There will also be room for new businesses because it sits in the airport overlay zone. In addition, Hamilton Sundstrand has 50 acres of prime land available for development on its campus. “We work closely with developers, and there are not a lot of hurdles to jump through in Windsor Locks and East Granby,” Wawruck said. “This is a very business-friendly town.”

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