Moving And Storage Company Acquires Vacant Commercial Complex

By John Voket

A sprawling 155,000-square-foot commercial facility formerly housing part of a Pitney Bowes operation on Edmond Road has been sold, according to Newtown’s Community Development Director Elizabeth Stocker. The new owner is Clancy Moving Systems of Patterson, N.Y.

The company, which handles residential and commercial moving, storage, and high value and collectible warehousing for clients that include various museums, also has facilities in Pawling, N.Y., and Stamford.

Company owner John Clancy told The Bee that he was especially pleased that the facility was clean and in move-in condition when he began exploring the possibility of acquiring it, and that within a day or two of closing on the purchase, his staff had begun the process of occupying the building.

“There really wasn’t a lot that had to be done,” he said.

The building had been on the market for about seven months, but Mr Clancy said since Pitney Bowes was already a client of his company, he knew and had worked in the building prior to its vacancy.

According to the company’s website, Clancy Moving Systems was founded in 1921 and became affiliated with United Van Lines in 1947. Mr Clancy became the company president in 1990, opened its Stamford facility in 2006, and its Pawling office in 2009.

Ms Stocker said that in getting to know the company she learned that beyond the conventional moving and storage work Clancy does for residential clients, the company also handles commercial storage of inventory for businesses that may have retail floor space but minimal storage.

The company also handles some corporate fulfillment functions for clients, as well as secure and climate controlled archival storage of records, artifacts, and other exhibit materials for private clients and museums, Mr Clancy said. In addition, he leases portable storage units called “Mini’s,” that are delivered to clients on flatbed trucks so they can pre-load or store possessions pending a move.

Mr Clancy also said with in one to two years he envisions having to add in excess of a dozen new jobs if company growth progresses as projected in Fairfield and New Haven counties.

Upon learning of the acquisition of the vacant facility, First Selectman Pat Llodra said it was excellent news. The first selectman has listed as one of her primary goals the growth of Newtown’s commercial tax base to begin taking some pressure off residential home owners.

Clancy said he will also consider leasing about 10,000 square feet of unneeded office space in the facility to another business.

He said he was attracted to the location as he explored sites in the greater Danbury area, because “there just aren’t a lot of places available with that amount of open space for storage.”

“The facility gives us a lot of flexibility, and may have been a little bigger than we were originally looking for, but it offers us a lot of future potential for growth,” Mr Clancy said.

Ms Stocker said Clancy began negotiating to acquire the facility within weeks of it going on the market. Ms Stocker said the property was listed for $5.9 million, and the new owners reportedly paid $4.8 million for it.

Records indicate the property generated $126,591 in taxes in 2011, and when it was fully occupied and functioning for the previous owner in 2006, the facility generated an additional $65,578 in personal property taxes.

In 2010, as Pitney Bowes was winding down its occupancy at the property, it generated $22,319 in personal property taxes.