Taunton Press Chooses Naugatuck For Distribution Facility

By John Voket

The Taunton Press, a multimillion-dollar supplier of specialty magazines, books, and video products that was launched from a Newtown garage in 1975, has chosen a site in Naugatuck for its centralized distribution facility. While the company will remain headquartered in Newtown, the consolidation of distribution activities will also impact Danbury, Bethel, and West Haven where other Taunton satellite distribution sites are currently located.

According to Taunton CFO and spokesperson Tim Rahr, the decision to purchase and add on to a former Pitney Bowes subsidiary facility in the Naugatuck Industrial Park is the culmination of several years of work. Mr Rahr expressed regret that Newtown had neither the available centralized commercial space nor the broad financial incentives offered in the borough site, which straddles the Waterbury city line.

“We were looking for a facility in Newtown, but a facility was not available at a price that made sense,” Mr Rahr told The Bee Wednesday. “This move will help The Taunton Press enhance its distribution activities. We can become more competitive and we will become more efficient by centralizing all of our distribution to a single site.”

Mr Rahr acknowledged that maintaining a portion of its distribution at its South Main Street headquarters in Newtown is not the best use of space for the rapidly growing company. He said the relocation of its Newtown distribution activities will free up much-needed space for the company to expand its administrative and design departments.

“We plan to expand our office space here in Newtown which will, in time, create more jobs here,” Mr Rahr said. “We were really maxed out on distribution and office space.”

Mr Rahr said the distribution relocation would require about 12–15 existing staff positions in Newtown to also move to Naugatuck. In addition, he expects the expanded new facility will warrant the hiring of up to ten new employees once construction is complete.

Taunton purchased an existing building that coincidentally was previously leased by a Pitney Bowes subsidiary. That subsidiary recently relocated its operations to Newtown. Mr Rahr said the $1.9 million property will be renovated to standards that will provide state-of-the-art distribution capabilities.

He said this will require additional construction to nearly double the size of the current 31,000-square-foot building to 52,000 square feet.

While Taunton has not yet applied for Enterprise Zone benefits and Naugatuck municipal tax abatement for capital improvements, Mr Rahr said the company plans to do so concurrent with the move. According to a spokesperson in the Naugatuck mayor’s office, the company is eligible for a five-year, 80 percent abatement on its property taxes. The abatement, however, is only awarded on the increased value of property improvements, and then part of the abatement is reimbursed to Naugatuck by the state through its Enterprise Zone program.

Mr Rahr heralded the move as a win-win for both Taunton Press and Newtown, because the eventual addition of administrative staff at its headquarters here will mean an increase in taxable personal property, as well as the likely addition of up to 30 new jobs that will bring additional new customers to local businesses.

Newtown Community Development Director Elizabeth Stocker tried to put the best spin on the story, but expressed some frustration over not being able to provide adequate commercial space to keep all of Taunton’s operation in Newtown.

“The confirmation of this move serves to illustrate the challenges that Newtown is facing when it comes to fulfilling the needs for economic development,” she said Wednesday. “It’s disappointing that we lost this opportunity because of the combination of not having the necessary amount of affordable commercial/industrial space, or the level of financial incentives offered in Naugatuck.

“We’re not happy to see this division of one of our largest companies leaving Newtown,” she added.

However, Ms Stocker also heralded the planned expansion of administrative operations in place of the existing local distribution site.

“This is another opportunity for us to look at growth in the Newtown headquarters,” she said. “Taunton’s expansion in this direction makes good business and financial sense. New hires will come from the local population, which is more consistent with the labor force required for these types of jobs.”

Mr Rahr said that he hopes to have the relocation complete, and Taunton’s Naugatuck facility in operation, by the fall.