GATHERING GROUND REPORT - December 11, 2024
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| Jerry (in foreground), Bill Wills, JoAnn Smith, Pete Gottschalk, Chet Biernat |
Had to pull out the table extenders to accommodate the crew today at the Gathering Ground. Chet, JoAnn, Pete, Bill and Jerry were the ones to enjoy the camaraderie and the excellent breakfast today.
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Lots of discussion about Long Term Care Policies around the table. Half the attendees had something and the other half didn't think it applied. Annual cost seems expensive since there has been many years paying into the plans and no one has had the need to exercise their policy. Me thinks that is the good news....
Two have Solar panels installed and working to cover most of the annual electrical expenses. Jerry is pursuing a DIY solar panel on a ground mount situation. Cement piers are poured and in the spring more progress will be reported only after the cold months are over.
Jo, Jerry and Bill are burning some form of wood to supplement the winter heating needs. Sounds like JoAnn covers the majority of the heating needs and Bill and Jerry are supplementing their heating needs by cutting a few trees annually for family and friends.(When they offer!)
Bill reported that getting up after falling with skis on is remarkably more difficult than 20 years ago. Especially difficult on a relatively flat snow surface with skis on. And, an extra couple of lbs to anchor you to the terra firma.
The topic of having a PB&J sandwich came up and everyone agreed that it is a treat, especially on Dave's bread with homemade jelly.
BIll tested Chat GPT OpenAI to help create a couple of congratulatory messages for two of his nephews and nieces about to graduate. Instead of his normal process of writing, re-reading and re-writing several times. He just verbalized the topic with the names and a most beatiful, elegant paragraph of prose popped back at him in milliseconds that was ten times better than anything he could produce.
Bob White and Kerri were seen in the audience by Jo when she gave a presentation about her experience on the (AT) Appalachian Trail at the Granby Library. So, Jerry, who has been waiting since Covid to run the 49th and 50th YouCanTwo race that Bob halted for Covid, gave a call to encourage Bob to get back on track and restart the YouCanTwo. Bob's response was I'm doing a lot of genealogy now and proceeded to tell me about his 51 years that he has been in his home in Suffield Ct. His research has found that none of his relatives, including all the way back to the Great Great level, have not lived in their house longer than Bob and Kerri. The only exception is one Great Great Great that was born and died in their home. Bob knows that can't be topped.
Your Scribe,
Jerry
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BUILDING THREE PARKING LOT
Jerry sent this picture of construction at the Building Three Parking Lot.
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| "The one is showing progress of construction on Building Three parking lot. It has been graded to a flat surface and is being layed with a mesh of piping and conduits before the next layer. More as months go by" ~ Jerry Kimble |
Also, Dale Maine sent in the following picture and narrative a few weeks ago:
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"There were comments in the notes from last month's breakfast about what might be going into the building 3 parking lot... I thought I'd share the info from a Courant article back in July...Building 3 sits completely empty, if you look in the windows you can see straight through to the back of the building, everything (walls, lighting, etc.) is gone, you just see the steel beams and some hanging construction lights. There's still a for lease sign out in front of it, but I can't picture anyone wanting it without a parking lot - wasn't sure anyone would want it anyway.We were temporarily moved there during the office renovations and they did fix all of the roof leaks (there had been ceiling tiles with hoses leading down to waste baskets to capture all the rain), and they said they had removed all of the wildlife. Then covid broke out, we never moved back and when they sold the building we had to go in to get our stuff out. I found a really big have-a-heart animal trap on a cabinet near a potted tree so some may have moved back in...: "
"Warehouse row is set to expand
Developer seeks tenant for site near Bradley
By Kenneth R. Gosselin Hartford Courant
The warehouses of Amazon, Dollar Tree, Walgreens and others now dominate the corridor.
It’s Route 20 near Bradley International Airport, and it’s replacing what was once a rural landscape.
Even with nearly a dozen warehouses, a developer says there is room for at least one more, a belief so strong that construction is getting underway without a signed tenant lease.
The Silverman Group of New Jersey is building a 250,000-square foot warehouse on Hamilton Road in Windsor Locks, seeing the site’s close proximity to both the airport and Interstate 91 as strong selling points that have driven warehouse and distribution development in the area.
Toby Nelson, vice president of leasing at SL Industrial Partners, an arm of Silverman Group, declined to comment on the project’s cost. But Nelson estimated that similar buildings would typically cost $25 million to $30 million.
In addition to distribution, the structure — named Bradley Airport Logistics Center East — could be used for light manufacturing or other business expansion space — with up to three tenants sharing the space.
A groundbreaking ceremony was scheduled for Thursday.
Travelers driving to and from the airport may have already noticed the land being cleared. The structure is expected to be completed in the first three months of 2025.
Nelson said there have been some inquiries about the space, but, so far, there are no active negotiations.
“There’s a lack of new product in the Greater Hartford market that we felt like we fill a need for new, modern warehouse space,” Nelson said.
Unlike office space, which has seen surging double-digit vacancies in the aftermath of the pandemic, modern, warehouse space in the area has a vacancy of less than 1%, according to Shawn P. McMahon, managing director at commercial real estate firm JLL in Hartford and longtime office and industrial broker.
“The market is still very strong on the industrial side,” McMahon said. “There is very little product in the marketplace for tenants looking for 100,000 square feet or more.”
Greater Hartford did not overbuild industrial and warehouse space in the past, unlike New Jersey, New York and Boston area, McMahon said.
Silverman once owned the 100 Pearl St. office tower in downtown Hartford. The development company also is active in housing construction in Simsbury on the sprawling site where the suburban campus of The Hartford Financial Services Group once stood.
But Silverman Group has come up against local zoning opposition to a 400-plus unit apartment development on part of that property. The matter is in court.
In recent years, Silverman has expanded its presence in the industrial and warehouse market. Silverman now oversees the leasing and management of 25 million square feet of industrial space in 20 states.
In addition, Silverman is managing the construction of another 15 million square feet in nine states, including Connecticut.
“We’re still very bullish on Connecticut and Hartford and the growth there,” Nelson said."
