Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Connecticut recently announced plans to move its Connecticut headquarters to Wallingford. "We are pleased that Anthem chose to remain within this region and to become part of Wallingford's business community," said Wallingford mayor William Dickinson, Jr. Anthem signed a 10-year lease with developer Workstage-Connecticut LLC to occupy 217,764 s/f of the 300,000 s/f office building at 108 Leigus Rd., known as the Campus at Green Hill. The company will move in two phases, with 500 employees relocating by September 2011 and the rest by September 2012.
Campus at Green Hill was constructed for Mortgage Lenders Inc. which filed for bankruptcy in 2007 during the subprime lending downturn. Workstage will complete the interior of the building to Anthem's specifications. Anthem sold its North Haven campus to Quinnipiac University and leased back a portion of it. When Anthem's lease expires in 2012, Quinnipiac University will proceed with plans to construct a medical school on the site. When completed, Campus at Green Hill will become one of Connecticut's most environmentally friendly buildings. It was designed as and will be constructed to U.S. Green Building Council LEED standards and allow Anthem and other tenants to lower their carbon footprint. The remaining 70,000 s/f will be available for lease.

Manufacturing
Wallingford's manufacturing base recently got a boost when a West Hartford manufacturer, Holo-Krome, Inc., announced plans to occupy a 176,000 s/f industrial building at 61 Barnes Industrial Rd. No. Holo-Krome, a leading domestic manufacturer of socket head fasteners, has been in Connecticut since its founding in 1929.
Holo-Krome was purchased in October of 2009 by Fastenal, a publicly traded Minnesota retail distributor of industrial and construction supplies. Fastenal's spokespeople described the new location as an ideal environment to grow Holo-Krome successfully into the future, noting that the building's footprint could potentially be doubled on the 51-acre property. Fastenal purchased 61 Barnes Industrial Rd. No. from Winstanley Enterprises. "We're looking forward to creating a truly world-class manufacturing site in Wallingford," said Cory Jansen, executive vice president of operations at Fastenal. Holo-Krome will bring more than 100 workers to Wallingford.
Two manufacturing start-ups recently located in Wallingford. CyVek, Inc., a biotech start-up, leased 7,500 s/f at 2 Barnes Rd. CyVek raised more that $4 million in its second round of funding and is working on the development of a hand-held medical measuring device that measures protein biomarkers in blood samples. It is used in genetic and DNA-based research for drug development. CyVek's goal is to get its product into the hands of researchers and laboratories and eventually into doctors' offices and hospitals for direct patient use. The new funding will allow CyVek to hire more research staff.
A second manufacturing start-up, FreshBev, LLC. recently leased space at 168 No. Plains Industrial Rd. FreshBev manufacturers chilled fruit juice mixers for bars, restaurants, hotels and retailers, including Whole Foods Markets and the TPC River Highlands in Cromwell. The new bar mixers, sold under the brand name of RIPE, use no preservatives and only contain organically grown fruit.

Distribution
Three commercial firms also relocated into Wallingford. Northland Industrial Truck Co., Inc. (NITCO) leased 28,000 s/f of space at 150 No. Plains Industrial Rd. NITCO, which sells lifts, hand trucks and other material handling equipment, has five other locations throughout New England. The building, owned by Winstanley Enterprises, is currently being renovated and will include space to repair the equipment the company sells.
Also new to Wallingford, Goodyear Tire leased 22,500 s/f for its New England regional distribution center at 4 Northrop Industrial Park Rd. West. Goodyear signed a five-year lease with option to renew and plans to occupy the space in October. Goodyear is based in Ohio and is opening distribution centers nationwide. This is the third new building constructed in Northrop Industrial Park, which is owned and being developed by John Orsini, president and founder of Executive Auto Group. The first two buildings of 45,000 s/f are 100% occupied. Orsini has town approval to begin construction of a fourth building in the park and has plans to construct five more.

Doreen DeSarro, EDP is the business recruiter for the Town of Wallingford, EDC.