FAIRFIELD COUNTY
BUSINESS JOURNAL September 7, 2015 | VOL. 51, No. 36
5 | OUTDOOR LIVING INC.
13 | SMALL-BUSINESS BANKING
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Main Street holds steady during back-to-school season BY REECE ALVAREZ, DANIELLE BRODY AND EVAN FALLOR
M Store managers Bill Bellion and Whitney Williams at Squash’s Ridgefield Office Supply. Photo by Danielle Brody
ain Street businesses across Fairfield and Westchester counties are holding their own revenue-wise with a steady stream of loyal customers and community support during what is expected to be a slightly down back-to-school shopping season. Families are expected to cut back-to-school spending by an average of almost $40 per household, according to a July study by the National Retail Federation, a Washington, D.C.-based retail trade association. In Ridgefield, where most classes are already in session,
residents stocked up for backto-school items at Squash’s Ridgefield Office Supply. More than 40 years old, Squash’s is one of the last remaining shops of its kind in the area. Store Manager Bill Bellion said parents like coming in because the staff is knowledgeable. During the back to school shopping season about three weeks ago, the store had all the items on schools’ supply lists. Shopping was “boom, boom, boom, 1, 2, 3,” Bellion said. Assistant Store Manager Whitney Williams said many of her store’s prices are about the same or cheaper than big box stores. While they might not able to carry a massive stock, the store » SCHOOL, page 6
Westchester of�icials tout four sites for a GE cross-border move BY COLLEEN WILSON AND DANIELLE BRODY AFTER LEARNING THIS SUMMER THAT Fairfield-based General Electric Co. has considered finding a new headquarters to avoid corporate tax hikes in Connecticut, Westchester County officials have wasted no time in identifying potential sites in the county to attract the technology giant to New York. Some real estate experts speculate that the rumors that GE is weighing relocation to other states and locales as far south as Atlanta — and especially the prospect of a move to a neighboring county — has put the company in a stronger leverage position for renewed tax incentives in Connecticut.
Mark Barnhard, director of Fairfield’s Office of Community and Economic Development, said that GE owns the 68-acre property off the Easton Turnpike in Fairfield. The property includes two office buildings totaling 463,000 square feet of space and a 28-room, 52,000-square-foot guest facility. Phil Oliva, a senior adviser to Westchester County Executive Robert P. Astorino, identified four potential sites to the Business Journal that the county has pitched in collaboration with real estate leaders for a GE headquarters relocation. They are: • One Pepsi Way in Somers, the former headquarters of the PepsiCo Beverages Americas division, a 540,000-square-foot building on 200 acres. Its new owner, a company owned by
Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helú and his family, paid approximately $87 million for the vacated property in March. • The former MBIA Inc. headquarters at 113 King St. in Armonk, a 300,000-square-foot building on 38 acres. A joint venture of Pound Ridge-based affiliates of the Manocherian family, a prominent family in Manhattan residential and commercial real estate, and Steven Wise Associates LLC in Stamford paid $23 million for the property in a May deal. • Gateway Center at 1 N. Lexington Ave. in downtown White Plains, an 18-story, 532,000-square-foot office building. • The former Alexander Smith and Sons Carpet Mills factory complex on Nepperhan » GE, page 4