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Kaman Aerospace Divests Moosup Facility to TD Development
Sep 15, 2014 | Zacks
Kaman Corporation (KAMN - Free Report) recently announced the sale of its manufacturing facility in Moosup, CT to TD Development, LLC. The facility, owned by the company’s subsidiary Kaman Aerospace Corporation, has been idle since 2004. -
Vacant Moosup manufacturing plant sold
Jan 27, 2017 | Norwich Bulletin
The owner of a former manufacturing plant in Moosup has sold the facility to a Baltimore-based company. -
Beech-Nut plant developer sued in Connecticut factory scrap dispute
Jan 27, 2017 | Times Union
By Brian Nearing
Connecticut dispute has echoes of Beech-Nut imbroglio -
Up to $10 million in cleanup costs for former Beech-Nut factory
Jan 27, 2017 | Times Union
By Brian Neering
Expert to visit Canajoharie site to offer advice -
Buyer of Derby factory under a cloud in New York
Jun 15, 2015 | Connecticut Post
By Hugh Bailey
Derby officials say they’re happy to see some activity planned at one of its long-vacant factories. But the company that bought the facility this month has come under fire for a similar project that left a New York town with nothing but empty buildings to show for its troubles.
Moosup, CT
TD Development
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Kaman Aerospace Divests Moosup Facility to TD Development
Sep 15, 2014 | Zacks
Kaman Corporation (KAMN - Free Report) recently announced the sale of its manufacturing facility in Moosup, CT to TD Development, LLC. The facility, owned by the company’s subsidiary Kaman Aerospace Corporation, has been idle since 2004.
As part of the transaction, Kaman Corporation will contribute roughly $4 million in cash over a four-year period, to fund the necessary environmental remediation activities in the facility. Also, the company will record a pre-tax charge of $2.2 million in the third quarter of 2014.
Kaman Corporation released its second-quarter results in Aug 2014. A brief description of the quarter’s results, especially of the company’s Aerospace segment, is provided below:
Earnings from continuing operations were lower-than-expected, coming in at 59 cents per share versus the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 63 cents. Further, the bottom line was 11.9% below 67 cents earned in the year-ago quarter. Revenues grew 6.3% year over year on the back of healthy performance in the Distribution segment.
Revenues at the Aerospace segment declined 4.1% year over year. Operating income, impacted by an unimpressive top line, fell roughly 7%. Operating margin was recorded at 17.2%, down 60 basis points from 17.8% in the year-ago quarter. For 2014, Kaman Corporation anticipates generating revenues of $640−$660 million from its Aerospace segment. Operating margin is anticipated within 16.5−16.7%.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Kaman Corporation is pegged at $2.46 for 2014 and $2.87 for 2015. These estimates represent year-over-year growth of 13.6% and 16.6% for 2014 and 2015 respectively.
With a market capitalization of $1.1 billion, Kaman currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the industry include Metso Corporation (MXCYY - Free Report) , IDEX Corporation (IEX - Free Report) and Middleby Corp. (MIDD - Free Report) . While Metso Corporation sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), both IDEX Corporation and Middleby Corp. hold a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).https://www.zacks.com/stock/news/147254/kaman-aerospace-divests-moosup-facility-to-td-development
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Vacant Moosup manufacturing plant sold
Jan 27, 2017 | Norwich Bulletin
PLAINFIELD - The owner of a former manufacturing plant in Moosup has sold the facility to a Baltimore-based company.
The Kaman Corporation announced on Friday that its subsidiary, Kaman Aerospace Corporation, sold the Moosup plant, vacant since 2004, to TD Development LLC, according to company press release.
According to its website, TD Development specializes in the restoration of "all types of masonry and row homes." As part of the sale, Kaman will contribute $4 million in cash over a four-year period for environmental remediation work at the site.
http://www.norwichbulletin.com/article/20140915/NEWS/140919684
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Beech-Nut plant developer sued in Connecticut factory scrap dispute
Jan 27, 2017 | Times Union
By Brian Nearing
An Ohio businessman linked to the partially demolished and stripped former Beech-Nut plant in Montgomery County is now embroiled in a federal lawsuit over valuable scrap metal from a former aerospace plant that he owns in Connecticut.
Todd Clifford, owner of TD Development LLC, is being sued in U.S. District Court by Wisconsin-based Wood and Bricks LLC in a disagreement over demolition of the sprawling former Kaman Corp. in Moosup, about an hour's ride east of Hartford.
Clifford, who bought the 550,000-square-foot vacant Kaman facility in 2014, hired Wood and Bricks as his demolition contractor in June. In the lawsuit, Wood and Bricks owner Arthur Sullivan claims damages of up to $1 million, and accuses Clifford of unjustly evicting him from the project in January after Sullivan's crews had collected valuable scrap metal and other materials.
Clifford's company "intends to exert control over the salvage product that (Sullivan's company) has stockpiled on the site ... and sell the salvage on its own," according to a federal complaint filed by Sullivan on Jan. 28.
Clifford has countered that Sullivan's crews had violated the contract — under which Sullivan paid Clifford $100,000 up front and another $262,500 later for the right to take down the buildings, and collect and resell scrap materials. Clifford claims he fired Sullivan after his crews mishandled asbestos-tainted material and damaged part of the site, his court papers said.
"We had piled up a half-million-dollars worth of salvage in the yard before Clifford threw me out. Now that scrap is already being moved off the site," said Sullivan. He denied his workers mishandled asbestos or damaged the site.
"The plant is now half-destroyed," Moosup Selectman Paul Sweet said. "We don't know where this is going, and I do not have a good feeling about it.'' Sweet added that "a lot of stuff has already been taken out of that mill ... we are very familiar with what happened at Beech-Nut."
In Canajoharie, the former Beech-Nut plant, which Clifford purchased in December 2013, remains partially demolished after an ongoing series of disputes between Clifford and his contractors over unpaid bills, as well as issues with Clifford's failure to file proper federally required asbestos removal permits.
Tons of valuable scrap metal from Beech-Nut, which Clifford initially vowed he would redevelop, are long gone, according to Village Mayor Francis Avery. He estimates it will cost millions of dollars to remove asbestos and finish demolition of the massive structure.
Village Code Enforcement Officer Cliff Dorrough said he barred demolition workers from the main plant during 2014, because there were no permits sought for asbestos removal or demolition. Dorrough said he returned a few months later to find tons of valuable scrap metal had been cut out in areas tainted with asbestos.
Last week, Avery said, the village issued arrest warrants for a principal of an Oklahoma-based company, B&B Recycling of Broken Arrow, hired by Clifford to take down a building, for leaving behind worthless piles of rubble around the 20-acre site. The warrants cite state building code violations.
With work at Beech-Nut now at a standstill, Montgomery County officials are taking tentative steps to explore potential foreclosure on the property for more than a half-million dollars in delinquent property taxes.
Kenneth Rose, CEO and director of the Montgomery County Business Development Center, said the county is seeking an environmental study of the property to see how much asbestos remains and how expensive it will be to remove so the site can be cleared for potential redevelopment.
The troubled Beech-Nut demolition has been a major headache for the village, which saw the plant close in 2010, taking good-paying jobs and a big share of the village tax base with it. The state provided tens of millions of dollars in assistance for Beech-Nut to relocate to a new plant in the Montgomery County town of Florida, but no funds were earmarked to deal with the old plant. Beech-Nut later sold it to Clifford for $200,000.
Clifford has claimed he has no further responsibility for the property due to its December 2014 sale to another Ohio-based company, TD Development Inc. This company is owned by an apparent Clifford business associate, Jeff Wendel.
Garrett Flynn, Clifford's lawyer, confirmed TD Development Inc. is owned by Wendel. He declined comment on the situation in Connecticut.
Avery called Clifford's claim "total baloney." The mayor said when Clifford first came to the village for meetings about his redevelopment plans for Beech-Nut, Wendel accompanied him. "They were working together. For Clifford to say now that he is no longer involved? We all know better," Avery said.
In April 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said that Clifford faced hefty fines for not filing required asbestos removal notices at Beech-Nut. So far, no enforcement action has been publicly forthcoming. EPA regional spokesman Elias Rodriguez had no additional information to provide on Monday.
EPA regional officials in Connecticut referred questions regarding the dispute in Moosup, and potential issues with asbestos, to Connecticut state environmental officials. The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection could not provide comment in time for deadline.
Last summer, Clifford also acquired a former rubber factory in Derby, Conn., with a promise similar to the one he made at Beech-Nut to rehabilitate and redevelop the property.
In Ohio in 2012, Clifford sought bankruptcy protection, according to records from U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Ohio. He faced about $1.3 million in claims from creditors, who received payments totaling about $36,700.
In the bankruptcy records, an Ohio couple claimed they were defrauded by Clifford after hiring him to build a million-dollar home. He was paid $240,000, substituted inferior materials and walked off the job without finishing the work, according to a bankruptcy court filing by the couple, who said they lost about $400,000. They also alleged that Clifford filed a falsified mechanics lien against their property for more than $200,000.
http://www.timesunion.com/tuplus-business/article/Beech-Nut-plant-developer-sued-in-Connecticut-6860709.php
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Up to $10 million in cleanup costs for former Beech-Nut factory
Jan 27, 2017 | Times Union
By Brian Neering
Washington, D.C.-based architectural planner will tour the partially demolished and contaminated former Beech-Nut plant this week as part of efforts by Montgomery County officials to craft a plan to redevelop the troubled site.
Elizabeth Okeke-Von Batten, program director of the American Architecture Foundation, will visit downtown Canajoharie on Friday to see the remains of the 27-acre plant, which a would-be developer claims to have sold after stripping it of valuable scrap while leaving behind toxic asbestos.
"We are looking to create a phased strategy for the site, for how it can be cleaned up and reused," said Okeke-Von Batten. "I want to walk the site, and get to know the village."
She is scheduled to meet with County Executive Matt Ossenfort; Canajoharie Village Mayor Francis Avery; Ken Rose and Bill Roehr, of the county Business Development Center; Ron Dievendorf, village deputy mayor; and Bob Wilson, chairman of the village planning board.
In August, several of those officials also will be traveling to the not-for-profit foundation's national offices for a planning session on Beech-Nut, said Okeke-Von Batten.
Meanwhile, state economic development officials in the Department of State are helping the county apply for the next round of consolidated funding to help support planning, said Rose.
Last year, the county filed an application, but it was not funded. The state provided tens of millions of dollars in help for Beech-Nut to relocate from the village to a new plant in the Town of Florida, but no funds were earmarked to deal with the old, 851,000 square-foot plant.
A state spokesman said officials are "providing assistance to the county and village in seeking and attracting other resources to support the project as they arise."
Also, said Rose, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is conducting an engineering survey of the property, which contains asbestos-contaminated demolition debris left behind in trash bins.
"We are seeing support at the state and federal level," Rose added. County officials have estimated it could cost between $5 million and $10 million to finish the demolition and clean up asbestos.
EPA spokesman Elias Rodriguez said the agency this spring found asbestos-tainted cinderblocks in construction debris. "EPA has determined that a cleanup is necessary to stabilize, remove and properly dispose of the masonry block which is asbestos-containing material," he said. "EPA will seek to have the parties that are responsible conduct or pay for the cleanup."
After the plant closed in 2010, it was purchased from Beech-Nut by Ohio developer Todd Clifford, owner of TD Development LLC. Disputes later broke out between Clifford and village officials over the developer's alleged failure to have proper permits to cover asbestos removal and stripping of scrap.
After Clifford bought the site, property taxes were not paid, and the delinquent bill now tops a half-million dollars.
In March, a local judge issued an arrest warrant for the owner of an Oklahoma-based recycling company hired by Clifford to take down parts of the plant. The warrant from Minden Town Court against B&B Recycling cites numerous state building code violations.
Clifford claims that he sold the property in December 2014 to TD Development Inc., owned by an associate, Jeff Wendel, who had worked with Clifford on the Beech-Nut project. There has been no work on the site for months.
In January, Clifford was sued in federal court by a Wisconsin-based recycling company, Wood and Bricks LLC, for up to $1 million in a dispute over scrap from the demolition of the former Kaman Corp. aerospace plant in Moosup, Conn.
Wood and Bricks owner Arthur Sullivan said he paid Clifford for the salvage rights to the facility, but Clifford kept the salvage and fired him.
In May, an environmental consultant hired by Clifford on the Kaman demolition filed a lien against him. Strategic Environmental Services, of Sutton, Mass., claimed TD Development LLC failed to pay more than $290,000 for work dating to May 2015.
http://www.timesunion.com/tuplus-business/article/Up-to-10-million-in-cleanup-costs-for-former-8316480.php
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Buyer of Derby factory under a cloud in New York
Jun 15, 2015 | Connecticut Post
By Hugh Bailey
Derby officials say they’re happy to see some activity planned at one of its long-vacant factories.
But the company that bought the facility this month has come under fire for a similar project that left a New York town with nothing but empty buildings to show for its troubles.
After the former Derby Cellular factory at 150 Roosevelt Drive closed down in 2009, the city searched for a new use for the property, which fronts the Housatonic River. The manufacturer of rubber products at the two-story, 150,000-square-foot facility had once been among the city’s top employers, but it sat vacant and unwanted through multiple attempts to sell it.
On June 2, the property, which had been on the market for $500,000, sold to a development team for just $10,000. TD Development, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, plans to demolish a portion of the building, renovate the rest and then re-introduce the property to the market on a for-lease or for-sale basis, said Alan M. Fischer, of Fischer Real Estate, who represented both the seller and the buyer.
Derby Mayor Anita Dugatto said the city will be keeping a close watch on the process.
“It wasn’t a buyer we were familiar with,” she said. “We’re waiting for something to come through zoning to see what they have in mind.”
The developer, it turns out, has run into controversy over the past year in upstate New York, with Canajoharie, a town of 2,100 with a massive abandoned factory in its center, left with a remediation calamity in the wake of TD Development’s involvement.
http://www.ctpost.com/business/article/Buyer-of-Derby-factory-under-a-cloud-in-New-York-6327648.php
Moosup, CT
TD Development
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