Pitney Bowes to move 200 employees to Danbury [Danbury News Times]

Danbury News Times
Story as it appeared in the Danbury News Times on May 13, 2011

Pitney Bowes officials confirmed Thursday the company will close one of its two buildings in Shelton and move 200 employees to Danbury, where a Global Technology Center is under development.

The company has submitted plans for a $6.2 million renovation of its existing Danbury facility on Executive Drive to make room for the new employees and the center, which will allow for more collaboration among employees.

Matt Broder, vice president of external communications for the S&P 500 company based in Stamford, said the majority of employees who will be moving to Danbury are engineers.

“We are finding that our customers are demanding that our hardware and software integrate more seamlessly,” Broder said. “As a result, it makes sense to have engineers who design all our product lines located together so they can identify better ways to integrate our products and services for our customers.”

He added that the renovations will mirror work done several years ago at the company’s world headquarters to allow for more open spaces and increased collaboration among the employees.

Broder said the company chose to consolidate its research and development at the Danbury facility for several reasons, including that the expansive building had room for the renovations and “we love the Danbury area and the work force that’s available there.”

Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton said city officials have been working with the company for more than six months to help facilitate the move.

“We’re very excited to have more people coming to Danbury who will spend money at our restaurants and our stores,” he said. “We are also excited that Pitney Bowes believes the city is a good place to do business. This is good news for the city.”

Boughton added that the multi-million dollar investment the company is making in its local facility “reaffirms their commitment to Danbury.”

“The more they consolidate their business here the better,” he said. “They certainly had a lot of choices and could have moved out of state. We are very happy they are staying here in Danbury.”

Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce president Stephen Bull said the move will only add to the city’s strong labor market.

“Danbury continues to have the lowest unemployment in the state, and that didn’t happen by accident,” he said. “Danbury is a great place to do business. Pitney Bowes has been an employer of choice in the Greater Danbury area for many years and we are very pleased to hear that they will be expanding their facility.”

Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti said he doesn’t want to see a single job leave the city, but he understands that “companies, when they have financial issues, make moves that suit their interests.”

While the company reported first quarter profits last month of 42 cents per share, the company’s revenues declined during the same period by nearly two percent.

Lauretti said Pitney Bowes consolidated its operations in Shelton 15 years ago and “they liked the city so much” that they built a second building.

“Shelton is the cheapest place in Connecticut to do business, bar none,” he said.
Broder said they hope to have renovations to the Danbury building completed by November, when they will begin moving employees.

One building will remain open in Shelton, where most employees work with the company’s recovery services and innovation center.

Broder said the Shelton facility that will close, at 35 Waterview Drive, was put up for sale earlier this year.