Storage Company will Double in Size. Watertown Project to Cost $1.3 million

Waterbury Republican-American
Thursday, April 1, 1999
By Cindy Gillis

"This project demonstrates our commitment to the Connecticut marketplace and Greater Waterbury."
A.J. Wasserstein
President, ArchivesOne

WATERTOWN- ArchivesOne, a Commercial Street business that makes its money storing other companies' records, will spend $1.3 million to nearly double its available space in Watertown.

The town's Planning and Zoning Commission recently approved a plan to build a 40, 000 - square-foot addition adjacent to the existing 50,000-square-foot storage center. Borghese Building & Engineering of Torrington will be the general contractor for the expansion.

ArchivesOne moved into the 200 Commercial St. Location in 1997, Mary Greene, zoning enforcement officer, said Wednesday. The 8-acre property was formerly the Diamond Ginger Ale site and later owned by Connecticut Hospice.

ArchivesOne, which began in 1991, offers records management and storage to more than 500 businesses, including banks, law firms, hospitals, corporations and medical practices, according to information provided by the company.

The storage company operates facilities in Waterbury, Watertown and Milford.

"This project demonstrates our commitment to the Connecticut marketplace and Greater Waterbury," A.J. Wasserstein, company president , said in prepared statement.

Zoning commission members, who approved the expansion during a special meeting March 10, were pleased by how little traffic the business generates but concerned about the proposed 40-foot height of the addition.

Generally, no more than two employees are at the Watertown location, with a projected maximum of five workers on-site in the future, Wasserstein told the commission during a February meeting.

On a daily basis, about four or five panel vans visit the storage facility to retrieve or deliver hard copies of documents. Tractor-trailer traffic is unusual. Wasserstein said, but will occur if a large number of documents is being delivered.

ArchivesOne offers storage and delivery of records to customers from lower Westchester County, N.Y., to Springfield, Mass., according to the company. The Watertown expansion will create 500,000 new storage units. The height of the new construction, about twice that of the existing structure, is well within the 60-foot limit in the Commercial Street area, but commission members were concerned about how much of the building would be visible to neighbors and passers-by. Because of the elevation and grade, the rear portion of the property is not visible from the road.

ArchivesOne is building a 40,000-square-foot addition on its Commercial Street property. This graphic shows the existing building at the front of the 8-acre parcel and the new structure to be constructed at the rear.