If you got your butt kicked in a food fight you’ll want Amodex to remove the ketchup and mustard splatter from your shirt. An errant Sharpie bleed through your pants pocket? Yup, you need Amodex. Red wine stains? Ah, Amodex. (Not recommended for teeth.) The third-generation, woman-owned Bridgeport small business will expand its operation into a new facility in the West End after the Planning & Zoning Commission approved its application last week.
Founded in 1958 by Peter and Sylvia Fatse, Amodex is a leading, non-toxic ink and stain remover. Today, daughter Beverlee Fatse Dacey runs the family business with her three sons.
“We’re excited to get to grow in our home city of Bridgeport,” Dacey said in a new releases issued by the city. “The new facility will let us streamline some of our operation and give us the space we need to expand. We’re also grateful for the help we’ve received from the city and the state, which has allowed us to hire more people here in the Park City.”
Amodex’s new facility, 1354 State Street, occupies the Bridgeport Police Department’s former West End precinct, according to city Communications Director Brett Broesder. Backed by a $300,000 DECD Small Business Express Program loan and tax incentives associated with Bridgeport’s Enterprise Zone, Amodex purchased the property from the city at market value. [Waiting to hear back on value.] The incentives have led to three more full-time employees.
“Amodex embodies the vision I have for Bridgeport’s future,” says Mayor Bill Finch in a news release. “With deep roots in our city, they are producing a safe, eco-friendly product and creating news jobs and growing our economy. In Bridgeport, we’re working hard to develop a business environment where small businesses like Amodex can grow and thrive.”
I am fascinated by the news. Aren’t you?
There was an attorney who was famous nationally 50 years ago who wrote “How to Avoid Probate” by the name of Norman Dacey. I wonder if there is a connection? Dacey stirred things up in the legal profession certainly.
Sounds like this product is just what is needed when there is a mess. And we have messes in Bridgeport that need cleaning locally, probably the reason for the US Attorney for CT posting the 1-800-CALLFBI phone number recently. Fiscally speaking, the loan came from a government-sponsored fund and there are also “tax incentives” that were not specified to purchase a City-owned property at “market rate.” Will that mean the value of that property on October 1, 2008 or as the value may be in early 2015? Will the property owner have a graded property tax and for how long? New jobs in the City for City residents or from the suburbs?
Asking questions allows us to get a fuller story than has come from Brett Broesder. If this is a development win, I wonder why David Kooris is not telling the story. Time will tell.
Is this just another tax-negative, minimum-job-creating warehouse facility Fairfield, Norwalk or Shelton didn’t want? How many jobs will this bring to Bridgeport? What value was added to the Bridgeport grand list? What additional tax revenue will this mean for Bridgeport in the coming fiscal year?
Just wondering …
Amodex has been a staple in offices for many years. It works! You can purchase it locally in Stop & Shop and other stores I assume. It is refreshing to see a product ‘Made in Bridgeport.’ This is more significant than suggesting Bridgeport ‘has arrived’ because a Starbucks and a Chipotle sandwich shop will be part of the Steel Point project (or so we are told).
This appears to be a reasonable use of government incentives, including those associated with an enterprise zone. It is pleasing to see incentives used for something other than subsidized rental property and cutting property tax deals with ‘developers’ resulting in the rest of us paying more taxes.
JML is correct in asking for details. Were the details reviewed with the planning and zoning application or did the city council ‘review’ it?
The wording of the news release is carefully worded. Missing is the silly slogan about Bridgeport getting better, but it would be helpful to see some detail.
Is the product being manufactured here? Were manufacturing operations expanded here?
Another warehouse operation is not a positive for Bridgeport. Better-than-nothing is not what will get us back to where we need to be as a municipality. (Sometimes, nothing is better -it costs less in city services and keeps the site free for higher, tax-positive uses.)
What is the full story about this site? What operations will be conducted here? Where is Amodex currently manufactured?
Brett forgot to mention that location was available because in fact, contrary to Finch press releases, we no longer have community policing in Bridgeport. No West End, no East Side, nothing but Congress Street. Getting better every day!
Baffled! Me too.
I didn’t know the west end community police building was closed.
I must have missed that headline when I was reading the paper about the great Bridgeport renewal regarding the Starbucks foot forward Steal Point opening.
Something new every day.
Isn’t this where the city sunk a ton of money into completely gutting the building to build their shooting range and then dropped that plan???
There is no way this makes any financial sense. It’s a lose-lose deal.
Whatever happens in this city is well deserved by the taxpayer. Bridgeport taxpayers are lazy and really don’t do or say anything as this administration screws them left and right.
Do any of you realize this company has been in Bridgeport for years? It’s located two blocks over on Hancock street. It’s merely making a move to a larger location so even with the tax breaks I am sure we are gaining some tax money or even just what they are paying now and it puts this great building back in use since the stupid people of Bridgeport didn’t want a police shooting range there because it was across from a school. The excuses I heard from parents I don’t want cops with guns coming in and out of the building well duh it was a 24-hour-a-day active post before with cops and their guns entering and exiting the building. I would certainly want armed officers right across the street from a school where my children were but I guess I am the only one.