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Connor Homes To Purchase Standard Register Building

36 Year Old Addison County Company Finds a New Headquarters

photo by Mike Cameron Materials being measured and cut to size with historical accuracy at Connor Homes.

Tuesday April 10, 2007

By Mike Cameron

    Connor Homes of Middlebury has reached an agreement to purchase  the Standard Register Building on Route 7 South.

    Michael C. Connor the company’s president told The Valley Voice on Friday, April 6th, 2007 that his 36 year old company will be moving from their present location on Exchange Street to the Standard complex once the Standard Register Corporation completes the final phase of closing the plant and ending its Middlebury operations.  “As far as a timetable is concerned we will defer to the folks at Standard Register.  As they finalize their last days at the plant we will then begin to move from Exchange Street.  We are very pleased to have been able to  reach an agreement with Standard Register and we look forward to moving into the much larger facility.  We have been looking for more space and this opportunity came along at the right time.”  A purchase price was not discussed.

    Needing more space to expand is not new to Connor Homes.  The company began in the early 70’s and has shown steady growth for over 36 years.  They have over 400 completed homes to their credit.

    Like their predecessors at Standard Register, who will now be leaving Middlebury after years as a highly specialized business form printing facility, Connor Homes will be continuing that tradition of highly specialized manufacturing.   “Since the mid 90’s Connor Homes has been building homes designed from original archived prints, dimensions from old farmhouses, knowledge gained from studying Colonial proportions, and inspiration from clients,” according to a company prospectus.

    Today the company is an industry leader in the design and construction of Colonial Reproduction and early New England Classic homes

    Connor Sales and Marketing Director Holly Kelton also looks towards the future. “We currently have two former Standard Register employees on our staff and there is potential for more staff to be added as we continue to grow.”  

    Both Kelton and Connor look forward to the day three years from now when it will be possible according to company projections to bring the employment compliment up to 90.  “It will be exciting working towards that goal,” Kelton explained.

    It is difficult for anyone to visualize why the company would need the thousands of square feet of space their long range plan is calling for until their unique manufacturing process is understood.

    Storage is needed to keep ready to ship, pre-manufactured home sections secure and out of the elements until they are shipped to the homeowner via the customers local builder.  

    Connor explained that home builders have become very impressed with the process and the quality of the finished product.

    The new Standard Register building location will also allow for more room in the administration, design, millshop, and panelization areas.   Loading and shipping will also be much more accessible with Standard’s existing multi-truck loading docks.

    “Right now as far as space in concerned we are bursting at the seams here on Exchange Street. We are ready to begin the next chapter of our company,” Connor explained while walking through the millshop exchanging greeting with the carpenters who were hard at work with several projects all going on at once.

    “It’s difficult to understand at a glance how this all comes together.  We have people on staff who start the process that are very well educated in historical architecture.  We can build particular style homes in kit form and ship it to your site.

    When we move into our new location we will have room displays and a museum so that people can visit the plant and learn more about the detail and history that goes into what we build,”  

    The move is likely to take place in early summer if all goes well.  Connor is convinced that it will be a good move for his business and good news for Middlebury.

    “Knowing that you are a Vermont company that is environmentally friendly and historically driven while being located in an historic village like Middlebury is good for the area, our customers and us,” Connor said.   
     
 

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