Orion’s business growing in Conn.

a difference a year makes. Orion Manufacturing LLC, a small start-up in Mystic, had three employees last March, and it covered four work bays in an industrial park building off Flanders Road.

Today, the architectural woodworking manufacturer has seven employees, whose workspace now spans six of the eight work bays in the building, with each bay representing about 1,200 square feet.

If its business growth continues, says partner Scott Russotto, Orion Manufacturing may need even more space. “There are some growing pains,” he says, “but we do seem to be growing.”

Russotto is one of three partners who manage Orion — the others are Geoffrey G. Foote and his son Byron N. Foote. The company was founded in the summer of 2009, but Russotto says the business didn’t really get rolling— albeit slowly— until January 2010. Since its founding, the company has built up an impressive roster of clients for its custom millwork and furnishings, including the upscale Ocean House in Westerly as well as Pfizer Inc., the Mohegan Sun and Yale University.

Orion Manufacturing is also a proud union shop. Its skilled craftsmen are all members of the International Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, Local 26. Russotto says union membership is important to Orion Manufacturing. It ensures a good wage and benefits for employees, and it’s helpful when the custom millwork shop does business with larger companies, including large constructionmanagement companies, which often are union shops.

“When I grew up, my Dad was in the machine-tool industry,” recalls Russotto. “Unions were a lot more predominant then, and it seems there was more money going around for the working ranks than it seems there is today ... It’s a sign of the times, I guess.”

Opening a manufacturing business in Connecticut is no small task, and opening a company during an economic downturn certainly took courage. But Russotto said that he and his partners believe in their work, and their workers, and they can produce intricate carpentry

The agency struggled at first, with membership and leadership turnover and frustration at rejections of cleanup grant applications and failed negotiations with major prospective developers.

But on Feb. 17, 2011, the agency celebrated its first successful federal Environmental Protection Agency cleanup grant and broke ground with the start of actual work on the property renamed Preston Riverwalk.

The bulldozers haven’t stopped since. More grants came in and as salvage values soared, demolition contractor Manafort Brothers Inc. was able to tear down buildings at no cost to the town. Public Works crews cleared that old roadway to the river, and P& W Railroad has agreed to restore an old crossing over the tracks to give the town access to the water.

Meanwhile, the PRA put out requests for development proposals in the worst economy in decades. The agency remains in closed- door negotiations with Stamford development firm JHM Financial LLC on an undisclosed mixed-use project for the property. Separate negotiations are under way for a brokerage agreement with the PRA’S hired real estate consultant firm Jones Lang Lasalle for future marketing of the property.

This spring, these volunteers will give a progress report to their “bosses” — Preston residents. The PRA anticipates making public presentations in April to residents to update progress on the development talks and seek approval for up to $4 million in town funds to match millions in state grants and loans for the cleanup.

Volunteer PRA members have dedicated what amounts to fulltime hours every week on the hospital property project.

Member Frank Ennis works daily with Manafort Bros. staff keeping track of demolition plans and any issues that arise.

Security a concern

PRA member John Harris, a Mohegan tribal member, is in charge of security, a monumental task on the campus that has been ransacked by vandals and metal thieves for a decade. The PRA has had to create a letter code system to discuss demolition plans in public, because they’ve learned if demolition of a specific building is announced, vandals appear instantly to strip it of whatever valuables remain.

Even with the Manafort security fence surrounding the heart of campus, Harris, town Public Works crews and the town’s two resident state troopers frequently chase away trespassers.

PRA member Jim Bell is in charge of grant writing and funding, working closely with Town Planner Kathy Warzecha on complex federal and state grant applications that have brought the town $3 million to date — with $ 245,000 in town matching funds. The town also received approval of up to $ 4 million more in a low- interest state loan that would require an equal town match.

Four federal grant applications for a combined $800,000 are pending, and thanks to the recent top priority listing in the regional plan, the town is eligible to apply for another $1 million federal grant from the Economic Development Agency.

“The key in a bad economy is to clean it up,” PRA Chairman Sean Nugent said, “and we knew we had to get funding to clean it up. It was a slow process. It was a learning curve for us in that too. There were a number of rejections that were difficult for the agency to swallow at first.”

While the entire process is taking longer than the PRA’S own initial ambitious two-year timeframe, the progress in the past year since the agency broke ground Feb. 17, 2011, on the first demolition project, has been a whirlwind.

To date, 16 named buildings have been torn down at Norwich Hospital, along with several smaller outbuildings that weren’t even on the map. Manafort has agreed to tear down whatever buildings possible for salvage value alone — even shaking the crumbled concrete to extract metal support cables and beams.

The activity has cleared large chunks of the property, revealing picturesque river views on the rolling hillside. Across Route 12, two old cottages and a fourbay garage have been removed, giving a view to the former campus reservoir, where employees used to swim on weekends.

Admin building saved

In the future, this area could be reopened for fishing and passive recreation for town residents, but not for swimming, PRA officials said.

The PRA has determined the campus’ first building, the former Administration Building, is the only one that can be saved for redevelopment. In here, the floors and walls are solid without so much as a creak.

Broken windows have been boarded and the roof shored up against the winter. The town even managed to obtain an ornate fireplace mantel and surrounding woodwork that the state had removed from the former superintendent’s office. When the building is restored, so will be the fireplace mantel.

“I think it’s incredible what they’ve done,” said First Selectman Robert Congdon, an ex- officio member of the PRA. “You have to remember, these are volunteers working on this. They have done a tremendous service to the town.” Outside observers agreed. Tony Sheridan, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut, called Norwich Hospital a major economic development site for the region.

He expressed anger that the state allowed the site to crumble for 15 years with little regard for its importance to the region. He noted that Gov. Dannel P. Malloy seemed to apologize for that neglect and has responded to Preston’s request for assistance.

“My hat’s off to Preston for taking this on,” Sheridan said. “It has enormous potential for the region.” c.bessette@theday.com