Praxair buys GE building in Danbury for $20M

Praxair has bought the former GE Capital building in Danbury for its new global headquarters. Photo Monday, August 3, 2015. Praxair has bought the former GE Capital building in Danbury for its new global headquarters. Photo Monday, August 3, 2015. Photo: Carol Kaliff / Hearst Connecticut Media Buy photo Photo: Carol Kaliff / Hearst Connecticut Media Image 1 of / 6 Caption Close Praxair buys GE building in Danbury for $20M 1 / 6 Back to Gallery

DANBURY — Praxair, the industrial-gases giant, said Tuesday it has purchased the former GE Capital building in Danbury for its global headquarters in a long-awaited announcement after the company scrapped a high-profile deal to build a new head office from the ground up.

Sources with knowledge of the deal told Hearst Connecticut on Tuesday morning that Praxair (NYSE: PX), a Fortune 500 company, purchased the 179,000-square-foot building in the Berkshire Corporate Park for about $20 million.

The company canceled plans earlier this year to build its own headquarters in Danbury for a cost of at least $65 million. People familiar with the project said at the time the company abandoned the plan after it became too expensive.

“After a thorough evaluation of opportunities to lease, build, or buy office space in the greater Danbury area, Praxair will be relocating its global headquarters to 10 Riverview Drive in Danbury,” the company said in a statement released Tuesday afternoon. “The Riverview property, purchased from GE Capital Corp., is an excellent fit for our business and we anticipate completing the move by the end of 2016.

“We are proud of the work our employees do here in Connecticut and around the globe to sustain our position as leaders in the industrial gas industry and in our local communities,” the statement said. “We appreciate the support of our state and local governments and community leaders throughout this process.”

State officials including Gov. Dannel P. Malloy last year had offered Praxair an incentive package worth about $30 million to keep them in the state. Malloy and state Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Catherine Smith announced the deal at a news conference held last October.

Sources said the company has applied with the state for similar incentives as part of the new deal that emerged this week.

David Treadwell, a spokesman for the DECD confirmed Tuesday the department was in talks with Praxair about the purchase of the GE building but was unable to provide details.

“We are still negotiating a package that would assist them in that project,” Treadwell said.

Local officials said they were thrilled to learn that Praxair will be staying in the city, but they were also saddened by the loss of GE Capital.

Fairfield-based General Electric had quietly been making plans to move GE Capital employees out of the Danbury space as it sells off its financial unit.

“Praxair is an exceptional corporate citizen and their philanthropic efforts, both with the chamber and Danbury Hospital, are well known,” said Steven Bull, president of the Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce. “The fact that we are able to retain them is a huge plus for our region.“

Bull said while he hates to see GE leave Danbury, he hopes some divisions will spin off and become productive corporate clients in the area, much like Praxair, which began as a spin off from Danbury-based Union Carbide.

“They have a great workforce,” he said about GE, “and maybe something positive can still come of that.”

Praxair is leasing space inside the Matrix Corporate Center in Danbury. The company has about 400 employees working at the headquarters.

According to land records, GE purchased five acres of land in the corporate park for about $2.5 million in 1998 before constructing the current building on the site. The city last appraised the building and property in 2013 for $25 million.

dperrefort@newstimes.com