420 Ledyard Street
www.rent-a-uniform.com
$173,000 HCLF participation in $823,000 BankNorth Connecticut loan

David Potack, Gerry Ianonne, Raymond Neal

"The refinancing with Hartford Community Loan Fund had a significant impact on our ability to improve Unitex’s business. It created really a significant amount of money to reinvest. We bought new equipment, updated our transportation fleet, and made the business an even stronger performer," reports David Potack, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Unitex Textile Rental Services. A family-owned business for more than 80 years, Unitex specializes in the rental and laundering of uniforms and textiles used by hospitals, medical groups, and other healthcare facilities. The company has eight other facilities in the Northeast, and one affiliate in Massachusetts. Together the company’s units process 125 million pounds of medical linens and uniforms annually. Potack works closely with his brother Robert who serves as Vice President of Operations and their father Michael, who serves as President and CEO.

"We ship out thousands of pounds a week of clean uniforms and linens to our clients. Transporting that amount of product demands being close to our customers, and Hartford is a great central location in Connecticut for distribution. We can serve so many markets from here, including Massachusetts and Rhode Island," notes Potack, "and south Hartford is so easy to access with the intersection of Routes 91 and 84 close by." He calls the location a great spot for frontline manufacturing jobs, with readily available public transportation on Wethersfield Avenue and Airport Road. "We never have a problem with people getting to work easily. And our employees are all people who are ready and willing to work hard," Potack says proudly. In south Hartford, Unitex found a location that allowed easy access to customers, provided attractive real estate values, and offered "a great, pristine building at a very fair price."
 

Michael and David Potack

Indeed, Potack seems almost awed by all of the positive attributes the location offers his business. The good relationship Unitex developed with the city of Hartford began in 1996, when it built its first plant on Meadow Street. Potack recalls, "The city of Hartford was very helpful in bringing us here, and getting our facilities built and operated here. A lot of companies can benefit from doing business in Hartford. I hope more will choose to take advantage of the many good things this city has to offer, like great real estate values and intelligent, hard-working people to hire." He remembers being impressed right from the beginning with the quality of the people available for his Hartford team. While the business is highly automated and technologically current, it remains at its core a blue-collar, service-oriented operation. Potack credits the company’s very high rate of customer retention to the strong work ethic of his employees.

Catia Regina and Rosario Romero

When Unitex first purchased the South Hartford facility, Potack was unaware that HCLF could help to enhance his business. "The Hartford Economic Development Commission brought the possibility of refinancing the building to my attention. They thought it could strengthen our business. We didn’t know all of our options then, and didn’t realize that HCLF was an available partner ready to work with local businesses," recounts Potack. Because the real estate had appreciated significantly, refinancing with HCLF participating in a loan from BankNorth would free up a great deal of working capital for the company. HEDC staff working with Unitex suggested that the company talk with HCLF about putting together the financing it needed.

Mirabel Aguilar

"It sounds simple, really, but HCLF told us what they could do, and then they did what they said they would. You know, that’s just not always the case in dealing with lending institutions!" Potack jokes. He credits HCLF for knowing the process well, being a comfortable partner to do business with, and having the local expertise to get things done. He was particularly pleased with how smoothly the transaction was accomplished, HCLF’s timely and responsive manner, and the organization’s helpfulness in organizing the entire lending procedure.

Unitex ramped up its south Hartford facility on Ledyard Street from a simple distribution center to a state of art processing facility. This change also increased the plant’s employment from five people to forty-seven. "The quality of the workforce, the availability of land, the types of buildings companies can construct here … it all works together in Hartford to provide great value to businesses like Unitex," comments Potack, "and I think Hartford has a great future. There seems to be more and more investment going on here all the time."

As for HCLF’s role in the company’s success in Hartford, Potack had this to say: "We met them, we really liked them, and then they came through on every one of their promises. In my experience, that’s pretty unique. At HCLF, they’re really very committed to their mission."

Loan funds provided by CT Department of Economic and Community Development.