[T]he founder of Connor Homes in Middlebury is hopeful that the company can be salvaged.
Last week Michael Connor, who started the company about 25 years ago, found out that the principal investors were no longer willing to fund the business.
Connor says there was little warning that the financial backers had decided to pull out.
“It was a surprise to all of us when the present owners, who took over back in 2012, suddenly decided they don’t want to fund us anymore,” Connor said.
Sue Hoxie, president of the Addison County Chamber of Commerce, said the company wasn’t going to make the next payroll. Connor Homes was dropped from the chamber’s membership roll last year after failing to pay annual dues of $1,000.
Last Tuesday the company told the Addison Independent that they were putting their entire workforce — about 65 employees — on furlough. Connor says he hopes to buy the company back from the investors and reopen soon. “We are scrambling, trying to buy it back,” said Connor. “I think we’re making some very good progress on that.”
Connor Homes specializes in custom designed homes that are built on site in Middlebury and then shipped nationwide. After Middlebury College and Porter Hospital, it is one of the area’s larger employers.
The company first partnered with equity investors in 2007 when they moved their offices and construction facility from Exchange Street to the current 115,000-square-foot building on Route 7 south.
That was on the eve of the financial collapse, which upended the construction and housing trades. But Connor didn’t sell the majority share of the business until 2012. Looking to stay afloat and potentially expand, Connor agreed to sell the company to the same group of investors headed up by a former client, Samuel Pryor, and investment fund manager David Forer. Through a limited liability company based in Delaware, DF Building Co., Pryor and Forer purchased a 99 percent stake in the company. Connor held onto the remaining share.
Samuel F. Pryor, a graduate of Taft School and Yale College, worked with the banking company Brown Brothers Harriman in the 1980s and has served as a director of the group’s International Equity Fund.
The mailing address for Delaware, DF Building Co. listed with the Vermont Secretary of State’s office is for Intermarket Corp., an investment advisory firm in New York City. Forer is managing director and general partner at Intermarket, which manages investments in debt securities, including distressed investments. Intermarket’s prime broker and custodian is JP Morgan Chase.
Soon after Connor Homes’ majority share was sold to Pryor and Forer, Brattleboro-based J.S. Benson Windows and Doors, an affiliate of Connor Homes, moved into the same construction facility.
According to Connor there were some signs that the company was perhaps heading in the wrong direction. Connor said there were investments in machinery and software that seemed more appropriate for a business many times larger than Connor Homes.
“They were not industry savvy investors and so they got themselves into a problem that they shouldn’t have,” Connor said.
At that point Connor was no longer involved in the company’s day-to-day operations, he says. According to Connor, the investors brought in their own people and asked him to primarily work in sales and design, with the hope of shoring up the company’s brand identity.
To that end he seems to have had some success. Last year the company was featured on the popular PBS television show “This Old House,” an Emmy Award-winning home improvement and remodeling series. Connor Homes provided a pre-engineered 3,000-square-foot home that was assembled over the course of several episodes for a young family in Essex, Massachusetts.
And, even though Connor says they’re busier than they’ve ever been, apparently the company wasn’t providing the return on investment that the backers had hoped for. Marketing Director Thomasina Magoon told the Addison Independent that the new owners were hoping to turn Connor Homes into a $100 million company. That hasn’t happened.
Pryor did not return calls for this story. Forer declined to comment. The company phone number for J.S. Benson and Connor Homes is no longer in service.
“I’m sure they were well-intentioned,” said Connor. “But they took it in a direction that made little sense to me.” Connor added that he is still on good terms with the investors and that everyone wants to see the operation continue.
Connor says if he’s successful in reacquiring the company, he will be the sole owner and will do everything he can to retain current staffing levels. He said he’s explaining the situation to clients and hopes to be able to provide them and employees with more information by the end of the week.
