Loyal to Waterbury, growing municipal services company pays $1.1M for second city building
Michael Puffer
(Left to right) Quality Data Service Inc. Chief Operating Officer David Crudele, founder Vincent Crudele and Project Manager Michael Crudele, at 32 Mattatuck Heights Road, a property the fast-growing company recently purchased for expansion.
Waterbury-based municipal services company Quality Data Service Inc. considered locations in various towns during its year-long search for more space.
But it was never much of a competition.
The fast-growing company launched in Waterbury 42 years ago and leadership was focused on staying in the Brass City.
In a deal signed Monday, Quality Data paid $1.1 million for an office building in Waterbury’s East End, literally just down the road from its current location.
“We did our due diligence looking around Connecticut, but when it came down to it, Waterbury was where our family came when they moved from Italy, Waterbury’s been great to us for 50 years, Waterbury’s our home,” said Quality Data Project Manager Michael Crudele, nephew to company founder Vincent Crudele. “We had better offers in other places but we didn’t want to leave Waterbury.”
Quality Data Services currently operates out of an 18,058-square-foot industrial flex building at 121 Mattatuck Heights Road. It provides software, data management and billing services for more than 300 municipal bodies in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Missouri and Connecticut, including 163 of Connecticut’s 169 cities and towns.
This week, Quality Data acquired a 1985-vintage, 12,904-square-foot office building on 1.4 acres at 32 Mattatuck Heights Road. The company plans to move a portion of staff into the new location either in early spring or fall, avoiding the busy tax season around June and July.
The 80-employee company has doubled its employment levels over the past five years and is constantly looking to add staff, Michael Crudele said.
“We’re quickly expanding,” Michael Crudele said. “Our workforce is growing almost every day. We are meeting new clients left and right.”
Crudele credits the company’s growth to a stellar reputation for service, including around-the-clock availability.
Quality Data's leadership plans to move software developers and other data services staff into the new building either in spring or fall. That will free up space for an expansion of printing and mailing services at 121 Mattatuck Heights Road.
“We plan on turning the building into something special that clients will love to see and employees will be proud to work in,” Michael Crudele said of the new building.
Built by an immigrant
Vincent Crudele was 14 when he immigrated to Waterbury with a sister, going to live with their grandfather in a search for opportunity.
The family operated a well-known pizza shop, Domenic’s, on Wolcott Street. After graduating from Waterbury State Technical College with a data processing degree, Vincent went to work in Derby for W.E. Bassett, a manufacturer of personal grooming tools like tweezers and nail clippers.
Three years later, Crudele took a job with ACI, a small Waterbury company that provided contracted administrative services for other companies. Crudele managed billing services for municipal customers of Colonial Bank of Waterbury. At the time the records were kept on paper.
At age 27, Crudele in 1981 launched Quality Data Service in a leased downtown Waterbury office. He started with a staff of three and a massive computer that cost $200,000. He recalls it was about 15 feet long, 4 feet tall and 3 feet wide.
Later, Crudele moved the company to a roughly 8,000-square-foot office building he purchased in Waterbury’s Town Plot Neighborhood, once a predominantly Italian enclave. The next move took the company to 121 Mattatuck Heights Road.
"I'm proud of what I've accomplished, for someone who didn't speak a word of English when I got here," Crudele said.
After four decades in Waterbury, Crudele said he never seriously contemplated a property beyond the Brass City.
“It was never part of the cards,” Vincent said. “It was never an option as far as I was concerned.”
The property at 32 Mattatuck Heights was sold by New Waterbury LLC, whose principal, Fred M. Valenti, is president of Watertown-based auto dealer Valenti Motors Inc.
Attempts to reach Valenti Wednesday were unsuccessful.
Quality Data Chief Operating Officer David Crudele – Vincent’s son – said the building has been vacant for nearly 20 years. It had last served as administrative offices for The Waterbury Companies – a chemicals business.
David said the search for more space started at 32 Mattatuck Heights Road. He and his father drove past a “for sale” sign every day. But their first offer was not sufficient.
A year later, Crudele said, his company was willing to offer more, and the buyer was willing to compromise.
Waterbury Economic Development Director Joseph McGrath worked with Quality Services on a tentative expansion of their existing building after the first negotiation for 32 Mattatuck Heights Road failed. That idea was dropped due to insufficient space, he said.
It prompted some concern Quality Data might move, McGrath said.
“It’s a win-win for Waterbury,” McGrath said of this week’s purchase. “We are keeping a very loyal business in the City of Waterbury and there’s a very good chance they will be expanding and hiring more people.”
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments