Dan Hicks makes good on promise to hire locally

By Lloyd Garrison

When Dan Hincks bought Greenwoods Theater a year ago, he vowed to create enduring links to the community. “Once we decided to upgrade the music hall and create an upscale restaurant on

Infinity Hall’s all-Norfolk “Gang of Three” : (l-r) Mike Ross, Keith Sleeper, and Phil Cyr.

the ground floor,” says Hincks, “I was determined to hire local builders as long as they were competitive.” He was as good as his word, and Norfolk craftsmen more than met the competition.

For his general contractor, Hincks chose Phil Cyr of J & P Building and Remodeling, LLC. Mike Ross of MR Plumbing and Keith Sleeper of JK Electric and Service LLC, were Hincks’ top choices for overseeing plumbing and electrical installation.

The three form all-Norfolk construction team intent on transforming the old Greenswoods structure in time for performances in the upstairs music hall by late May. Creating a spacious ground floor restaurant with two bars and a lounge area for music hall customers could take a little longer.

Just how long will depend in part on how fast kitchen facilities in the basement can be completed. The old arched breezeway out back has been framed in and a new foundation must be laid before the area can be added to the existing basement. Once finished, the new space will vastly extend the area available for cooking, cold storage, a wine cellar, heating and air conditioning, an office for the chef and restaurant manager, and dumbwaiters for ferrying food to the restaurant upstairs.

Although they are locally based, the three Norfolkians hired by Hincks impressed him with resumes showing that they had won bids on even larger construction projects elsewhere in the state. Cyr served as general contractor for a 20,000 square foot mini-mall in Wolcott. Ross won a contract that involved converting a factory to an office complex in Southington. Sleeper brings years of management experience to his job, having served as a regional real estate manager for Cigna Insurance that involved extensive work in energy conservation. The firm he now heads up has done all the electrical work on a new factory in Ansonia.

Cyr, Ross and Sleeper are well established Norfolk residents whose children are either in Botelle School or have gone on to graduate from NW Regional 7. As parents, Ross and Cyr have a lot in common: each is father of ten-year-old, eight-year-old and twin six-year-olds.

The careers of the three men are intimately bound up with the family. When not tending the children and serving on the Norfolk Board of Education, Michele Cyr keeps J & P’s books. Keith Sleeper’s daughter, Victoria, is his office manager. Mike Ross’ wife, Tina, is a RN who handles his paper work during the week followed by a weekend nursing home job. “I’m the house mother most weekends,” says her husband.

As the new year unfolds, the present “gang of three” Norfolkians now hard at work at Infinity Hall will undoubtedly be joined by others from town in different capacities. “There will eventually be positions available for event staff and for work in the kitchen and dining room,” says Hincks. “Job applicants will have to wait until we are ready to spell out just what positions need to be filled, but we will do our utmost to continue hiring Norfolk talent.”