Montville — William R. Allen thought he had retired from the construction business a few years ago, but the Great Recession was an unsettling time and he had to dive back in.

Now, 50 years after first hanging a shingle for W.R. Allen & Co. Inc., he's hoping to pass along the business in five years to his grandson, Patrick W.R. Caron, a 20-year-old student at New England Tech.

"I've had a lot of ups and downs," Allen, now in his mid 70s, said last month during an interview at his offices on Route 32.

At one time while busy constructing Bob's Discount Furniture stores in New England, Allen employed up to 52 in the business. Currently, he's down to about a dozen, including office help.

"We're a small, niche company now," he said. "We don't do huge jobs anymore."

Allen, inspired by uncle Hap Smith to get into the business, built the company from a basically one-man operation that specialized in renovating buildings after fires to a firm doing millions of dollars worth of work on everything from custom homes and remodels to shopping centers.

Allen, who grew up in Montville and attended Norwich Tech, said his first job in 1969 was to build the Dixie Donuts shop on West Main Street in Norwich. In the 1970s, he remembers working on a summer home for CBS News legend Dan Rather in the Jericho Hills section of Old Lyme.

He later turned to custom homes and remodeling until those jobs dried up in the 1980s and he spent four and a half years with The Simon Konover Co. building and renovating shopping centers.

In the mid-1990s, he said, he got a huge break when Bill Sullivan, owner of M.J. Sullivan car dealerships, had him retrofit one of his buildings to create a Bob's Discount Furniture showroom in New London. He worked with former Montville neighbor Bob Kaufman, the retailer's spokesman and former owner, to build about two dozen of the stores in the Northeast comprising more than 500,000 square feet.

He's also responsible for building the Seconn Manufacturing plant in Waterford and has done a ton of work for local banks and credit unions, including Core Plus, Charter Oak and Dime Bank. Dime Bank also has been there when Allen's company required loans to complete projects.

"They've given us more than ample support," Allen said. "Through the good years and bad years, they stood by me and supported me." 

In addition, he's had a longstanding relationship with AAA in Hartford, building and renovating many of their facilities, including one in Waterford. He also has done work for nonprofits, including United Community and Family Services and Thames Valley Council for Community Action.

But Allen had three daughters with his late first wife, Rosalyn, and none wanted to be involved in the construction business. He has been in business, however, for the past three decades with son-in-law Chris Kinder, and they have their Allen Carpets & Tile storefront on the ground level of the Route 32 building that also houses his construction-firm offices and their Bathliners LLC showroom.

As for advertising, Allen said, "It's all word of mouth."

What some folks don't realize, though, is that while Allen is known for major jobs such as construction for Shoreline Eye Group in Waterford, Shoreline Periodontics in New London, St. Jude's Common in Norwich and Bouvier Insurance in Montville, he does commercial and residential work of virtually any size.

"We do the small jobs, too," he said. "A lot of people around here don't know what we do. We're known for the big jobs."

Allen said he figures the company still juggles up to 50 projects each year, using subcontractors for much of the mechanical work. A lot of work has involved the Navy, and he has been known to do work not only in Groton, but elsewhere around the country, including San Diego, Norfolk, Va., and Bethesda, Md.

Through the years, Allen said, he has employed "very loyal men," including one who has been with the company nearly 40 years. His right-hand man, Jim Lavasseur, has been a key component of the business, as has company secretary Eileen Johnson, he said.

Now living in Westerly with second wife Geri, the former Montville Citizen of the Year can look back over a successful career that, if all goes well with his grandson, will stay in the family for another half century.

"It's hard to give up a run after 50 years," Allen said.

l.howard@theday.com