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 After 147 years in Holyoke, The O'Connell Companies is changing hands, but not in the way most people picture when they hear that phrase. 

The company, known around the office as TOCCI, has sold a majority stake in the business to a newly formed Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). In plain terms, the people who build, manage, and maintain TOCCI's projects every day now own a direct piece of the company itself. Quick facts: TOCCI has sold a majority stake in the company to a newly formed Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). The move gives employees a direct ownership stake in the company for the first time in its history. TOCCI traces its roots to 1879, when Daniel O'Connell founded Daniel O'Connell's Sons (DOC) in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Today, TOCCI operates as four distinct businesses spanning construction, real estate development, and property management.

A 147-Year Story Rooted in Holyoke

Daniel O'Connell founded the company in 1879, not long after stepping down as Holyoke's superintendent of streets. He named it Daniel O'Connell's Sons, or DOC, and ran it on an idea that sounds almost old-fashioned today: that hard work, integrity, and quality would carry the business further than anything else could. In 1926, his six sons, William, Charles, John, Frank, George, and Daniel, officially took the business over, keeping their father's name on the door and his standards in the field. That single construction company has since grown into four separate businesses covering construction, real estate development, and property management, all still operating under The O'Connell Companies. Each runs independently, but the values that got Daniel O'Connell started still guide how each one does business and how closely it works with clients on complicated projects.

What Is an Employee Stock Ownership Plan?

If you're not familiar with the mechanics, an ESOP is a retirement and ownership program that gives employees shares in the company they work for, usually held in a trust on their behalf. Employees don't buy in themselves. Instead, ownership builds up over time as a benefit of employment, growing alongside the company's performance. When a business like TOCCI sells a majority stake to an ESOP, it's effectively transferring a significant piece of ownership to its workforce rather than to an outside buyer or private equity firm. For a company that's stayed independent and family-run for nearly a century and a half, that distinction matters. It keeps decision-making close to the people who actually do the work, and it gives employees a real financial stake in the outcomes they help create.

Why TOCCI Chose Employee Ownership

The ESOP isn't really a new direction for TOCCI so much as a continuation of one. The company has long treated its employees' well-being as part of the job rather than something separate from it, and leadership describes the ownership plan as a natural next step rather than a break from tradition. It's also a succession strategy. Family-owned companies eventually have to answer a hard question: what happens when the founding generation, or the generations after it, are ready to step back? Selling to an outside buyer is one answer. Selling to the employees who already know the business, the clients, and the culture is another, and it's the one TOCCI chose.

In Their Own Words

"I started out on job sites as a project manager for Daniel O'Connell's Sons, and what always struck me was how much this company cares about the people doing the work. This has always been a family company. Now, for the first time, that family includes everyone who helped build it," said Sarah Stine, President of O'Connell Development Group.

"We structured this transaction to make sure it works the same way this company always has: for the long haul," said Joe McMahon, President of The O'Connell Companies. "An ESOP gives our employees real ownership in a business a lot of them have already put decades into. It's built to keep TOCCI growing for a long time to come."

Looking Ahead

TOCCI's leadership has framed the ESOP as the latest chapter in a story that started with one man and a construction crew in 1879. It won't be the last chapter. But it's a meaningful one: after nearly a century and a half of building for other people, the company is now, in a very real sense, being built for and by its own employees.

Have questions about what the ESOP means for an ongoing or upcoming project with TOCCI?

Reach out to the team through oconnelldevelopmentgroup.com or contact O'Connell Development Group directly.