Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com • October 15, 2018 • Hartford Business Journal 5 would be built at the intersection of Route 20 and Interstate 91, to move forward. The proposed development includes indoor and outdoor areas for competition in several sports, as well as amenities such as dormitories for visiting teams, an entertainment center, sports-related medical offices, restaurants and shops. Anthony Branciforte | Journal Inquirer Windsor fastpitch facility under construction An 11-field outdoor fastpitch softball facility that would be the largest in the Northeast is under construction in Windsor and on pace for an April 2019 opening, officials said. Fastpitch Nation Park, located at 1001 Day Hill Road, is being developed by David Rocha, who also owns an indoor fastpitch facility in Bloomfield, the similarly named Fastpitch Nation. The Hartford Business Journal first reported Rocha's plans for the park in July. Rocha said the facility will help meet fast- growing demand for fastpitch facilities and bring competitors and their friends and families into Connecticut for tournaments. CT aerospace sector ranked No. 30 in attractiveness Connecticut's business climate for aerospace companies ranks just below average nationwide, according to a new report by accounting firm PwC. The state's attractiveness for commercial aviation firms ranked No. 30 in the U.S. in 2017 based on its highly skilled workforce (No. 2) and poor scores in energy, labor and transportation costs (No. 47) and state- local tax burdens (No. 48), PwC said. Connecticut's infrastructure ranked No. 20, industry No. 14 and economy No. 32, the rankings said. Aerospace industries in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico were graded based on industry size and profit margin, union flexibility, individual income tax, quality of electric supply, manufacturing output, exports, real gross state product (GSP) and other measures. Connecticut's aerospace-sector attractiveness ranked third in New England behind Massachusetts (No. 18) and New Hampshire (No. 21). Orthopedics group building $30M surgery center in Rocky Hill Orthopedic Associates of Hartford (OAH), which operates surgical centers in Hartford, Glastonbury and Southington, announced plans to replace its Rocky Hill surgery center with a new $30 million facility there. OAH said it's currently constructing the 45,000-square-foot surgery center at 150 Enterprise Dr., with an expected completion date in early January. The facility will replace its 15-year-old surgical center at 1111 Cromwell Ave. Dr. Pietro A. Memmo, the center's co-owner, assistant director and project manager, said the new center will be 40 percent larger than its existing facility. The center will feature 25-plus rooms, including seven operating rooms, one procedure room and a full-service physical therapy center. It will be equipped to manage over 100 cases per day and up to 15,000 cases annually. Stop & Shop wraps $70M renovation project Grocery retailer Stop & Shop said it has completed renovations on 21 Hartford region stores, an investment totaling $70 million. The stores have modernized their format and logo, and added features like an in-store smoker, poke bowl and taqueria stations, the Massachusetts- based company, owned by Denmark's Ahold, said. The company is using the area stores as test beds for new features, which it could roll out across its entire footprint of more than 400 stores in the next few years. Sears' Newington outlet sold at $3.2M The Sears Outlet store in Newington sold recently to a New York investor for $3.2 million, town files show. Buyer MAG Real Estate Advisors, of Pleasanton, N.Y., paid Sears Outlet Stores LLC in early August just under $30 a foot for the 107,776-square-foot building on 9.4 acres at 65 Holmes Road, near Fenn Road, according to Newington's Economic Development Commission minutes. However, Sears Outlet will remain open in the building for the time being, according to commission minutes. Once one of America's leading and storied retailers, Sears, under the ownership of Greenwich hedge-fund magnate Edward Lampert, in recent years has shuttered hundreds of stores, including some in Connecticut, and sold off store leases and buildings — a victim of the changing retail landscape that features more online transactions. Sears is rumored to be considering a bankruptcy filing. PDS has been meeting the needs of the construction industry since 1965. 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THINK • PLAN • BUILD Providing Big Benefits for Small Businesses For more information on how Delta Dental of New Jersey can serve your dental benefit needs, please call 1-800-624-2633 or visit aSmileSays.com. A sketch of the Fastpitch Nation softball facility under construction in Windsor. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED

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