Hartford Business Journal

January 14, 2019

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8 Hartford Business Journal • January 14, 2019 • www.HartfordBusiness.com Reporter's Notebook Gregory Seay | gseay@HartfordBusiness.com Real Estate, Economic Development/Construction, Banking & Finance and Manufacturing MANUFACTURING CT manufacturing wages outpace jobs growth Neal Keating, CEO of Bloomfield aeroparts maker Kaman Corp., recently keynoted a CBIA and MetroHartford Alliance economic summit in Hartford and part of his dis- cussion focused on the need for the state to support policies that grow Connecti- cut's manufacturing industry. His presentation included interesting data tracking the growth of manufacturing jobs and wages in the state. Here's a snapshot: BANKING & FINANCE A Mass. bank startup has eyes on CT M ergers and organic growth in recent years have shrunk the ranks of New England's community banks, and Springfield banker J. Jeffrey Sullivan and fellow associates are taking the opportunity to try and fill that void. Sullivan is among a group of northern Connecticut and western Massachusetts stakeholders seeking a Bay State de novo state bank charter to launch a new lender in Springfield, New Valley Bank & Trust Co. Originally, the bank was to have opened doors before the end of 2018. However, Sullivan, who is the organiz- ing bank's presi- dent and chief executive officer, says the new target opening date is the first quarter of 2019. For now, he says, New Valley's organizers are focused on raising the last $6 million to capitalize their fledgling institu- tion at $25 million. The bank has received preliminary OKs from Massachusetts and federal regulators to open. "There are lots of community banks that have gotten larger,'' said Sullivan, an ex-senior banker at former United Bank of West Springfield, which in 2014 merged with Vernon's former Rockville Bank to form United Bank, now based in Hartford. Sul- livan departed within weeks of the merger, to pursue other professional interests. Connecticut has no new bank charters pending, according to state bank regulators, yet it has been emblematic of the region's shrinking base of community lenders. Former Farm- ington Bank, acquired last Oct. 1 by Bridgeport super-regional lender People's United Financial, was among Con- necticut's most profitable com- munity lenders. Steady deposit and loan growth pushed its assets above $3 billion, ultimately drawing the attention of a suitor. It, too, had a handful of Springfield area branches. People's absorption of Farmington Bank and its coveted West Hartford market presence has spawned a void that other Connecticut community- bank rivals, namely Naugatuck's $1.3 billion-asset Ion Bank and $1 billion-as- set Thomaston Savings, are scrambling to fill. Each has applied for permission to open new branches in Farmington, to plumb new depositor/borrower re- lationships in and around that wealthy Farmington Valley enclave. More recently, $1.6 billion-asset Windham community lender Savings Institute Bank & Trust announced a planned $180 million merger with Boston regional lender Berkshire Hills Bank, which has $12 billion in assets and a Greater Hartford presence. Under the radar Filling a banking void is precisely what New Valley's organizers hope to achieve in positioning a newly char- tered lender in the midst of the com- petitive turf of its larger community- and money-center bank rivals. The opportunity, Sullivan said, "is for us to sneak under the radar to do deals that might be too small for big- ger banks.'' Massachusetts had four banks open doors this century, none of which now exist due to acquisitions. Moreover, Bos- ton regional lender Berkshire Hills Ban- corp has mushroomed due to acquisi- tions there and in Connecticut in recent years that have swelled its assets today to more than $12 billion vs. $2.8 billion in late 2010, when it was a community lender headquartered in Pittsfield, Mass. "It's easier to have a merger happen and go out of business,'' Sullivan said. "We're on the side of trying to put more capacity into the system.'' Hartford real estate development and financial-services adviser R. Michael Go- man says state and federal bank regula- tors appear to finally be responding to borrower concerns that fewer small lend- ers are crimping their access to credit. "The Feds and banks have heard a lot of complaints that credit tightened up too much in the aftermath of the '08 financial crisis … ,'' said Goman, princi- pal in Goman + York Property Advisors and president of its Accubranch bank- branch siting-marketing advisory. "So the regulators,'' he said, "seem to be moving in the direction of trying to ease up on their scrutiny and encourage banks to do more lending in return." New Valley's organizers also are imple- menting a capital-raising strategy they hope will benefit the bank long term. Sullivan says organizers are pursuing some 300 "investors'' culled from among Springfield/Greater Hartford area busi- nesses and entrepreneurs who simulta- neously will be its depositors, borrowers and ambassadors, generating business contacts for New Valley. "Selfishly, these are our first 300 cus- tomers, and hopefully our sales force as well,'' Sullivan said. DEAL WATCH Enfield industrial site auctioned at $600K A 57,361-square-foot Enfield industrial building sold recently at auction for $600,000, brokers say. Enfield Enterprise LLC bought the building on 12.79 acres at 21 Manning Road from Ryan Brady Enterprises LLC. Ten-X managed the auction. Sentry Commercial was the sole broker. CORT's Wallingford renewal Rental-furniture vendor CORT Business Services Corp. has renewed its 15,750-square-foot Wallingford lease, brokers say. CORT re-signed on space at 4 Northrop Industrial Park Road West, the 45,000-square- foot, multi-tenant industrial facility it has occupied since 2011, according to tenant broker Sentry Commercial Brokerage & Advisory Group in Hartford. CBRE represented landlord 1070 North Farms Road LLC in the lease. 21 Manning Road, Enfield. 4 Northrop Industrial Park Road West, Wallingford. PHOTOS | CONTRIBUTED J. Jeffrey Sullivan, President/CEO, New Valley Bank & Trust Co. A former officer of a predecessor to United Bank is leading New Valley Bank. PHOTO | HBJ FILE

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