Hartford Business Journal

4 Hartford Business Journal • January 14, 2019 • www.HartfordBusiness.com Briefs W. Hartford OKs $60M convent redo into apartments West Hartford has approved a rescaled, $60 million plan to remake a convent property into 330 living units on the Hartford border. Following a 2½-hour overview of the project by developer Martin Kenny and his team, the town council Jan. 8 unanimously approved his redevelopment proposal, which includes 294 new apartments and renovation of 36 existing rooms. Kenny said no start date for construction of One Park Place has been set, but it will take 18 to 22 months to complete. Most of the new 294 apartments will be one bedrooms, with rents starting at $1,500 per month. The rest will be two- and three bedrooms, priced $2,300 to $2,500 per month. Bradley to add flights to Raleigh, Orlando, Pittsburgh Bradley International Airport will add three new flights to North Carolina, Florida and Pennsylvania by summer this year, according to the Connecticut Airport Authority (CAA). Frontier Airlines will expand its footprint at Bradley through new nonstop routes to Raleigh-Durham International Airport and Orlando International Airport beginning April 30, CAA announced. The flights will operate seasonally on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Meantime, in December, the Colorado- based, low-cost carrier said it would launch nonstop flights from Bradley to Denver starting in March. In addition, Bradley will add regional carrier Via Airlines and its nonstop routes to Pittsburgh on July 29. CT Water, SJW withdraw PURA application Clinton-based Connecticut Water Service and California's SJW Group have withdrawn their application to state regulators to combine in a proposed $1.1 billion deal. SJW's acquisition bid drew resistance from the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA), which in December issued a preliminary decision to block the California water company from purchasing Connecticut Water and denied both companies' request to reopen their review of the proposed deal. SJW and Connecticut Water issued a statement Jan. 9 stating their intent to withdraw the application and evaluate their regulatory approach and possibly re-submit a new application to PURA. "The SJW Group and Connecticut Water merger agreement remains in effect and the companies remain committed to the merger and to realizing its many stakeholder benefits," the companies said. MetLife CEO, W. Hartford native Kandarian to retire MetLife, which has 600-plus Bloomfield employees, announced its chief executive from West Hartford is retiring in April. The New York-based company said CEO and Chairman Steven A. Kandarian will retire effective April 30. He will be succeeded by Michel Khalaf, MetLife's president of U.S. business since 2017. "The timing ... is not much of a surprise since Kandarian will turn 67 this year," MetLife, the nation's second-largest insurer, said in a statement. As of Sept. 2018, MetLife had 18,000 U.S. employees and 625 in Connecticut, according to Hartford Business Journal's 2019 Book of Lists. The company at one time had a larger Bloomfield presence, but it's been scaled back over the years. MetLife laid off 61 Bloomfield workers in 2017 Week in Review TOP STORY Lamont sworn in; time to get down to business E dward Miner Lamont Jr., an unlikely Democratic standard bearer as a wealthy Greenwich businessman whose family tree includes titans of Wall Street and a left-wing philosopher, took office Jan. 9 as the 89th governor of Connecticut, a state buoyed by great wealth and burdened by decades of fiscal mismanagement. Lamont, 65, who once told his local paper he looks like a Republican and thinks like a Democrat, faces the challenge of delivering on a campaign that promised a blend of fiscal conservatism and social liberalism to a populace worried by successive years of budget deficits and one of the nation's biggest unfunded pension liabilities. As Lamont's administration begins, one of his first major chores will be presenting a budget to the legislature by February that aims to balance a multibillion-dollar deficit over two years. Meantime, during his Jan. 9 speech to both legislative chambers, Lamont laid out his vision for rebooting the Connecticut economy. It rests on four legs, including: "investing in the first all-digital government,"; investing and making affordable urban centers that attract Millennials, top talent and families; investing in transportation, particularly rail to shorten commute times; and focusing on workforce development. Mark Pazniokas and Keith Phaneuf | CT Mirror BY THE NUMBERS 116 The number of state House and Senate seats held by Democrats, out of 187 seats total across both chambers. 62% The percentage of moves handled by United Van Lines in 2018 that in- cluded Connecticut residents moving out of state. $60M The projected price tag of a recently approved plan to convert a former convent property on Park Road in West Hartford into 294 apartments. $252,200 The amount of donations raised dur- ing the ninth annual Winterfest Hart- ford event, which ran throughout the holiday season and attracted 40,000 skaters and another 40,000 to 50,000 spectators downtown. TOP 5 MOST READ On HartfordBusiness.com • 1. W. Hartford OKs $60M convent redo into apartments • 2. Bloomfield's Heirloom apts. sold at $61M • 3. Cromwell retirement complex plots March groundbreaking on $48M expansion • 4. MetLife CEO, W. Hartford native Kandarian to retire • 5. Glastonbury's Smith Brothers expands into N.Y. STAY CONNECTED For breaking and daily Greater Hartford business news go to www.HartfordBusiness.com HBJ on Twitter: @HartfordBiz HBJ on Facebook: www.facebook.com/HartfordBiz HBJ on Linkedln: www.linkedin.com/company/ the-Hartford-Business-Journal Daily e-newsletters: HBJ Today, CT Morning Blend www.HartfordBusiness.com/ subscribe Gov. Ned Lamont was sworn into office Jan. 9 at a ceremony at the State Armory. PHOTO | AP Steven A. Kandarian

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