Hartford Business Journal

4 Hartford Business Journal • April 8, 2019 • www.HartfordBusiness.com Week in Review Briefs Glastonbury to weigh scaled-down hotel pitch A developer is seeking to build a hotel on a remaining empty parcel within Glastonbury's Somerset Square. According to town records, an LLC owned by The Claremont Company, of Bridgewater, Mass., is proposing a four- story, 129-room hotel at 75 Glastonbury Blvd., just south of the Hilton Garden Inn and Hilton Homewood Suites that overlook Route 3 to the north (Claremont owns the latter hotel). That's slightly smaller than the company's previously pitched 141-room hotel development, which received criticism earlier this year about its design not fitting into the surrounding commercial neighborhood. Plans for the site have changed several times over the years. In 2008, town officials approved a 155-unit apartment building with subsurface parking. People's United closes Boston-bank buyout Bridgeport super-regional lender People's United Financial Inc. says it completed its second Northeast bank buyout in five months, closing its $327 million stock purchase of tiny Boston lender Belmont Savings Bank. Announced in November, People's United said it finalized its purchase of Belmont's $3 billion-asset parent, BSB Bancorp Inc., boosting its limited Boston-market footprint. People's United in October completed its $544 million all-stock buyout of former First Connecticut Bancorp, parent of Farmington Bank. With the BSB deal, People's United counts 14 acquisitions in the last decade. SIFI's stockholders OK merger Windham's SI Financial Group Inc. (SIFI) is a step closer to finalizing its $180 million merger with Boston's Berkshire Hills Bancorp Inc., following SI shareholders' approval of the all-stock deal. SIFI, parent of Savings Institute Bank & Trust based in the town's Willimantic section, said in a regulatory filing that its shareholders voted April 2 to support the deal. The proposed combination, which still needs regulatory approval, would create a $13.6 billion-asset institution. Yale, Trinity Health expand clinical partnership Yale New Haven Health is further growing its reach into central and northern Connecticut through an expansion of its clinical partnership with St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center. Nearly four years ago, Yale and St. Francis started a cancer partnership, promising to bring cutting-edge clinical trials to Greater Hartford. It included opening of the Smilow Cancer Hospital at St. Francis in Hartford. Since then, St. Francis has been acquired by a large Catholic system, Trinity Health. Now, Yale and Trinity Health of New England want to expand their relationship into new areas, such as neurosurgery and solid organ transplants, with a similar intent to bring more advanced treatments, and in some cases, clinical trials, to Greater Hartford. The two hospitals said the expansion, under discussion for the past year, doesn't include any acquisition or formal affiliation. Financial terms weren't disclosed. West Hartford Coworking changes hands The founder of a West Hartford coworking business said he has sold his company to a local family owned investment firm. John Vasellina, who launched West Hartford Coworking in Oct. 2017, completed the sale of the business, located on second-floor space at 967 Farmington Ave., to Bromleigh Ventures LLC, which is owned by West Hartford resident and entrepreneur Annisa Teich and her mother, Annette Farese. Financial terms were not disclosed. Mongellow succeeds CT Bankers' Pinkham Thomas S. Mongellow is moving from the No. 2 post at the Connecticut Bankers Association (CBA) to succeed Lindsey Pinkham as president and CEO. The CBA announced in a post on its website that Mongellow was the unanimous choice of the organization's executive committee to ascend to the lead position. CBA counts some 52 member institutions, among them state- and federally chartered lenders based in and outside Connecticut. Mongellow will continue as CBA's executive vice president and treasurer until a June date, when Pinkham will officially retire, the CBA post stated. TOP STORY Report: 'Free' community college proposal could cost $10.6M A proposed program that would further subsidize tuition and fees for community-college students in Connecticut could cost as much as $10.6 million within the first two years, a new estimate says. The program would provide grants that aim to wipe out any tuition and fees community-college students are currently paying, after all other federal, institutional and state aid are taken into consideration. The minimum grant would be $500. Tuition and fees at a Connecticut community college are about $4,300 annually. The Office of Fiscal Analysis (OFA) said the costs of the proposed program would be between $3.7 million and $4.1 million in the inaugural year, and $5.7 million to $6.5 million in year No. 2. The program, which is outlined in a bill that recently made it out of committee and is awaiting action in the House or Senate, would be open to any in-state student who enrolled in a community college within two years of graduating from a Connecticut high school. The money would only go to students who carry a full-time course load and maintain a 2.5 GPA. BY THE NUMBERS 88% The percent of Connecticut registered voters who said they support a paid family and medical leave program, ac- cording to a recent survey by a coalition pushing for state legislative adoption of the employee benefit. 308 The number of bridges in Connecticut, out of 4,270, that were recently clas- sified as structurally deficient by the American Road & Transportation Build- ers Association. 33.4% The percentage decline in the number of Connecticut housing permits issued during the month of February. There were 301 new home permits issued compared to 452 issued in Feb. 2018. $2.9M The selling price of hip-hop artist 50 Cent's Farmington mansion, at 50 Poplar Hill Dr., which was 84 percent below the original asking price, ac- cording to the Wall Street Journal. TOP 5 MOST READ On HartfordBusiness.com • 1. W. Hartford's Grant's Restaurant closes • 2. The Place 2 Be restaurant to add downtown Hartford location • 3. Union balks at 'final' contract offer from Stop & Shop • 4. Report: 'Free' community college proposal could cost $10.6M • 5. Poll: 88% of CT voters support paid-leave program 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 Students participating in group activities at Middlesex Community College. PHOTO | HBJ FILE

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