Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com • April 15, 2019 • Hartford Business Journal 5 CT Innovations pursues Colt Gateway in Hartford-New Haven HQ split T he state's quasi-public venture capital arm, Connecticut In- novations, said it's decided to depart its longtime Rocky Hill home base and is negotiating for space in Hartford's Colt Gateway. CI aims to split its 37-employee opera- tion across Hartford and New Haven. After voting April 8 to terminate its I-91 Tech Center lease that ex- pires at year's end, CI's board di- rected CFO Philip Siuta to negotiate a 3,500-square-foot lease at Colt, where it will be closer to state legislators, and 10,000 square feet at one of two finalist locations in New Haven — The District and the First Niagara Bank Building at 195 Church St. "The principal reasons why the board and CI have decided to move is we want to be closer to our portfolio companies, which are highly concen- trated in a few key areas, and we want to make it easy for the companies and for our partners and prospects we're considering to meet with us," CI CEO Matt McCooe said. The former Colt gun factory has undergone a major mixed-use redevel- opment over the past decade. Com- mercial tenants now include a 75-seat Thomas Hooker Brewery tasting room, JCJ Architecture, Foley Carrier Services and others. Larry Dooley, CEO of CG Management Co., the co-developer of Colt Gateway, confirmed that negotiations were ongo- ing and that CI would be moving into the East Armory building, between JCJ and U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy's local office. The space is located directly beneath the iconic onion-shaped blue dome. "It's really nice to have CI at Colt Gateway," Dooley said. "I think any time you get a high-profile tenant like that, it's good on the exposure side." McCooe said CI has not made any final decisions on exactly how its staff would be split across the two cities, but the management team, himself in- cluded, would be based in New Haven. CI has coworking agreements with several other locations, including Cure Creative Commons in Groton, UConn's Technology Incubation Program in Farmington, and The District, where it could end up with a larger lease, depend- ing on ongoing negotiations. Green Bank on the hunt too One of CI's current neighbors at the I-91 Tech Center and a fellow quasi- public, the similarly sized Connecticut Green Bank, is also in the midst of a search for a new headquarters, CEO Bryan Garcia confirmed recently. The Green Bank can proceed at a more leisurely pace, though, since its lease runs until the end of 2020. It hasn't yet officially voted to end its Rocky Hill lease. "We've given ourselves some runway to make a decision," Garcia said. The Green Bank put out an RFP last October and received about a dozen responses. Garcia declined to identify the inter- ested landlords, but he said he ulti- mately hopes to be closer to Hartford. "There's a balance to pursue in terms of making sure we find a location that's competitively priced while at the same time representing the green sustain- ability values we represent," he said. That means the organization may desire a property that's part of the Green Bank's C-PACE commercial building efficiency program, or one with a LEED certification or electric- vehicle chargers. grad.business.uconn.edu Full-time / Part-time / Executive MBA PROGRAMS Accounting (Online) Business Analytics & Project Management Financial Risk Management Human Resource Management SPECIALIZED MASTERS Connecticut Innovations CEO Matt McCooe. PHOTO | HBJ FILE

• Cover