Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/1123831
4 Hartford Business Journal • June 3, 2019 • www.HartfordBusiness.com Week in Review Briefs E. Hartford's Eljen Corp. relocates to larger Windsor space Eljen Corp., a manufacturer of wastewater-treatment systems, has doubled its footprint and moved its East Hartford operations to a factory in Windsor. The wastewater management firm, which makes septic-system products, prefabricated drainage systems and sand filters, has relocated its roughly 40 employees to a 26,000-square-foot factory at 90 Meadow Road, said Scott Moore, a technical specialist for Eljen. Moore said the Windsor site, not including 20,000 square feet of unused space, has double the space of its former location at 25 McKee St. in East Hartford. The new site, Moore said, will allow Eljen to hire an additional five workers as the business continues to grow across the U.S. and in several other countries. Eljen currently operates in 30 states, Canada, Sweden and Tasmania, an island state off Australia's southern coast. Moore said the company hopes to branch out into Australia sometime this year. Senate passes tax credit for CT companies paying employees' student loans The state Senate passed a bill that would create a new tax credit for Connecticut employers that offer student loan repayment assistance to certain workers. S.B. 72, which aims to relieve recent graduates from student loan debt and retain the state's next generation of workers, still needs approval from the House and Gov. Ned Lamont. It creates a tax credit for employers that make payments on their employees' student loans. Individuals who refinanced their student debt through the Connecticut Higher Education Supplemental Loan Authority would be eligible. Starting in 2022, each employer that makes loan payments directly to state loan authorities can claim a credit equal to half of the payments they make during any given year. A qualified employee includes a resident working at least 35 hours per week at a Connecticut company, and who has lived in the state at least five years since graduating college. Lamont signs $15 min. wage bill Flanked by advocates and progressive Democrats, Gov. Ned Lamont signed a bill May 28 increasing Connecticut's hourly minimum wage to $15 over the next few years. The new law will raise the state's minimum hourly wage 90 cents to $11 on Oct. 1; to $12 on Sept. 1, 2020; to $13 on Aug. 1, 2021; to $14 on July 1, 2022; and to $15 on June 1, 2023. The minimum wage bill includes two concessions favored by the business community: a "training wage" of $10.10 per hour for workers ages 16 and 17 who work up to 90 days a year; and a lower wage for tipped workers, including wait staff ($6.38) and bartenders ($8.23). Connecticut is the seventh state to adopt a $15 minimum wage, and the fourth this year. Lamont, hospitals on brink of resolving seven-year feud A bitter, longstanding conflict between state government and Connecticut's hospital industry is on the brink of a resolution. Gov. Ned Lamont and the Connecticut Hospital Association announced the settlement of a 2015 industry lawsuit contesting a provider tax that has extracted billions of dollars from facilities since 2011. The administration also confirmed that it has begun supplemental payments to hospitals to resolve a $200 million-plus dispute involving payments for treatment of Medicaid patients. Neither side disclosed details of the tentative settlement, but it does require approval by the General Assembly, state attorney general's office and member hospitals of the association before any provisions could be implemented. Keith Phaneuf | CT Mirror Frontier unloads Northwest telecom assets for $1.35B Norwalk-based Frontier Communications, which provides telephone service across Connecticut and internet and video service in portions of the state, is reducing its national footprint. The company announced it has agreed to sell its operations in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Nevada, which includes 350,000 customers, for $1.35 billion in cash, subject to closing adjustments. The buyer is Washington-based WaveDivision Capital LLC, in partnership with Searchlight Capital Partners LLC. Frontier President and CEO Dan McCarthy said the sale, which comes amid a turbulent time for wireline communications companies as more subscribers cut the cord in favor of wireless and other alternative services, would reduce Frontier's debt load and increase its liquidity. Frontier had $17.4 billion in outstanding debt as of Dec. 31, 2018. TOP STORY Developer eyes 181-unit apartment complex in Windsor A prominent Windsor developer is proposing to build a 181-unit apartment complex in town at the corner of Day Hill Road and Great Pond Drive. The developer, Daniel Ferraina, of The Ferraina Co. LLC, filed a concept plan proposal with the town in April to erect the multifamily units on former tobacco farmland at 10 Great Pond Dr. Plans call for about 45 units being split between four, four-story buildings, and 350 parking spaces to accommodate residents at the 7.5-acre site in the shadows of metal supplier Rolled Alloys Inc., town records show. The developer is also proposing several amenities at the complex, including a swimming pool and community building. The project is not part of the long-awaited Great Pond mixed-use development, which is being master planned nearby by Massachusetts-based Winstanley Enterprises LLC. Hartford Business Journal reported in January that construction was underway on a 230-unit apartment community in Great Pond being developed by Fairfield's Eastpointe LLC. BY THE NUMBERS $573.2M The overall spending in the city of Hartford's recently approved fiscal 2020 budget, which is up about $3 million from a year earlier. $11 Connecticut's new hourly minimum wage beginning Oct. 1, thanks to a wage hike passed by state lawmakers. $70.5M The sales price of downtown Hart- ford's "Gold Building," which was recently jointly acquired by an invest- ment arm of Hartford parking giant Laz Parking and New York landlord Shelbourne Global Solutions LLC. 613 The number of new Connecticut home permits issued in April, which was up significantly from 263 permits issued in the year-ago period, accord- ing to the U.S. Census Bureau. TOP 5 MOST READ On HartfordBusiness.com • 1. Developer eyes 181-unit apartment complex in Windsor • 2. Lamont signs $15 min. wage bill • 3. LAZ, Shelbourne team up to buy Hartford's 'Gold' Building for $70.5M • 4. Whole Foods to shutter Bishops Corner store in W. Hartford, reopen in Avon • 5. CT's Tong joins other AGs opposing Trump's overtime rule changes 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 Weekly e-newsletters: CT Health Care Weekly www.HartfordBusiness.com/ subscribe PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED A developer is proposing to build a 181-unit apartment complex in Windsor next door to metal supplier Rolled Alloys Inc. at 10 Great Pond Dr.