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14 Hartford Business Journal • September 16, 2019 • www.HartfordBusiness.com CT's biggest corporate incentive you've never heard of By Matt Pilon mpilon@hartfordbusiness.com S tate government's corpo- rate-incentive deals have come under scrutiny in recent years, as questions have arisen about whether it's a proper use of taxpayer money to provide loans, grants or tax breaks to private-sector enterprises. In fact, Gov. Ned Lamont's adminis- tration is pulling back on his prede- cessor's strategy of providing upfront loans or grants to companies, instead offering incentives only after busi- nesses reach certain job or invest- ment benchmarks. However, some of the largest incen- tives Connecticut doles out stem from a little-known program that dates back over 20 years and grants multimillion-dollar tax breaks with- out direct involvement from state lawmakers or the executive branch. While it lacks the cachet or name recognition of former Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's hallmark First Five Plus program, or even Small Business Express, the so-called Sales & Use Tax Relief program has put up big numbers, issuing $286 million worth of sales-tax exemptions to 111 compa- nies and projects since 1998. That's according to data provided to Hartford Business Journal by Connecti- cut Innovations (CI), the state's quasi- public venture investment arm that approves and oversees the exemptions. The program has been particularly active in the last two years, posting its highest average deal values. Companies receiving major sales- tax exemptions since the start of 2018 have included: Electric Boat ($20 million) related to its ongoing submarine- building ramp up; and Charter Communications ($8.4 million) and Cigna Corp. ($4 million), related to their respec- tive headquarters expansions or improvements. More re- cently, CI approved its largest Sales & Use Tax Relief program deal ever — a $55.2 million exemption on the purchase of computer servers to fill a proposed New Britain data center that's slated for construction in the coming years. In a recent interview, Mark Wick, a member of the data center's developer, How a $1B data-center project landed in New Britain By Matt Pilon mpilon@hartfordbusiness.com D ata centers are seen as powerful economic drivers that allow cities, regions and states to generate jobs and tax revenue. However, Connecticut has largely missed out on opportunities to land such high-tech facilities. Generally, burdensome prop- erty taxes and highest-in-the-nation electricity prices are major hurdles. Another challenge is that, unlike in dominant data-center states like Vir- ginia, government incentives for such facilities aren't a lock. Mark Wick and his partners have found ways to overcome all those hurdles, and are now poised to build, at a vacant historic manufacturing site in New Britain, Connecticut's largest-ever data center. Big Deals Continued on page 16 >> The site plans for the Energy & Innovation Park in New Britain. The project has multiple phases, including development of a fuel-cell park and data center. Mark Wick is part of the development group, EIP LLC, proposing to build a $1 billion data-center project in New Britain, at the site of a former Stanley Works manufacturing plant. Phil Siuta, Chief Financial Officer, Connecticut Innovations HBJ PHOTO | BILL MORGAN RENDERING | CONTRIBUTED