Hartford Business Journal

4 Hartford Business Journal • September 30, 2019 • www.HartfordBusiness.com Week in Review Briefs $10M spruce-up underway at Wallingford's Gaylord Specialty Healthcare Wallingford long-term care hospital Gaylord Specialty Healthcare is in the midst of a major renovation of two wings built in the 1950s and 1970s. Gaylord has mapped out $10 million in modernizing improvements to 100 inpatient rooms located on four floors in its Lyman and Hooker wings. The hospital is installing new ceiling- mounted patient lifts and smart televisions in each room. It's also installing new toilets, sinks and window blinds, and rearranging some of the "headwall" medical fixtures at the head of patient beds to meet more modern standards. It is also renovating and rearranging nurse stations, staff rooms and storage areas located outside the patient rooms. Lamont offers middle ground on restaurant wage fight Gov. Ned Lamont has asked legislative leaders to return in special session to vote on a revised version of a restaurant tip-credit bill he vetoed in July, suggesting that talks with unions, business owners and other stakeholders have produced the framework of a consensus. Lamont, who vetoed a bill that would have stripped restaurant workers of the right to pursue claims of unpaid wages in certain circumstances, is proposing instead to limit damages they could collect from restaurants that relied on inaccurate advice from the Department of Labor in calculating tip-credit wages. At issue is the legislature's hurried efforts on the last night of the 2019 legislative session to protect restaurants from a spate of lawsuits over the split wage system for wait staff and bartenders. They can be legally paid less than minimum wage when they are getting tips, but not when they are doing non-service work. The Hayber Law Firm of Hartford has brought a series of lawsuits since 2015 against restaurants that workers say failed to segregate their tipped work from non-tipped work, such as cleaning and prep work. Mark Pazniokas | CT Mirror Hartford HealthCare seeks ties with Israeli startups Hartford HealthCare wants to forge potential business relationships with Israel's robust crop of digital-health startups. HHC said its flagship Hartford Hospital hosted a visit Sept. 23 from the Israel Export Institute, which brought along a dozen startups to pitch their products and services to health-system officials. The institute's "digital health mission" was also scheduled to visit Boston, New York and Houston. Dr. John Santopietro, physician in chief of HHC's Behavioral Health Network, said emerging technologies could help address a mental health crisis in the U.S., which has seen increasing suicide rates. HHC CEO Jeffrey Flaks said the visit could eventually lead to partnerships that move Israeli startups to the United States. HHC also announced the launch of its Office of Innovation, which includes its long-standing Center for Education, Simulation and Innovation. HHC said it wants to incubate new companies, help accelerate new products to market, diversify its revenue sources and contribute to economic development in Connecticut. CT's 15th medical marijuana dispensary acquired on opening day Connecticut's newest medical marijuana dispensary in Newington changed hands Sept. 23 in time for its grand opening. Fine Fettle Dispensary, which began operating a marijuana dispensary in the Willimantic section of Windham in June, announced it acquired the Newington medical marijuana dispensary license from Bhadra Seva LLC, and began sales in the lower level of a commercial building at 2280 Berlin Turnpike. Financial terms were not disclosed. The Newington location, just south of the municipal border with Wethersfield, operates under the Fine Fettle brand. TOP STORY CRDA offered Northland $4.5M for XL Center space T he Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) earlier this summer offered $4.5 million to purchase a key portion of XL Center's atrium and adjoining retail space currently owned by Northland Investment Corp., the Hartford Business Journal has learned. Northland, however, rejected the bid, arguing it was a low-ball offer, officials said. The purchase attempt represents the latest wrinkle in an ongoing saga to try to determine the future of the XL Center, including the space owned by Northland. Negotiations between CRDA and Northland reached a tipping point last year when, after several failed purchase attempts, CRDA considered using eminent domain to take over Northland's entire XL Center space, which includes the aging facility's atrium, retail and office space and other areas. CRDA backed off that threat, however, after a group of Republican state senators raised concerns about the move. The latest $4.5 million purchase offer in July included less space than CRDA previously sought, according to Mike Freimuth, the quasi-public agency's executive director. According to a July 29 letter CRDA sent to Northland, the $4.5 million purchase offer was for XL Center's "atrium area, the retail space on the first floor," elevator and escalator systems on the second and third floors and the Church Street overhead bridge. BY THE NUMBERS $280,000 The median price of a single-family home sold in Connecticut during the month of August, which was up 2.9 percent from a year ago, according to The Warren Group. 6.4% The percentage decline in single- family homes sold in Connecticut in August; 3,474 dwellings changed hands during the month, according to The Warren Group. 4.8% The percentage increase in Con- necticut personal income growth during the second quarter of 2019, which ranked the state 31st nation- ally, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. 2,000 The number of full- and part-time workers department-store chain Macy's is hiring at its Cheshire fulfill- ment center to prepare for the busy holiday shopping season. TOP 5 MOST READ On HartfordBusiness.com • 1. Hartford's luxury apartment tenancy, rents rising • 2. CRDA offered Northland $4.5M for XL Center space • 3. CT's 15th medical marijuana dispensary acquired on opening day • 4. Hartford's I-84 acreage in Farmington marketed for sale or lease • 5. Feasibility study of Hartford's XL Center OK'd 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 Rendering of a renovated nurse station in Gaylord's Hooker wing. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED RENDERING | CONTRIBUTED Future control of and renovations at XL Center remain uncertain.

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