Hartford Business Journal

4 Hartford Business Journal • January 13, 2020 • www.HartfordBusiness.com Travelers relocates hundreds of downtown Hartford employees back to Windsor St. building About 400 Travelers Cos. employees in downtown Hartford have been relocated to the property-casualty insurer's Windsor Street office following significant renovations at the facility. The New York-based insurer, which has a major presence in Hartford, spent last year renovating about half of the 200,000-square-foot Windsor Street building, which it has been steadily upgrading in multiple phases in recent years, a company spokeswoman said. Travelers relocated about 400 workers based at 300-400 Windsor St. to downtown Hartford's State House Square while the office renovations were being completed. An undisclosed number of Travelers employees remained at Windsor Street during the project, she said. Travelers still plans to make other renovations at the Windsor Street building, which is used for various purposes and has a variety of technology, claim, staff counsel and business-insurance professionals on-site. Travelers recently completed renovations at its Hartford Windsor Street facility. Growing wealth manager to build $6M office building in Glastonbury Joshua Gottfried and Matthew Somberg have come a long way since opening a retirement and financial planning firm in a 144-square-foot office 20 years ago, shortly after each graduated college. Today their firm, Gottfried & Somberg, has grown to 20 employees across three adjacent offices on Hebron Avenue in Glastonbury, and more than $900 million in assets under management. Next year, they'll have a brand new, bigger home office. The two owners recently won local approval to demolish its three buildings in town — all former residential homes located within a business zone — and construct a 20,000-square-foot, three- story office with an estimated price tag of up to $6 million, Somberg and Gottfried said. Bulldozers will be on-site within the next few months, and the firm expects to debut its new home office in the spring of 2021. When the project is complete, Gottfried & Somberg will occupy the top floor. The owners said they will market the Class A space on the first two floors to accounting firms, estate attorneys, insurance agents and other businesses that could assist their own clients. "We want to have complementary businesses in the building," Somberg said. "One-stop shopping all within one building." LATEST HEADLINES making the right move," he said. One official in the MMBC's corner is Joe Feest, Meriden's economic- development director. "It's really a satellite office for city hall," Feest said. "To have a concierge service downtown is an excellent thing to get people interested in the buildings surrounding it." Feest's team, Cooley, Biesak and others meet weekly, often for several hours, to discuss progress downtown. "This has been very helpful to make sure that Dave and Lisa and myself are all working on the same page," Feest said. Looking ahead to the rest of the fiscal year, and hopefully beyond, MMBC is aiming to help more exist- ing businesses, generate more leads for new ones, and have an increasing impact on Meriden's revival. One of its hopes is to help estab- lish a co-working space in the city. MMBC is working with NESIT Mak- erspace and the Midstate Chamber of Commerce to conduct outreach to businesses and potential investors. The city and MMBC are also working to recruit a brew pub near the train station, with the relatively unique selling point of customers being able to take a train to and from the watering hole. "It's definitely nice to see the city shine," Feest said of Meriden, nick- named the Silver City. "That's really what we're doing down here, we're still polishing it, making it bright and shiny." The Meriden Commons II on State Street, which includes a four-story building with 49 residential units, and two buildings with 27 townhouse-style units, is part of a recent development wave in Meriden. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED >> Town Profile continued Meriden General Land area (sq. miles) 24 Median age 43 Population (2020) 62,875 Median household income $57,350 Unemployment rate 4.2% Major Employers MidState Medical Center Hunters Ambulance RFS Cable Carabetta Management 3m Purification Inc. Government Total revenue (2017) $215,391,371 Per capita tax $2,058 Mill rate 40.86 Grand list $3,069,921,607 Housing stock Median price $173,100 Median rent $978 Economy Top employment industries Units Jobs Health care and social assistance 167 4,740 Administrative and waste services 77 3,034 Retail trade 222 2,907 Top taxpayers (2018) Conn Light and Power $75,662,240 Meriden Square Partnership $57,995,387 Yankee Gas Services $43,935,040 Source: Connecticut Economic Resource Center Joshua Gottfried, Co-founder, Gottfried & Somberg Matthew Somberg, Co-founder, Gottfried & Somberg PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED

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