Hartford Business Journal

6 Hartford Business Journal • September 7, 2020 • www.HartfordBusiness.com increased from $11 to $12. The wage hike comes more than a year after Gov. Ned Lamont signed a bill increasing Connecticut's hourly minimum wage to $15 over a four-and- a-half year period. The new law first raised the state's minimum wage from $10.10 per hour to $11 on Oct. 1, 2019. In total, the new hourly minimum wage will increase to $12 on Sept. 1; $13 on Aug. 1, 2021; $14 on July 1, 2022; and $15 on June 1, 2023. The federal minimum hourly wage is $7.25 per hour. After the per hour rate reaches $15 in 2023, the minimum wage every Jan. 1 thereafter will be adjusted by the percent change in the federal Employment Cost Index (ECI) for all workers' wages and salaries for the one-year period ending June 30 of the preceding year. East Hartford's former Bank of America office building to be auctioned A now vacant 148,000-square-foot East Hartford office building in Founders Plaza — formerly fully occupied by Bank of America — is being put up for auction after an $11.1 loan secured by the property has become non-performing, a real estate listing shows. The auction begins Sept. 14 and will run for more than two days on real estate website rimarketplace.com, according to a listing posted by commercial brokers RealINSIGHT Marketplace and Newmark Knight Frank. Prospective bidders will need to be approved before the auction opens to the public. The starting bid is $300,000. Land records show New York City real estate investor Joshua Safrin, of East Hartford Founders LLC, owns the five-floor suburban office building at 20 Hartland St., which is commonly known as 99 Founders Plaza. Safrin acquired the building for $20 million in 2006. Report: CT economy operating at 86% of pre-pandemic levels Despite a statewide unemployment rate of 15%, Connecticut's ongoing economic rebound during the COVID-19 pandemic is pacing better than most other U.S. states, a new index shows. A "Back-to-Normal Index" updated weekly by CNN Business and Moody's Analytics shows that Connecticut has recouped 86% of its pre-pandemic economic productivity, ranking No. 13 nationally. The overall U.S. economy was operating at only 78% of pre-pandemic levels as of Aug. 19. Travelers develops personal insurance app with Hartford startup Property-casualty insurer Travelers Cos. has partnered with a Hartford insurtech startup to enhance its online personal insurance product with a new mobile app that uses image recognition technology. Travelers announced its Traverse Insurance app was developed with Pineapple, which launched two years ago in South Africa and participated in the Hartford InsurTech Hub before being accepted last year into Nassau Re's insurtech incubator program in downtown. Travelers said the image recognition technology honed by Pineapple will allow customers to buy a policy in less than a minute by using their smartphone to snap a photo of an item they need insured and answer questions. CTPharma CEO Tom Schultz dies at 70 following bike accident Tom Schultz, CEO and co-founder of Connecticut Pharmaceutical Solutions Inc. (CTPharma), one of the state's four licensed medical marijuana growers, died Aug. 22, from injuries sustained in a bicycle accident. He was 70 years old. Schultz, a New Canaan resident and New Britain native, during his weekly bike ride in Pound Ridge, N.Y., was struck by a 2014 Ford Econoline van that was traveling in the same direction, according to New York State Police. 107 Old Windsor Road, Bloomfield, CT 06002 (860) 242-8586 | Fax (860) 242-8587 www.pdsec.com PDS ENGINEERING & CONSTRUCTION, INC. THINK • PLAN • BUILD Another Successful Project by PDS DESIGN BUILDERS • GENERAL CONTRACTORS • CONSTRUCTION MANAGERS Spotlight on: Religious Cornerstone Church | Cheshire, CT Total Project Size: 18,000 SF PDS served in the role as Construction Manager for this 18,000 square foot pre-engineered church facility addition to their existing building. The project included a lobby, commons pub, café, multi-functional state of the art sanctuary, children's center, restrooms and a children's worship area. Minor interior renovations also occurred to the existing building. LATEST HEADLINES >> Latest Headlines continued 99 Founder's Plaza, East Hartford PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED

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