Hartford Business Journal

2 Hartford Business Journal | January 25, 2021 | HartfordBusiness.com Connecticut Water's commercial customers would face average rate hikes of $18 a month under a recent proposal submitted to state regulators, the company announced. Existing and proposed commercial rates vary by division and size of a business's water meter, a company spokesperson said. The proposed increase for Connecticut Water's commercial class is 28%, subject to the final approval by the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA). About 6,800 of Connecticut Water's 106,000 customers are commercial customers, with a small number in the Great Hartford area . Former House Speaker Aresimowicz joins CT's largest lobbying firm One of the state's most powerful former politicians is joining a leading Connecticut lobbying firm. Government relations firm Gaffney, Bennett and Associates said that former Democratic House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz has joined the firm as a lobbyist. Having not run for re-election last fall, Aresimowicz recently finished his most recent term in the General Assembly, serving as House Speaker for the last four years. Aresimowicz, who is also a Berlin High School football coach, was previously an education coordinator for AFSCME Council 4. Aresimowicz will initially focus on Windsor plastics mold manufacturer moving to Bloomfield after $1.4M office buy A Windsor manufacturer of plastic injection molds has paid $1.4 million to purchase a new headquarters in Bloomfield where it plans to expand, brokers said. Burteck LLC bought the 40,330-square-foot property at 55 Griffin Road South in December from Griffin Industrial Realty, which recently rebranded as INDUS Realty Trust. The single-story office building is located within the Griffin Center business park, a 600-acre master planned business park developed by INDUS Realty Trust. Mark Berkowitz of O,R&L Commercial LLC represented Burteck in the purchase. INDUS Realty Trust was represented by Maury Smith of Avison Young. Greater Hartford housing market ends 2020 on a high note The relative housing market boom spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic has certainly not let up in Greater Hartford. In December, area sellers and buyers closed 747 sales of single- family homes in the region, up more than 51% from the 494 closings during the final month of 2019, according to the Greater Hartford Biz Briefs Hartford seeks redevelopment proposals for key Downtown North parcels W ith the construction of new apartments and retail space now underway around Hartford's Dunkin' Donuts Park, the city is expanding its redevelopment gaze to another cluster of nearby properties it now controls. The city this month issued a request for redevelopment proposals for the vacant Arrowhead Building at 1355 Main St. and three vacant adjacent land parcels that together act as the tip of the arrowhead- shaped Salvin Block, which is bordered by Chapel, High, Pleasant and Main streets. The area is seen as a key connector between downtown and the Clay Arsenal neighborhood that lies just to the north. The city has been working to leverage the ballpark, which opened in 2017, to attract investment to the surrounding area. RMS Cos. broke ground last fall on the first phase of its $250 million planned redevelopment around the park, which will include 270 apartments, 11,000 square feet of retail space and a parking garage located along the right field side of the ballpark. The Arrowhead redevelopment site lies to the west, approximately one block behind home plate. The city has simultaneously issued an RFP to study a broader area ‒ the Arrowhead Gateway ‒ that includes the Arrowhead site and Main Street and Albany Avenue corridors extending northward to Seyms and Williams streets, respectively. Responses to the two recent RFPs are due in late February and March, respectively. SUBSCRIPTIONS Annual subscriptions are $96.00. To subscribe, visit HartfordBusiness.com, email hartfordbusiness@cambeywest. com, or call (845) 267-3008. 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Peter Stanton | CEO, pstanton@nebusinessmedia.com Tom Curtin | President, ext. 124, tcurtin@hartfordbusiness.com Mary Rogers | COO/CFO, mrogers@nebusinessmedia.com EDITORIAL Greg Bordonaro | Editor, ext. 139, gbordonaro@hartfordbusiness.com Matt Pilon | News Editor, ext. 143, mpilon@hartfordbusiness.com Beats: Real Estate/Economic Development, Energy, Startups & Entrepreneurs, Banking & Finance, and Government Liese Klein | Web Editor, ext. 127, lklein@hartfordbusiness.com Beats: Health Care and Bioscience Sean Teehan | Staff Writer, ext. 145, steehan@hartfordbusiness.com Beats: Manufacturing, Law, Technology, Higher Education, and Transportation Tim Doyle | Lead Researcher Heide Martin | Research Assistant Steve Laschever | Photographer BUSINESS Tom Curtin | Publisher, ext. 124, tcurtin@hartfordbusiness.com Christina Zuraw | Events Coordinator, ext. 134, czuraw@hartfordbusiness.com David Hartley | Senior Accounts Manager, ext. 130, dhartley@HartfordBusiness.com Zac Macinnes | Senior Accounts Manager, ext. 133, zmacinnes@HartfordBusiness.com Daniel Schilke | Senior Accounts Manager, ext. 135, dschilke@HartfordBusiness.com Valerie Clark | Director of Audience Development, ext. 332 Jill Coran | Human Resources Manager Megan Mason | Operations Assistant, mmason@hartfordbusiness.com PRODUCTION Christie Novotny | Production Director, cnovotny@hartfordbusiness.com Joe Zwiebel | Founding Publisher Association of Realtors. That was the largest year-over- year increase in sales volume for any month during 2020, surpassing a 44% jump tracked by GHAR for November. Meanwhile, median sale prices in Greater Hartford rose 16.6%, from $240,000 to $279,900, which was the largest year-over-year price increase since September. Legislative leaders support extension of Lamont's COVID emergency powers Leaders of the Democratic majority of the General Assembly support the extension of Gov. Ned Lamont's emergency powers past Feb. 9 to further curb the spread of the coronavirus. Those powers — set to expire in three weeks — have had wide implications during the pandemic. Lamont has used his authority to restrict who can be evicted from their homes, mandate people to wear masks in public, and limit the conditions under which businesses can open. Lamont, also a Democrat, has not made clear whether he plans to seek an extension. Instead, he said recently he is working with legislative leaders to figure out the best path forward. — Jacqueline Rabe Thomas, CT Mirror CT Water floats 28% rate hike for commercial users An aerial view of the vacant Arrowhead Building at 1355 Main St. in Hartford. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED Top Story www.copyright.com

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