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Postmaster: Please send address changes to: Hartford Business Journal P.O Box 330 Congers, NY 10920-9894 UPS inks major lease for new construction in Windsor's NE Tradeport O ne of several remaining undeveloped plots of land in the New England Tradeport in Windsor appears headed for new construction, following a fresh lease with shipping giant UPS. UPS and NE Tradeport landlord INDUS Realty Trust (formerly Griffin Industrial Realty) signed the lease at 110 Tradeport Dr. in March, according to land records. UPS has reserved 156,000 square feet of space in the planned new building, which will total 254,000 square feet. Windsor planning officials approved the site plans in 2019. The lease is for seven years, with options for five-year extensions. UPS already leases more than 70,000 square feet at the adjacent 330 Stone Road. UPS will relocate the Stone Road operations to the larger 110 Tradeport site. Construction of the building is expected to be completed early next year. INDUS is looking for another tenant to fill the remaining space. A rendering of the planned 234,000-square-foot building at 110 Tradeport Dr. in Windsor, where UPS has reserved approximately two-thirds of the pending space. RENDERING | COSTAR RENDERING | CONTRIBUTED HBJ FILE PHOTO Raytheon CEO: Company could shrink office space by 25%; hybrid work environment way of the future Raytheon Technologies CEO Gregory J. Hayes said he can see eliminating up to 25% of the conglomerate's 32 million square feet of office space due to changes in work habits brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. "The office has changed," Hayes said during a recent livestreamed virtual interview with Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein for The Economic Club of Washington, D.C. Noting that he hasn't had an in-person board meeting or staff meeting since the former United Technologies Corp. and Raytheon Co. merged to form Raytheon Technologies one year ago, Hayes said telecommuting will be the way of the future. He did not say where or in what market the company would eventually seek to scale back its commercial footprint, but it occupies plenty of office space in Connecticut, particularly in Farmington where UTC was previously headquartered. Raytheon CEO Greg Hayes. Andrea Barton Reeves. National Sign Corp. doubling size of its Berlin facility National Sign Corp. doubling size of its Berlin facility Berlin sign manufacturer National Sign Corp. is doubling the size of its facility with a nearly 24,000-square- foot expansion underway. National Sign will use about a third of the additional space at its 780 Four Rod Road building to expand its manufacturing floor, President and CEO Russ Hassmann said. He'll use the remaining space to store digital printers the company bought two years ago. National Sign is currently operating those printers out of rented space in East Hartford. The project is budget- ed at $1.5 million. Hassmann is moving forward with the expansion because it makes more logistical sense to consolidate operations, and he expects business to increase as National Sign has added to its capabilities. Eversource CEO Judge to step down; Nolan to take reins in May Utility provider Eversource Energy said it's making a leadership change as current Chairman, President and CEO Jim Judge plans to step away from running the day-to-day operations to become executive board chairman. Joe Nolan, Evesource's executive vice president of strategy, customer and corporate relations, will be promoted to president and CEO and is also expected to be elected to the board of trustees in May, the company said. The change will take effect in May. Judge has served as Eversource's president and CEO since 2016 and chairman since 2017. CT Paid Leave Authority enrolls 87,000 businesses The state's Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Authority has so far enrolled 87,000 employers, including the state of Connecticut, CEO Andrea Barton Reeves announced. During an April 13 virtual press conference, Reeves said the authority has ramped up outreach efforts, including holding dozens of webinars, to get word out about the program, which is funded through employee payroll deductions. That work resulted in a surge in enrollments since January, when only about 40,000 businesses in the state were onboard, she said. The deadline for employers to sign up for the program was initially Feb. 1, but was later moved to March 1. UConn experts forecast hot funding market for startups Startups seeking funding can cash in right now from a market flush with capital and seeking promising ventures, a panel of UConn experts recently said. "If you hit it right, it's a great time to raise money because there's quite a bit out there," said Konstantine Drakanokis, a venture capital investor and member of UConn's Entrepreneur-in-Residence program. He spoke as part of a discussion on financing mechanics for emerging businesses. "This is going to be a very strong year from every indication that I see," agreed Eric Knight, a serial entrepreneur and angel investor. Many venture capital firms have spent the pandemic amassing huge pools of money that will fund up to a decade's worth of investments, said Mostafa Analoui, executive director of venture development for UConn's Technology Commercialization Services. Valuations of startups have also risen because of the cheap money and "irrational exuberance," Analoui said.