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BIZ BRIEFS 3 Hartford Business Journal | April 5, 2021 | HartfordBusiness.com WE ARE HIRING The Hartford Business Journal is looking for a full time Advertising Account Manager with at least 5 years of B2B sales experience to join our growing sales team. We are an award winning business journal. The role will be focused on building and securing new business clients through prospecting, networking and relationship-building. For additional information and to apply, please contact Jill Coran, HR Manager jcoran@nebusinessmedia.com Join our growing sales team The Advertising Account Manager is responsible for selling the entire Hartford Business Journal portfolio of products aimed at business executives throughout Connecticut. This includes but is not limited to: ■ PRINT ADVERTISING ■ DIGITAL ADVERTISING ■ EVENT SPONSORSHIP AND STRATEGY ■ CUSTOM PUBLICATIONS ■ SPECIALIZED CONTENT PHOTO | COSTAR RENDERING | CONTRIBUTED U-Haul's parent company has acquired 618 Capitol Ave. in Hartford for $1.1 million. A rendering of a planned $21.5-million mixed-use development at the corner of Albany Avenue and Woodland Street in Hartford. CT car dealers push back on 'Tesla bill' Leaders in the state's car dealership industry are once again taking aim at a bill that would permit electric vehicle manufacturers to sell their cars directly to consumers, arguing the proposal will result in fewer protections for buyers and undercut local businesses. The bill is the latest in a series of attempts to at least partially roll back some aspects of the state's dealer franchise law, which requires car companies to sell through franchised dealers. Lawmakers put forward a direct sales proposal every year between 2015 and 2019, but each time it stalled in the General Assembly. Within Connecticut's car dealership sector, the reappearing legislation has come to be known as the "Tesla bill," after California-based electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc., which has backed similar legislation in states throughout the country. Tesla says selling directly "gives the company the best chance to succeed in overcoming barriers to adoption of electric vehicles." U-Haul: Renovations on deck for Capitol Ave. warehouse in Hartford U-Haul, which in late March bought a warehouse at 618 Capitol Ave. in Hartford for $1.1 million, says it plans to update and renovate the highly- visible property, transforming it into a contemporary self-storage facility. The property, formerly the longtime home of Capitol Archives and Record Storage, has been used to house paper records, computer media and other materials. U-Haul said it will offer high-tech security features and climate- controlled units. A renovation price tag wasn't disclosed. NY insurance broker acquires Farmington's Schuster Group NFP, one of the largest privately- owned insurance brokers in the U.S., said it has acquired the Schuster Group (TSG), a Farmington-based agency with a niche in the nonprofit sector. Financial terms of the deal, which includes TSG's TANGO nonprofit platform, were not disclosed. The sale took place on Dec. 31. TSG lists 28 employees on its website, led by managing principal Rollin Schuster, who will become a managing director at NFP, reporting to its Northeast regional managing director. GZA GeoEnvironmental buys Coventry company Norwood, Massachusetts- based geotechnical and environmental engineering firm GZA GeoEnvironmental Inc. has acquired Ecosystem Consulting Service of Coventry. The new partners said ECS President Robert W. Kortmann will become a senior consultant at GZA. ECS will "initially operate" from its current location in Coventry as a division of GZA, they said. A purchase price was not disclosed. GZA has more than 700 employees based at 30 offices in the Northeast and Midwest. Last year, the company spun off New England Bioassay, a wastewater-toxicity testing laboratory in Manchester. Merchants group blasts proposed digital advertising tax The state's retailers' lobby is urging Gov. Ned Lamont to reject a tax on digital advertising put forward by House Democrats. The proposal would establish a 10% tax on the annual gross revenues derived from digital advertising services in the state for any business with annual worldwide gross revenues exceeding $10 billion. While transparently aimed at out- of-state technology giants such as Google and Facebook, officials with the Connecticut Retail Merchants Association argue those companies will simply pass on the expense to small local businesses looking to promote themselves online. Business groups push for federal aid to relieve unemployment insurance fund debt A coalition of business organizations has warned the state not to balance mounting unemployment insurance fund debt on the backs of employers and urged lawmakers to utilize federal COVID-19 relief funds to bridge the gap instead. Business advocates said the state took on $700 million in federal loans after the unemployment trust fund, which is funded by employers, became insolvent last year, and with interest factored in, the total amount to be repaid will likely exceed $1 billion. Connecticut should follow the example of 24 other states, including Maine and New Hampshire, in tapping federal aid to pay down its unemployment debt, the groups argued, rather than increasing taxes on businesses. $22M Upper Albany mixed-use development in Hartford in limbo A nearly $22 million mixed-use development proposed at the corner of Woodland Street and Albany Avenue in Hartford is in limbo, after the city questioned the developer's project financing and overall design. Development Services Interim Director I. Charles Mathews has recommended the city postpone signing a land lease with developer 7 Summits Realty LLC, which had proposed building a mixed-use development at the site that would contain up to 75 mostly affordable apartments and retail space. Mathews' decision comes after the city council had authorized the lease deal last year. In a February email to Mayor Luke Bronin, 7 Summits Realty LLC CEO Rohan Freeman disputed the notion that he didn't have project financing in place and wrote the project was ready to move forward. Long-dormant Ames property in Rocky Hill could get redevelopment boost from state grant Rocky Hill officials are betting that a $500,000 grant from the state bond commission will jump-start the redevelopment of a long-vacant building at the heart of the town. The grant would go to the town to help pay the estimated $1.2 million it will cost to demolish the former Ames corporate offices on Main Street and Silas Deane Highway. The town has a developer under contract to build on the site, which has been approved for a mixed- use project including apartments, according to State Rep. Kerry Wood (D-Rocky Hill). However the deal is in its early stages and has yet to be finalized or officially announced, she said. Vacant since 2002, the 180,000-square-foot building is an eyesore at the heart of the town and provides a sorry backdrop to civic parades and other events, said Wood. Rehab proposals have come and gone over the years, but the town would be better off demolishing the asbestos-tainted structure and offering developers a clean slate, she said.