Hartford Business Journal

4 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | APRIL 25, 2022 Biz Briefs Editorial Greg Bordonaro | Editor, ext. 139 gbordonaro@hartfordbusiness.com Michael Puffer | Staff Writer, ext. 145 mpuffer@hartfordbusiness.com Beats: Real Estate, Economic Development, Banking & Finance Robert Storace | Staff Writer, ext. 127 rstorace@hartfordbusiness.com Beats: Health Care, Higher Education, Arts & Culture Skyler Frazer | Staff Writer, ext. 145 sfrazer@hartfordbusiness.com Beats: Manufacturing, Cannabis, Technology, Transportation Tim Doyle | Lead Researcher Heide Martin | Research Assistant Steve Laschever | Photographer Business Tom Curtin | Publisher, ext. 124, tcurtin@hartfordbusiness.com David Hartley | Senior Accounts Manager, ext. 130, dhartley@HartfordBusiness.com Daniel Schilke | Senior Accounts Manager, ext. 135, dschilke@HartfordBusiness.com Emily Paskind | Senior Accounts Manager, ext. 133, epaskind@hartfordbusiness.com Valerie Clark | Director of Audience Development, ext. 332 vclark@nebusinessmedia.com Jill Coran | Human Resources Manager jcoran@nebusinessmedia.com Megan Mason | Events Manager, mmason@hartfordbusiness.com Production Bartosz Zinowko | Production Director, ext. 147 bzinowko@hartfordbusiness.com Peter Stanton | CEO, pstanton@nebusinessmedia.com Tom Curtin | President, ext. 124, tcurtin@hartfordbusiness.com Mary Rogers | COO/CFO, mrogers@nebusinessmedia.com Subscriptions Annual subscriptions are $110.00. To subscribe, visit HartfordBusiness.com, email hartfordbusiness@cambey- west.com, or call (845) 267-3008. Advertising For advertising information, please call (860) 236-9998. Please address all correspondence to: Hartford Business Journal, 100 Allyn Street, Suite 3, Hartford, CT 06103 Stay Connected For breaking and daily Greater Hartford business news go to: www.HartfordBusiness.com HBJ on Twitter: @HartfordBiz HBJ on Facebook: www.facebook.com/HartfordBiz HBJ on Linkedln:www.linkedin.com/company/the-Hart- ford-Business-Journal Daily e-newsletters: HBJ Today, CT Morning Blend: www.hartfordbusiness.com/enewsletters Hartford Business Journal (ISSN 1083-5245) is published bi-weekly, 27x per year — including two special issues in November and December — by New England Business Media, LLC, 100 Allyn Street, Suite 3, Hartford, CT 06103. Periodicals postage paid at Hartford, CT and at additional entry points. Tel: (860) 236-9998 | Fax: (860) 570-2493 Copyright 2020. All rights reserved. Postmaster: Please send address changes to: Hartford Business Journal P.O Box 330 Congers, NY 10920-9894 Plans to convert downtown Hartford synagogue into events space move forward Plans to convert a former downtown Hartford synagogue into an events space are moving forward. Hartford lawyer Jose L. Del Castillo, who bought the long-vacant, 3,750-square-foot former religious property at 215 Pearl St. in 2019 for $196,000, has officially submitted plans to the Planning and Zoning Commission to renovate the historic building into a two-story events space targeting private and community gatherings, including weddings, birthdays and anniversary parties. Food, catering, beverages and music will be available for events, according to the application. The facility will be able to accommodate anywhere from 25 to 400 people on two floors of event space that would both contain about 2,200 square feet. Del Castillo also plans to make several changes and improvements to the property including adding a ramp to create an accessible walkway to a second floor (Pearl Street access) and creating a two- floor outdoor plaza. The former Ados Israel Synagogue, which shuttered in the 1980s after some 20 years in operation, abuts TheaterWorks. Tech consulting firm opening office in downtown Hartford A global technology consulting firm is opening an office in downtown Hartford that will support up to 300 employees on a hybrid basis. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED Larsen & Toubro Infotech, which is headquartered in Mumbai, India, announced it is opening a new "engagement center" in the historic "Boat Building" on Constitution Plaza where it will occupy 13,000 square feet. The office will primarily provide support for local clients, which include companies in the banking, insurance, manufacturing, aerospace, finance and life sciences sectors, LTI officials said. The company did not disclose exactly how many workers will be based in the building at one time but did note that the space will be able to accommodate over 100 people. CBIA, trade groups urge use of federal funds to cover unemployment debt Industry associations and small business groups are calling on state officials to steer federal pandemic relief funding to cover Connecticut's unemployment debt as an alternative to raising taxes on employers. In a statement released by the Connecticut Business & Industry Association and signed by organizations such as the Connecticut Restaurant Association, Connecticut Food Association and Connecticut Retail Merchants Association, the petitioners said the burden of the state's unemployment debt — which rose dramatically as residents were thrown out of work by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 — should not be placed back on business owners and operators. According to the CBIA, the state borrowed $888 million from the federal government to cover pandemic-driven unemployment compensation benefit claims after the state unemployment trust fund became insolvent. About $425 million has been repaid, the group said, with employers paying $300 million and federal relief funds covering $125 million, in addition to $26 million in interest payments. Employers are currently being held responsible for the remaining $463 million loan balance, CBIA said, and face four years of tax hikes, starting later this year, to cover those repayments. HHC, Yale New Haven win approval for new radiation therapy center A three-way partnership involving Hartford HealthCare and the Yale New Haven Health System has secured approval to bring a highly-advanced form of cancer radiation therapy to a planned facility in Connecticut. The healthcare systems said they will work together to launch the Connecticut Proton Therapy Center, expected to be built at 932 With 3 restaurants open and 5 more planned, Hartford's Gina Luari goes corporate with national ambitions Maurice "Mo" Major, assistant culinary director for The Statement Group, CEO Gina Luari and Culinary Director Xavier Santiago. Hartford restaurateur Gjinovefa "Gina" Luari has formed a new corporate holding company and will open a new headquarters in downtown Hartford, as she plans to launch five new restaurants and a nationwide expansion. Luari, best-known for her Place 2 Be restaurants in downtown Hartford and the city's South End, has formed "The Statement Group Inc.," to be a holding company for the various limited liability companies she is using to launch her eateries. The company will hire several corporate employees and be based out of a new 4,000-square-foot headquarters at 57 Pratt Street. It will serve as a staging point for Luari's planned creation of a national restaurant firm. Luari said she has brokers hunting possible restaurant locations in Dallas, Houston, Miami and elsewhere. She has had an offer to open in Boston's Seaport District. In Hartford she's planning to open three new restaurants including: Charred, a brick-oven pizzeria, 275 Pearl St.; Cantina, a restaurant featuring Central and South American cuisine, 900 Main St.; and Raw, a raw bar seafood restaurant, 280 Trumbull St. The former Ados Israel Synagogue at 215 Pearl St. in downtown Hartford. RENDERING | CONTRIBUTED PHOTO | COSTAR Hartford's Boat Building at 1 American Row.

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