Hartford Business Journal

Biz Briefs 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 Peter Stanton | CEO, pstanton@nebusinessmedia.com Tom Curtin | President, ext. 124, tcurtin@hartfordbusiness.com Subscriptions Annual subscriptions are $132.00. To subscribe, visit HartfordBusiness.com, email circulation@ hartfordbusiness.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. Editorial Greg Bordonaro | Editor, ext. 139 gbordonaro@hartfordbusiness.com Drew Larson | Web Editor, ext. 121 alarson@hartfordbusiness.com Michael Puffer | Staff Writer, ext. 145 mpuffer@hartfordbusiness.com Beats: Real Estate, Economic Development, Banking & Finance Hanna Snyder Gambini | Staff Writer hgambini@hartfordbusiness.com Beat: Economic Development Skyler Frazer | Staff Writer, ext. 145 sfrazer@hartfordbusiness.com Beats: Manufacturing, Cannabis, Technology, Transportation Stephanie R. Meagher | 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 Matthew Anzolletti | Senior Accounts Manager manzolletti@Hartfordbusiness.com C.203.886.8588 Tracy Rodwill | Human Resources Manager trodwill@nebusinessmedia.com Production Bartosz Zinowko | Production Director, ext. 147 bzinowko@hartfordbusiness.com 2 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | MAY 29, 2023 Breeze adds 4 new destinations from Bradley International Airport Breeze Airways has begun flying to four new destinations from Bradley International Airport. The low-cost airline has added nonstop flights to Fort Myers, Florida (Wednesday and Saturday); Tampa, Florida (Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday); and New Orleans, (summer seasonal, Monday and Friday). Breeze also added daily service to Los Angeles, with a stop along the way, but no plane change. Lamont, Bronin want NHL's Arizona Coyotes franchise to move to Hartford Gov. Ned Lamont and Mayor Luke Bronin are lobbying the NHL to consider relocating the league's Arizona Coyotes franchise to Hartford. Talks of a relocation for the Coyotes have come up following voters in Tempe, Arizona rejecting a referendum for a $2.3 billion enter- tainment district that would allow the franchise to build a new arena there, the AP reported. Lamont and Bronin have been promoting on social media their desire to land an NHL franchise in the Capital City. In a tweet, Bronin highlighted the fact that the Hartford and New Haven area are the largest TV markets with no teams in the four major leagues. In response to one of Bronin's tweets promoting the Coyotes' relocation to Hartford, Lamont replied: "Let's do this." Connecticut was formerly home to the Hartford Whalers NHL franchise, which relocated to North Carolina in 1997, a move that hurt the city of Hartford. Is CT's largest offshore wind project headed for the shoals? Connecticut could be in danger of losing its biggest offshore wind project — the more than 800 mega- watt plan known as Park City Wind. Its developer, Avangrid — parent of United Illuminating and the American arm of the massive, multinational Spanish energy company Iberdrola — is trying to rewrite, renegotiate, rebid or otherwise alter its offshore wind contract with Connecticut, according to industry sources. Avangrid has cited inflation and high interest rates, along with their causes — COVID, supply chain problems and the Russian invasion of Ukraine — as the factors necessitating more revenue to ensure financing to build Park City. It's a development that has the potential to send Connecticut back almost to the starting gate on offshore wind — the energy source the state has, for several years now, viewed as the near-panacea that will deliver it from its fossil fuel past to its climate-change-miti- gating future, including reaching its mandate for a zero-carbon grid by 2040. Jan Ellen Spiegel | CT Mirror Restaurant entrepreneur Gina Luari opens downtown Hartford seafood bar Hartford-based Statement Group has opened its highly anticipated RAW seafood bar downtown at 280 Trumbull St., in the former V's Trattoria space, across from the Hartford Stage. Statement Group founder Gina Luari – the woman behind the successful brunch-all-day Place 2 Be restaurants – had a "soft," Statement Group founder Gina Luari in her new restaurant, Raw seafood bar, at 280 Trumbull St., in Hartford. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED unannounced opening on May 15. The concept infuses artistic and modern flare to the raw bar seafood concept, with decor including graffiti art, neon lights and industrial design. RAW is the first restaurant by Statement to diverge from The Place 2 Be's brunch-all-day concept. Luari is also pushing to open a brick-oven pizzeria and a restaurant featuring Central and South American cuisine in down- town Hartford. CT shed 900 jobs in April Connecticut recorded its second straight month of job losses in April, as employers continue to struggle to fill open jobs, according to the state Department of Labor. Connecticut employers shed 900 jobs last month, while the unem- ployment rate ticked downward to 3.8%, a three-year low. Connecticut labor officials also revised March's job numbers downward: instead of adding 1,100 jobs that month, employers actually shed 1,700 positions. The March and April losses follow higher-than-expected job gains recorded in January and February, when employers added nearly 14,000 positions. Overall, despite the recent losses, Connecticut has averaged 2,800 new jobs per month in 2023. "Industries that saw declines in April were industries that had big gains earlier this year — those sectors front-loaded their hiring," said Patrick Flaherty, director DOL's office of research. "Particu- Connecticut Airport Authority Executive Director Kevin Dillon at a press conference earlier this year announcing the launch of Spirit Airlines' new nonstop service to Jamaica. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED Spirit Airlines dropping recently launched Bradley-to-Jamaica flight in June S pirit Airlines is ending its service from Bradley International Airport to Jamaica in June due to low demand, the company confirmed, less than a year after the nonstop route launched. The airline said the final day of its route from Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, to Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, Jamaica, will be June 6. "We put forward our best effort to establish this unique connection between Connecticut and Jamaica. Unfortunately, we made the difficult decision to discontinue this particular route because of lower-than-ex- pected demand," company officials said in a statement. The route was first offered by the airline in December. Breeze Airways CEO David Neeleman. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED

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