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Editorial Greg Bordonaro | Editor, ext. 139 gbordonaro@hartfordbusiness.com Drew Larson | Web Editor, ext. 121 alarson@hartfordbusiness.com Beat: Energy Michael Puffer | Staff Writer, ext. 145 mpuffer@hartfordbusiness.com Beats: Real Estate, Economic Development, Banking & Finance Hanna Snyder Gambini | Staff Writer hgambini@hartfordbusiness.com Beats: Economic Development, Arts, Culture & Tourism David Krechevsky | Staff Writer, ext. 702 davidk@hartfordbusiness.com Beats: Health Care, Bioscience Harriet Jones | Staff Writer, ext. 145 hjones@hartfordbusiness.com Beats: Manufacturing, Cannabis, Professional Services Stephanie R. Meagher | Research Director Heide Martin | Research Assistant Steve Laschever | Photographer Business Tom Curtin | Publisher, ext. 124, tcurtin@hartfordbusiness.com Jessica M. Quinn | Associate Publisher, ext. 137 jquinn@hartfordbusiness.com Emily Paskind | Senior Accounts Manager, ext. 133, epaskind@hartfordbusiness.com Donna Hogan | Senior Accounts Manager, ext. 101, dhogan@hartfordbusiness.com Sadie Bride | Senior Accounts Manager, ext. 141, sbride@hartfordbusiness.com Tracy Rodwill | Human Resources Manager trodwill@nebusinessmedia.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 through 504 loans, which provide long-term, fixed-rate financing for major fixed-asset purchases — usually equipment or real estate. Here's the price tag on UConn's new nursing school UConn's Board of Trustees has approved a plan to spend $100 million on a new nursing school building in Storrs. The project will be funded through three sources: $30 million in state general obligation bonds; $45 million in UConn 2000 bond funds; and $25 million in gift funds. The gift funds include a large donation from UConn alumna and former nurse Elisabeth DeLuca, who is the wife of late Subway co-founder Fred DeLuca. The new 90,000-square-foot building will be located at the corner of Bolton Road and Maple Lane, adja- cent to existing clinical, academic and research space on the Storrs campus. It will include a lecture hall and classrooms; simulation lab suite; human behavioral research and web labs; student academic center; offices and support spaces. The new School of Nursing building, which is currently in the bidding phase, is scheduled to open in July 2026. Chase Bank eyes shoreline town for latest expansion JPMorgan Chase Bank, which has aggressively opened new branches in Connecticut in recent years, is eyeing Old Saybrook as its next expansion market. The New York-based bank has notified the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency that it plans to open a branch at the northwest corner of Boston Post Road and Denmore Lane in Old Saybrook. It didn't provide a specific branch address, or an opening date. Chase Bank currently doesn't have a brick- CONTRIBUTED PHOTO PHOTO | COSTAR An M&T Bank branch at 117 Washington Ave. in North Haven. Cigna, Hartford HealthCare reach new agreement Just hours before their existing agreement was set to expire on Oct. 31, Cigna Healthcare and Hartford HealthCare reached an agreement on a new contract. Specific terms of the new deal weren't released. Hartford Health- Care did say it was a multi-year agreement "that will ensure that Cigna members continue to have uninterrupted access to HHC's physicians, hospitals and services." If a new deal had not been reached, all of Hartford Health- Care's hospitals and affiliated medical practices would have become out-of-network for Cigna policyholders. The affected hospitals include Hartford Hospital; William Backus in Norwich; MidState Medical Center in Meriden; The Hospital of Central Connecticut in New Britain and Southington; Charlotte Hungerford in Torrington; St. Vincent's in Bridge- port; and Windham Hospital. SBA lending in CT increased 18.3% in FY 2024; M&T Bank, TD Bank are top lenders For a second straight year, the U.S. Small Business Administra- tion's Connecticut District Office said it saw a significant jump in lending activity. The SBA's Connecticut District Office said it facilitated 1,058 tradi- tional loans over the last 12 months, an 18.3% increase from a year earlier, according to newly released federal data. SBA's recently completed 2024 fiscal year ran from October 2023 to September 2024. During that time, the Connecticut office oversaw about $383 million in lending to the state's small businesses, with loan approvals ranging from $5,000 to $5 million. Catherine Marx, SBA's Connecticut district director, said the surge in lending was "a result of SBA's increased visibility, the commit- ment of our lenders and partners to focus on access to capital through targeted events." The fiscal year 2024 funding included $318.8 million in 7(a) loans — in which the SBA guarantees the repayment of a certain portion of a private lender's loan — to 901 small businesses. M&T Bank was the top SBA 7(a) lender in Connecticut with 168 loans totaling $19 million. Additionally, $62.7 million was borrowed by 73 small businesses Svigals + Partners' New Haven office is located at 84 Orange St. Major CT architectural firm acquired by Philadelphia-based company Major New Haven architectural firm Svigals + Partners has been acquired by Philadelphia-based FCA, a full-service architec- ture, planning and design firm with offices in New York City and Orlando, Florida. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed. Together, the firms said they will expand their shared design services across healthcare, science and technology, education, corporate workplace, mixed-use, and the civic/community sectors. Svigals is now operating under the name "Svigals + Partners, an FCA company." There were no staffing changes as a result of the deal, the company said. Svigals + Partners was founded in 1983 as a full-service architec- ture firm and has been known for blending art and storytelling into its designs. The firm is led by Managing Partner Jay Brotman. A rendering of UConn's new School of Nursing building. A Chase Bank branch in Enfield. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Continued on next page