Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com January26,2015•Hartford Business Journal 13 Subscribe it's in print Subscribe today and get access to the information that Central Connecticut business people and decision makers use every day. To subscribe call 845-267-3008 or go to www.HartfordBusiness.com You'll find it in print • Need to grow your busiNess? • research your competitioN? • FiNd hartFord's latest busiNess News aNd ecoNomic treNds? G r e at e r H a r t f o r d ' s B u s i n e s s n e w s w w w. H a r t f o rd B u s i n e s s . c o m for more B2B news visit March 31, 2014 Volume 22, number 19 $3.00 subscribe online June 5, 2014 Only 10 weeks until C T B E x p o . c o m Index ■ Reporter's Notebook: PG. 5 ■ Week in Review: PG. 6 ■ The List: PG. 10 ■ Deal Watch: PG. 11 ■ Nonprofit Notebook: PG. 19 ■ Opinion & Commentary: PG. 20 Faces oF Business Main Street Mainstay Manchester's Bray Jewelers has survived for almost 100 years. Read about the family business' secrets to success and what makes customers keep coming back. PG. 3 Focus: economic DeveloPment Social Entrepreneurship Hartford business accelerator aims to nurture socially conscious businesses. PG. 8 Music copyright lawsuits cost restaurants unexpected thousands By Matt Pilon mpilon@HartfordBusiness.com A few years ago, nine songs were played inside Shelton's Vazzy's Cucina restaurant that ended up costing owners John Vazzano and Vincent L. Noce $18,000. That's because an agent of licensing giant Broadcast Music Inc., which represents the artists who owned the tracks, attested to being present when the tunes were played and sued Vazzano and Noce for copyright infringement, claiming the restaurant's music qualified as a public per- formance. Under federal copyright law, that meant the restaurant had to pay for the rights to play the songs, BMI said. Vazzano said he thinks a private party actually played the tunes. Broadcast Music Inc. • Founded in 1939 • Represents more than 600,000 songwriters and publishers with more than 8.5 million songs. • Distributed 85 cents of every dollar in licensing revenue in royalties — that amounted to $814 million in fiscal 2013. By Gregory Seay gseay@HartfordBusiness.com B y late May, the Corporation For Independent Living (CIL) expects to have in its hands title to the derelict Capewell Horse- nails factory in Hartford's South End in a bid to convert the idle eyesore into 72 apartments and an adjacent parcel into 24 affordable townhomes. If it does, it will open another fruit- ful chapter for a South End nonprofit that has leveraged — and exported — its talent as a group-home developer to shelter a diverse swath of central Connecticut's population. It, too, will be one of the final swan songs before the yearend retirement of its first and only chief executive. Since its launch in 1979 to finance, build, lease out — then ultimately give away — supportive shelter for thou- sands of the state's physically and mentally disabled, CIL has invested $458 million to construct or convert 2,205 dwelling units into shelter for 7,200 residents in Connecticut and Massachusetts. For at least a dozen years, CIL has applied that same skill set to its expand- ing for-profit realty development opera- tions that include Capewell, and a neigh- boring nonprofit-office-space cluster. In February, CIL announced it bought and will resume work on the $3.34 mil- lion Depot Crossing mixed-use project John Vazzano, owner of Vazzy's Cucina in Shelton, was upset when his restaurant had to pay $18,000 to settle a music copyright lawsuit. P h o t o | P a b l o R o b l e s Continued on page 16 Continued on page 15 Martin "Marty'' Legault, president and CEO, Corporation For Independent Living (CIL) With Legault, developer CIL soars as landlord Sued for a ong CBRE: Hartford region's '14 office sales topped $186M C BRE-New England released a fuller, more detailed version of its 2015 fore- cast last week that was chock full of noteworthy bits. Take, for instance, its outlook this year for investment in Central Connecticut's commer- cial office, industrial and retail real estate: "Between investors looking to repatri- ate capital and lenders selling foreclosed property, the investment sale market in Central Connecticut is expected to remain strong for the next two-three years,'' the firm wrote. "While assets like Goodwin Square will be auctioned, Aegon will sell the five-build- ing portfolio in Windsor that it foreclosed on in late 2013, representing distressed val- ue-add opportunities. Stabilized buildings currently on the market like United Health Care Center (CityPlace I), 45 Glastonbury Boulevard and 100 Corporate Drive in Windsor will continue to attract outside investors that are more yield driven.'' Also in the report, CBRE-NE partner Patrick Mulready notes that 2014 was the third straight year of strong realty invest- ment in the Greater Hartford region, with downtown being the most active. From 2012 to 2014, at least 15 buildings, each averaging 2.2 million square feet, a year sold in the region. That compares to a total of 18 buildings sold from 2009 to 2011 — a period covering the Great Recession. In the five years before the trough, Greater Hartford averaged 17 building sales a year, Mulready said. Mulready also tallied 2.4 million square feet of area office space that sold in 2014, fetching more than $186 million. • • • CT Lotto home sold A Long Island investor has acquired the Rocky Hill industrial building housing the CT Lottery, its second Hartford area industrial purchase in the past year, the landlord says. GTJ, a public non-traded real estate investment trust in West Hempstead, N.Y., says it bought the 92,500-square-foot single- story building on 12 acres at 777 Brook St. from Brook USA LLC. GTJ didn't divulge the price, but Rocky Hill town clerk records show a $12.4 million sale. The building was retrofitted and reno- vated in 2008, making it an attractive investment, GTJ CEO Paul Cooper said. CT Lottery's lease there runs through 2023. This is GTJ's first acquisition of 2015 and its latest in this region, officials said. Last year, the REIT bought a Windsor Locks parts-distribution warehouse in the shadow of Bradley International Airport and leased to Ford Motor Co. In Shelton, it acquired an industrial building leased to Sikorsky Aircraft. GTJ says it now owns 39 properties con- sisting of more than 4 million square feet on approximately 440 acres. In Farmington, GTJ is Hartford con- glomerate United Technologies Corp.'s landlord at 8 Farm Springs Road. GTJ's other Connecticut holdings include a dozen office buildings and ware- houses in Norwalk, Milford, Orange and Shelton, according to its homepage. • • • ExamOne's new space Lab-test services provider ExamOne has signed for 2,134 square feet of medical- office and examination space at 2080 Silas Deane Highway in Wethersfield. Twenty Eighty Professional Center LLC owns the 43,465-square-foot building sit- ting on about 2.5 acres that also houses a satellite clinic and medical offices for St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center. O,R&L Commercial represented the land- lord. Wolfe Commercial Real Estate was bro- ker to tenant ExamOne World Wide Inc. Previously known as LabOne, ExamOne provides risk-assessment tests to life-insur- ance applicants and was acquired by Quest Diagnostics in 2005. n Greg Seay is the Hartford Business Journal News Editor. Greg Seay Deal WaTCh CityPlace I, the taller Hartford building in the back- ground, is on the sales block. P H O T O | H B J F i l e CT Lottery, 777 Brook St., Rocky Hill. P H O T O | C O n T r i B u T e d Real Accountants Real Solutions It's An Art W 280 Trumbull St., Hartford, CT - 14 Bobala Rd., Holyoke, MA www.whcpa.com hittlesey & Hadley accountants are different. We care about our clients, not just their numbers. Our insight and practical advice is original and has been etched into the region's business landscape for more than 50 years. Who wants ordinary outcomes? Our vision- ary approach to auditing, tax planning, business and technology consulting renders innovative outtcomes that will change the way you do business. Put your trust in advisors with real solutions. 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