Hartford Business Journal

6 Hartford Business Journal • April 27, 2015 www.HartfordBusiness.com TOP STORY Mohegan to develop 'entertainment city' at S. Korea airport The Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority said it has signed an agreement with the operator of the 8th busiest airport in the world to develop, build and oper- ate a "gateway entertainment city" with a casino, amusement park, concert and sports arena, stores, and a private jet terminal for wealthy visitors. MTGA and South Korea's Incheon Airport Corp. said the 800-acre devel- opment will be the first of its kind in the world, and would help grow Incheon, which serves 45 million passengers a year, into a global megahub. MTGA, which operates Mohegan Sun casinos in Connecticut and Penn- sylvania and manages an Atlantic City casino, didn't disclose the value of its potential project investment. Its development partner is Miura Holdings Asia, which focuses on gaming, hotels and restaurants in the U.S. and Asia. Under the memorandum of understanding, Mohegan and Incheon will negotiate a conceptual agreement by the end of June and a scope-of-work proposal by the end of the year. The development is expected to include 1,000 hotel rooms, 61,000 square feet of gaming space with 1,500 slot machines and 250 gaming tables, an indoor-outdoor amusement park, a 20,000-seat arena, and retail stores and restaurants. The deal is contingent on government and regulatory approvals, including MTGA securing a gaming license from the Korean government. FINANCE Segarra says budget closes gap without tax increase, layoffs Hartford Mayor Pedro E. Segarra said his proposed fiscal year 2016 budget would close a nearly $49 million deficit with a combination of spending cuts, debt restructuring and the use of reserves from a board of education health benefits trust fund. The $534 million budget proposal would hold the city's property tax rate flat at 74.29 mills — the highest in the state — and would not require layoffs, the mayor said. The budget would also allow for the hiring of 41 public safety employees, the required $36 million contribution to the city's retirement fund, and a flat $284 million contribution to the city's public schools. Segarra said closing the budget gap could have required raising the mill rate by more than 14 mills or eliminating more than 470 fulltime city jobs. Instead, the mayor wants to cut departmental budgets by $12.8 million and save $12 million through a round of debt restructuring. But the mayor's proposed use of the health benefits trust fund to balance the budget drew criticism from School Board Chairman Richard Wareing, who said that some of the money in the fund cannot legally be taken by the city and insinuated the school board could sue the city, according to the Hartford Courant. TRANSPORTATION Propark to valet at eBay's base Hartford parking-services vendor/investor Propark America won its bid to manage valet parking at online auction-house eBay's California base. Propark will serve eBay's San Jose headquarters for remuneration that wasn't disclosed. "Our program will feature our entire suite of Parking Spa amenities, and allow people to request vehicles remotely through a mobile app, as well as make res- ervations for onsite automobile repair and detailing services," said Tim Maloney, Propark's executive vice president for national sales. In addition to valet parking services and premium amenities, Propark will also provide consulting services to eBay for overall transportation needs throughout their campus, including both parking and transportation, Maloney said. Propark also handles corporate-valet parking for Google's Silicon Valley headquarters, and for Hines Real Estate in the Houston, Texas, area, Propark spokesman Dennis Safford said. Separately, Propark's partner for amassing and operating parking assets, Parkit, has formed a joint venture with private realty equity investor Och-Ziff Real Estate to scoop up to $500 million in assets nationwide. Several unidentified Propark officers are Parkit investors, Parkit said Thursday. The venture already has invested in six parking assets worth $82.6 million, a portfolio that includes a parking facility at Bradley International Airport; and New Haven's Chapel Square and Riccio Lot facilities, officials said. In March 2014, Propark and Parkit announced their partnership to acquire parking facilities nationwide. Propark owns or operates more than 500 parking facilities in about a dozen states. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Phil Schonberger dies at 61 Philip A. Schonberger, who is credited with the vision for downtown Hartford redevelopment, died last week. He was 61. Schonberger died April 20 of a heart attack at his Old Lyme home. Hartford developer-landlord Marc S. Levine said he knew "Phil" — as he was largely known to friends and business associates — for 35 years. Levine credited Schonberger with encouraging him to get back involved in downtown real estate and to relocate his business operations there. Levine said he and others appreciated Schonberger for "his creativity and his knowledge … about things that transcended business.'' "I give him credit for the hotel-conversion idea,'' Levine said of his partner- ship's stake in the Brown-Thomson building on Main Street that houses a Resi- dence Inn hotel, upper office space and street-level retail. Schonberger, too, was the idea spark, Levine said, for converting the former Sage-Allen Department Store building next door on Main Street into apartments. Colliers buys Madison project manager SBS Commercial realty-broker adviser Colliers International says it has acquired Madison project-management specialist Strategic Building Solutions. Financial terms weren't disclosed, but SBS Principal Jon Winikur indicated that he and other key SBS staff still have equity in their business post-merger. Billed as the Northeast's leader in energy sustainability management, commissioning and retro-commissioning services, nearly 20-year-old SBS and its offices in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and Washington D.C., were immediately rebranded under the Colliers International flag, said Colliers President/USA Craig Robinson, in a statement from Seattle headquarters. Colliers has offices in Hartford, New Haven and Stamford, where it advises commercial real estate buyers and sellers statewide. GOVERNMENT & POLITICS DRS catches $14M in fraudulent claims The Department of Revenue Services has caught $14 million in fraudulent 2014 tax claims so far, officials announced. That's up from $5.5 million a year ago, DRS said. In February, following news of a data breach at health insurer Anthem affecting as many as 80 million customers, DRS said it was taking additional steps to verify tax returns submitted to the agency. That included sending refund checks to taxpayers' mailing addresses rather than wiring the money to a specified bank account. DRS said at the time that it considered less than 1 percent of refunds to be questionable. Malloy creates climate change council On Earth Day last week, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed an executive order cre- ating a new council to keep Connecticut on pace with its long-term greenhouse gas emissions goals. In 2008, Connecticut adopted the Global Warming Solutions Act, committing the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 10 percent by 2020 and then 80 percent by 2050. Malloy said the state is ahead of its 2020 target. The newly established Council on Climate Change will be made up of 15 members to recommend policies, regulations, and legislative actions that help the state achieve its 2050 target. The council will make its first report in January and then biannually thereafter. The membership will include the commissioners of the Department of En- ergy & Environmental Protection, Department of Economic & Community De- velopment, Department of Transportation, Department of Administrative Ser- vices, Insurance Department, Department of Housing, and the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority; the secretary of the Office of Policy & Management; the CEO of the Connecticut Green Bank; the executive director of the Connecticut Institute for Resilience & Climate Adaptation; Don Strait, president of the Con- necticut Fund for the Environment; Lynn Stoddard, director of the Institute for Sustainable Energy at Eastern Connecticut State University; John Humphries of the Connecticut Roundtable on Climate & Jobs; and two representatives from business and industry. BY THE NUMBERS $99 million The money Connecticut received from cap-and-trade energy auctions from 2005 to 2013, according to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. $534M The size of Hartford Mayor Pedro E. Segarra's proposed fiscal year 2016 budget. $426,000 The amount of money Hartford could receive annually from the state's admissions tax if legislators approve a hotly debated bill. 3,635 The number of patients enrolled in Connecticut's medical marijuana program as of April 15, which is up from 2,326 patients in October. TOP 5 MOST READ on HartfordBusiness.com ■ Hartford's tallest office tower for sale ■ G. Fox scion gifts Bloomfield land to CT ■ DRS catches $14M in fraudulent claims ■ Mohegan to develop 'entertainment city' at S. Korea airport ■ $34.5M refi in hand, Seabury eyes expansion 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 LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/ the-Hartford-Business-Journal Daily e-newsletters: HBJ Today, CT Morning Blend www.HartfordBusiness.com/subscribe Weekly e-newsletters: CT Green Guide Weekly www.HartfordBusiness.com/subscribe WEEK IN REVIEW A rendering of Mohegan's proposed "gateway entertainment city" in South Korea. P H O T O | C O N T R I B U T E D

• Cover