Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com June 22, 2015 • Hartford Business Journal 5 Hartford law firm's biz accelerator launching culinary teaching service Accelerated Ventures, a business accel- erator founded last year by Hartford law firm Cohn, Birnbaum & Shea, has announced its first portfolio company. Salivation LLC is developing a software that will beam detailed culinary lessons from high-end chefs to users' computer tablets. The company is headed by CEO Joseph Charles Epstein, a specialist in video-game learning who also worked for a year in the kitchen at Max's Downtown in Hartford. Epstein, along with company Chairman Joel Hartstone, who also leads Accelerated Ventures (Acc-Ven), is launching a $125,000 Kickstarter campaign to raise money to develop the software. Salivation hopes 2,500 people will pay $49 to pre-order the product, which aims to provide detailed instructions on how res- taurant chefs make their signature meals. Salivation aims to provide an alterna- tive, superior option to YouTube cooking videos or written recipes. The service would include instruction on selecting ingredients, dicing and blanch- ing techniques, and even plating. Five chefs have already signed on, including Jonathan Wu, chef-owner of Fung Tu in New York City, with more names to be revealed as early as this week. The market is potentially ripe for the product, Hartstone said, adding there are approximately 80 million cooking hobby- ists in the country. Acc-Ven, which aims to turn market- worthy ideas into successful businesses, will not invest in its portfolio companies, Hartstone said. Instead, the accelerator receives equity in exchange for the coach- ing it provides on legal issues, investors, marketing and other matters. Hartstone said he believes Salivation will be Epstein's first big success, following a near miss several years ago with a promis- ing software company. Epstein previously patented "activ- ity embedded learning" software that allowed users to plug a guitar into a com- puter or video game console to learn to play. The technology, similar to "Guitar Hero" in some ways, but with real gui- tars, was advanced, Hartstone said. But disputes among investors, fueled in part by what Hartstone viewed as mistakes in how the company issued shares, led to a bankruptcy and sale of the technology to Ubisoft. Epstein said he's learned from those mis- takes and is working hard on his new venture. "I've moved beyond that," Epstein said. "I've been on the road a lot meeting with chefs around the country." — Matt Pilon More downtown Hartford apts. to be dedicated The next batch of converted downtown Hartford office-to-apartments breaks into public view on Tuesday, with a planned ribbon-cutting at 179 Allyn St. Massachusetts developer Dakota Part- ners Inc. will share the 11 a.m. occasion with city and civic leaders, and officers from the Capital Region Development Authority, which blessed the estimated $15.1 million proj- ect with a $6.5 million public loan. Bank of America also provided unspecified financing, according to Dakota principal Roberto Arista. The property has about 10,000 square feet of ground commercial space, includ- ing Black Bear Saloon and NV Night Club. Atop are 63 apartments, with amenities that include a resident lounge, fitness cen- ter and laundry facilities. HallKeen Man- agement oversees the property. — Gregory Seay PDS has been meeting the needs of the construction industry since 1965. Our dedicated team of design and construction professionals welcomes the challenge of serving its past and future customers on their most demanding projects. Kamatics | Bloomfield, Connecticut Acting as Construction Manager at Risk, PDS was contracted to renovate the interior and exterior of the building. The interior included a completely new floor plan consisting of several offices, conference rooms, front lobby, bathrooms, storage areas, and audio visual. The exterior included a new composite metal wall panel veneer. Project Size: 3,500 SF 107 Old Windsor Road, Bloomfield, CT 06002 (860) 242-8586 | Fax (860) 242-8587 www.pdsec.com DESIGN BUILDERS • GENERAL CONTRACTORS • CONSTRUCTION MANAGERS SPOTLIGHT ON: Industrial PDS ENGINEERING & CONSTRUCTION, INC. THINK • PLAN • BUILD Subscribe online: www.HartfordBusiness.com/hbjdelivers or call: 845-267-3008 Delivering Business. When you need information to grow your business, we deliver! Subscribe today to receive weekly issues in print and digital, plus special publications and full online access! 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 Joseph Charles Epstein, CEO of Salivation LLC. Downtown's 179 Allyn St. (top) and interior amenities. REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK P H O T O | C O N T R I B U T E D P H O T O S | C O N T R I B U T E D

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