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www.HartfordBusiness.com October 19, 2015 • Hartford Business Journal 7 WHAT'S AHEAD: ■ 10/26 Focus: Retail ■ The List: Largest Shopping Centers ■ Nonprofit Profile: Greater Hartford Arts Council CALENDAR WEDNESDAY, OCT. 21 Roast of Liberty Bank CEO Chandler Howard Chandler Howard, president and CEO of Liberty Bank, will be the guest of honor at the 2015 Middlesex United Way Leadership Circle Roast on Oct. 21 at Saint Clements Castle in Portland, 1931 Portland-Cobalt Road. Celebrity roasters will take their swings at Howard during this golf-themed event, all in the name of philanthropy. The event will benefit Middlesex United Way's expansion into the area of third-grade reading. Howard has been president and CEO of Liberty Bank since 2007 and has over 30 years of experience in the field of banking. He has long been active in community affairs and he serves on a number of boards and commissions. Howard is a director of Middlesex Hospital, a past campaign co-chair for Middlesex United Way, and a past director and campaign chair for United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut. Tickets start at $50. Cocktail hour begins at 5:30 p.m. and dinner and program begin at 6:30 p.m. For more information and tickets, visit www.middlesexunitedway.org/RSVP. MANUFACTURING & TECHNOLOGY UConn breaks ground on $183.5M tech park Ground was broken last week on a new technology park at UConn and construction of the Innovation Partnership Building, the inaugural building associated with the project. More than $180 mil- lion has been earmarked in state and federal funds for the project. Also introduced were six anchor partners — including Ever- source, United Technologies Corp., Pratt & Whitney Co. and Com- cast — who will operate research facilities within the Innovation Partnership Building (IBP). In May, the state Bond Commission approved $131.5 million to construct the first building in UConn's technology park. It will of- fer specialized equipment and shared laboratory space for UConn researchers, industry scientists and businesses. The borrowing brings the total amount of state and federal funding for the tech park to $183.5 million. According to a statement from the university, the 113,000-square- foot Innovation Partnership Building will house cutting-edge labora- tories and highly specialized equipment. The goal is to have teams of academic researchers, private industry scientists, and business entrepreneurs working together onsite to develop new technolo- gies in energy, electronics, materials science, microscopy, additive manufacturing, cybersecurity and other fields. In addition to the Eversource Energy Center, the IBP's other ex- pected anchor partners include: • FEI Center for Advanced Microscopy and Materials Analysis, one of the world's foremost facilities for electron microscopy • United Technologies Institute for Advanced Systems Engineering • Pratt & Whitney Additive Manufacturing Innovation Center • Comcast Center for Security Innovation • Fraunhofer Center for Energy Innovation Last October, UConn and scientific instrument maker FEI Co. signed an agreement to develop a center for microscopy and materials science research to be housed in the new Innovation Partnership Building. It will feature some of the most advanced commercially available electron microscopes. Chandler Howard marcumllp.com/hbj RETAIL Lululemon leaving W. Hfd. Center for Westfarms Women's high-end fashion workout wear and accessories retailer Lululemon Athletica says it will abandon later this month its West Hart- ford Center store after four years there, and reopen in Westfarms Mall. A spokeswoman for the Canadian retailer confirmed its planned closing of its West Hartford store at 987 Farmington Ave., set for Oct. 27. It will reopen the same day, she said via voicemail, in space on the second-floor of Westfarms, next door to Nordstrom's Depart- ment Store and across from the Apple Store. The spokeswoman didn't specify why Lululemon is leaving the town's center. Lululemon opened in 3,000 square feet at the cor- ner of Farmington Avenue and Lasalle Road that had been the longtime home of defunct Bennett's Card & Party Emporium. Westfarms straddles Farmington and West Hartford. A rendering of UConn's Innovation Partnership Building. P H O T O | H B J F I L E