Hartford Business Journal

6 Hartford Business Journal • November 30, 2015 www.HartfordBusiness.com TOP STORY Harrison to retire as UHart president Walter Harrison, president of the University of Hartford, has announced his retirement. He had indicated back in 2012 when he signed a five-year contract that he believed it would be his last. When he retires in June 2017, Harrison, 69, will have served as the Universi- ty's president for 19 years. A search committee to find his replacement will start its work in the spring. Harrison has served as university president since July 1, 1998. During that time the West Hartford university has improved its academics, finances and fundraising. New academic programs in technology, engineering, health sciences, and other areas have been added during his tenure. He has also been active nationally as a leader in the NCAA. HEALTH CARE CT health plan costs higher than national average A national survey of employer-sponsored health plans has found the cost of health benefits is substantially higher in Connecticut compared to the national average. It also determined, among other findings, that health-benefit costs rose 4.3 percent in 2015. According to the National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans, conduct- ed annually by Mercer, total health-benefit costs averaged $11,635 per employee in 2015 nationally. This cost includes both employer and employee contributions for medical, dental and other health coverage, for all covered employees and dependents. In Connecticut, total health-benefit costs for active employees increased to an average of $12,908 per employee. Employers believe their health-benefit costs could increase 6.3 percent in 2016 if they maintained their current plans. The survey found they expect to hold their cost increase to 4.7 percent by making changes to plan design and/or plan vendors. BANKING & FINANCE Webster to relocate satellites to Southington Webster Bank is consolidating its back-office operations in Cheshire and Walling- ford into 85,000 square feet in Southington. Webster recently inked a lease for space at 200 Executive Blvd., according to Rocky Hill lease broker O,R&L Commercial. The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. once owned and occupied the four-story, 150,000-square-foot Class A office building. Empty after The Hartford moved out, it was sold in 2014 to Executive 200 LLC, which has since made major renovations to the property, said landlord representatives and O,R&L brokers Jay Morris and Robert Gaucher. Webster will occupy all of 200 Executive's first and second floors, and half of the third. Once the bank moves in, about 20,000 square feet of the building's space remains available for lease, the brokers said. No move-in date was listed. The building's central Connecticut location and freeway proximity were key selling points for Webster, the O,R&L brokers said, plus that the building has dual back-up generators that can power the structure during an outage. Its other tenants include the Alzheimer's Association; Lisa Inc., Agency Ad- ministrators; and Mechanical Contractors. Jones Lang Lasalle represented Webster in lease talks. CHFA's $60.3M bonds to rehab apartments The state is selling as much as $60.3 million of tax-exempt bonds to finance makeovers of six affordable apartment communities totaling 488 units. About half the bonds, or $30.2 million, will be directly placed with Bank of America, the quasi-public Connecticut Housing Finance Authority (CHFA) says. The balance will be sold publicly at a Dec. 1 bond sale to benefit: Billings Forge in Hartford; Old Talcott Mill in Vernon; Charles Street Apartments in Mer- iden; Frost Homestead in Waterbury; Laurelwood Apartments in Bridgeport; and Trinity Park in Stamford. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT & CONSTRUCTION Hartford public works project helped lift national construction figures A $153 million expansion to a sewage-treatment plant in Hartford helped drive growth in U.S. public-works construction in October. Overall, new construction starts in October advanced 13 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $591.1 billion. According to the Dodge Data & Analytics monthly construction report, the increase follows lackluster performance for construction starts during August and September, when activity fell to the lowest levels reported so far in 2015. Much of October's gain for total construction was due to a sharp rebound by non-residential building, with additional support coming from a moderate uptick for housing as a result of further strengthening by multifamily housing. The public-works categories in October grew 4 percent, showing further im- provement after September's slight 1 percent gain, which followed double-digit declines in July and August. EDUCATION UConn students mining soil for antibiotics As the University of Connecticut bluntly puts it — we're running out of an- tibiotics and people are dying because of it. That's the driving force behind a worldwide academic collaborative project to discover new antibiotics in soil. The "Microbe Hunting: Crowdsourcing the Discovery of New Antibiotics" class at UConn is part of a global collaboration between students and microbiologists at 109 schools in 32 U.S. states plus Puerto Rico, and eight other countries. It's called the "Small World Initiative." "The grand goal is to find new antibiotics," says assistant professor of mo- lecular and cell biology Nichole Broderick. As an UConn Today article points out, soil mining for antibiotics might sound novel but is a traditional approach. Penicillin was first discovered in mold that contaminated some lab samples. The issue is especially crucial because antibiotics can quickly be rendered ineffectual. Since the mid-'80s, new antibiotic discovery has plummeted. Phar- maceutical companies don't find antibiotics a profitable line of research, as it can take a decade to find and test a single drug to the FDA's satisfaction, but just months for resistance to appear. GOVERNMENT, POLITICS & LAW Poor transportation costs CT residents $5.1B a year Just in time for the heavy holiday travel period, a new report states an inadequate transportation system costs Connecticut motorists $5.1 billion every year in the form of additional vehicle operating costs, congestion-related delays and traffic crashes. It works out to be more than $2,000 a year for individual drivers. The report was presented by TRIP, a nonprofit Washington, D.C., organization that researches, evaluates and distributes economic and technical data on surface trans- portation issues. It says the quality of Connecticut's transportation system will play a vital role in the state's level of economic growth and in the quality of life. Drivers in the Hartford area face the highest annual costs at $2,236 annually. The Bridgeport/Stamford area was next at $2,222 and New Haven drivers see yearly costs of $2,050. The average cost to drivers in the state's largest urban areas is a result of driving on roads that are deteriorated, congested and lack some desirable safety features. Roadway features that impact safety include the number of lanes, lane widths, lighting, lane markings, rumble strips, shoulders, guard rails, other shielding devices, median barriers and intersection design. Tesla renews commitment to sell in CT At its Milford service center last week, Tesla Motors renewed its call for leg- islation that would allow the company to sell its cars directly to Connecticut consumers. The facility, which opened in 2013 and employs nearly 20, currently serves the more than 800 Tesla owners in the state. The center is slated for a 7,000-square-foot expansion later this year, in order to store more parts and service the growing number of Teslas in the state. Tesla said it will push for legislation allowing it to open showrooms in different parts of Connecticut. The company estimates that each showroom could create up to 25 jobs and contribute up to $10 million in direct economic impact, in addition to nearly $1.7 million in sales tax revenue. During the 2015 legislative session, Tesla pushed for a bill that would have given the company the ability to sell directly to Connecticut consumers. The final bill had the approval of the Connecticut Automotive Retailers As- sociation and passed the House with bipartisan support, but never came up for a vote in the Senate. So Connecticut residents who want a Tesla must still order them online or travel to another state that allows direct sales, such as Massachusetts or New York. Will Nicholas, Tesla's government relations manager, said the rushed na- ture of the session may have doomed the bill. BY THE NUMBERS $202,250 The median price for a home sold in the Hartford region in October. 6.3% The percent Connecticut employers expect their health- benefit costs to increase in 2016, if they make no changes to their health plans, according to a recent survey by Mercer. $63,381 The amount of annual income needed for a family of four in Hartford just to make ends meet, according to a new report from the state Permanent Commission on the Status of Women. 16,188 The number of turkeys Bloomfield nonprofit Foodshare needed to and did collect to provide Thanksgiving dinner to needy families in Greater Hartford. TOP 5 MOST READ on HartfordBusiness.com ■ Insurance broker going to prison for $10.4M Aetna theft ■ Report paints bleak portrait on CT jobs recovery, wages ■ CT health plan costs higher than national average ■ Auditors knock CT Innovations for not following recommendations ■ Hartford Sweat relaunching at 777 Main 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 University of Hartford President Walter Harrison will retire in 2017. P H O T O | H B J F I L E

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