Hartford Business Journal

10 Hartford Business Journal • January 11, 2016 www.HartfordBusiness.com Landino aspires to erase Hartford's dim view By Gregory Seay gseay@HartfordBusiness.com D eveloper Robert Landino says he's looking forward to changing to positive the tenor of conversations about prospects for downtown Hartford. Landino's Middletown-based Centerplan Cos., of which the civil engineer is founder and CEO, is build- ing Hartford's minor-league baseball stadium, Dunkin' Donuts Park, where the Yard Goats are set to open their 2016 season in April. That project has become a bigger challenge than envi- sioned. As city officials voice uncertainty about the park's completion timetable, as well as questions about an esti- mated $10 million in cost overruns rung up on the park's estimated $56 million pricetag, Centerplan is now propos- ing stadium changes – and other options – to bring costs under control. "It's certainly going to be a race to the finish,'' Landino said in late 2015 of the construction pace that still must contend with winter weather. "You might not be able to buy a hot dog in center field, but we'll be playing baseball.'' When it opens, the 6,000-seat ballpark will anchor the planned redevelopment of the quadrant known as "Down- town North," or DoNo. Around time work wraps on the ballpark, ground is set to break in the spring on DoNo's next phase in Block E, Landino said. There, at the intersection of Trumbull and Main streets, Centerplan plans to erect apartments and retail spaces with a development pricetag of about $120 million, he said. The south end of that block will contain the apartments and entertainment-focused retail, such as restaurants; the north end will feature more "community-focused retail- ers,'' including a supermarket, Landino said. Collectively, Centerplan's DoNo redevelopment, in tandem with partner LeylandAlliance, is already having an impact on insiders' and outsiders' impressions about Hartford, Landino said. "One of my goals is to begin to change the conversa- tion about Hartford in 2016,'' he said. "We want it to be more about the positive aspects of Hartford.'' In mid-December, Landino got an early start toward that goal, baring plans to begin construction in late 2016 on a 170-room Hard Rock Hotel that could open in 2017, adjacent to the ballpark. Centerplan will own the hotel; Hard Rock will manage it. "We believe in what we're doing. We're positive. I wouldn't be risking millions of dollars and putting my rep- utation at risk if I didn't believe in Hartford,'' Landino said. Landino's development mark also will continue to touch on other regions of the state next year. In Farmington, Centerplan has received local approval to break ground as early as next summer on the approximately $70 million, 268-unit Charles House Commons luxury apart- ments/condominiums, in the town's Unionville section. In East Windsor, Landino is in contention to develop a casino near I-91 and Route 5. In Mansfield, Centerplan and LeylandAlliance are fin- ishing up the third phase of their Storrs Center mixed-use development, with the approximately $10 million build- out of townhouses and market-rate apartments. In New Haven, Centerplan will continue with Robert A. Landino, founder/ CEO, Centerplan Cos., Middletown. Zupkus hopes for windy CT energy future By Matt Pilon mpilon@HartfordBusiness.com A s vehicles meander around a turn going west down Route 44 where Winchester meets Colebrook, the view of the road's next peak is suddenly pierced by the tallest structure this side of Hartford. The 2.85-megawatt General Electric wind turbine, 30 sto- ries tall at the hub of its rotating blades, which reach to nearly 45 stories at the tips, is one of two turbines at Connecticut's first commercial wind farm, developed by BNE Energy. The third has been approved, and could be built in 2016. Turned on in October, the two turbines sit atop Flagg Hill, which has a winding residential street climbing a portion of it. A sign in a neighbor's yard — rem- nants of a recently concluded three-year legal battle that BNE won — demands in red letters: "No industrial wind turbines." The $23 million Wind Cole- brook South project is signifi- cant because it's the first in a state that has been slow to adopt wind energy. Additionally, the three-year legal battle that led to its approval — capped by a state Supreme Court decision in the fall of 2014 — opens the door to more wind projects that could reveal themselves this year. With the Colebrook turbines now generating enough elec- tricity to power every house in town, BNE CEO Gregory Zup- kus, 53, said he's changed gears. "Right now, it's about keep- ing these running, working with GE on managing that aspect of it, paying our bills, creating rev- enue, and making this wind proj- ect successful," Zupkus said. In 2016, the third Colebrook South turbine, which would be built further from the road, is an BNE Energy CEO Gregory Zupkus stands in front of one of two BNE turbines in Colebrook. P H O T O | S T E V E L A S C H E V E R H B J P H O T O | M A T T P I L O N 5 to Watch in 2016 H ere is a look at five business, nonprofit and higher education leaders to watch out for in 2016. Continued on page 14 Continued on page 12

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