Hartford Business Journal

6 Hartford Business Journal • February 29, 2016 www.HartfordBusiness.com TOP STORY Razing of The Hartford's ex-Simsbury campus sought The new owners of The Hartford's sprawling ex-Simsbury insurance cam- pus plan to raze the office-building portion to make way for a new mixed- use development, the town's planner says. New Jersey landlord The Silverman Group, which acquired the 173-acre cam- pus in late December, has filed an application with the town's conservation com- mission to level the 625,000-square-foot office building at 200 Hopmeadow St., said Jamie Rabbit, Simsbury's director of planning and community development. The commission will formally receive the application when it meets on March 1, Rabbit said. Working with The Hartford once it decided to sell the property, the town em- braced a relatively novel development concept, known as "form-based code,'' for reimagining the property's use and to make it more attractive to a buyer. According to Rabbit, the town and Silverman Group still envision applying the code to whatever new use the owner intends for the property. To that end, Rabbit said Silverman Group has hired a trio of renowned design houses: VHB, of Vienna, Va., Gateway Planning, of Dallas, Texas.; and Minno & Waskow Architects, of Lambertville, N.J. MANUFACTURING UTC: Honeywell merger off table Aerospace conglomerates United Technologies Corp. and Honeywell recently rekindled merger talks, but a deal doesn't appear to be in the works. Farmington-based UTC, which is Connecticut's largest private employer, confirmed last week that it recently held merger talks with New Jersey-based Honeywell, to create a combined $94 billion company. But the talks eventually died due to "significant regulatory obstacles, cus- tomer concerns and valuation issues." "In particular, United Technologies has communicated to Honeywell that combining two of the world's largest players in the aerospace and commercial building segments would face insurmountable regulatory obstacles and strong customer opposition, and could either be blocked outright or conditioned on significant divestitures after a lengthy and disruptive review period that would destroy shareholder value," UTC said in statement. Honeywell initiated the latest merger talks, but conversations between both sides have been ongoing for a year, CNBC said. In 2015, UTC CEO Greg Hayes approached Honeywell CEO David Cote about a possible merger of equals, CNBC said. In the latest talks, Honeywell, which now has a greater market valuation than UTC, was the acquirer. LAW Court administrator threatens massive layoffs, court closings The judicial system's top court administrator said proposed spending cuts by the governor will result in hundreds of layoffs, courthouse closures, and other cuts in service. The court system would see a "devastating number" of layoffs if it receives a $64 million reduction in funding, Judge Patrick L. Carroll III, the court system's chief administrator, told the Appropriations Committee last week. He told the committee if 500 people were laid off in the Judicial Branch ef- fective July 1, about one in seven of all employees, the savings would equal $25 million, less than half of the $64 million in proposed budget cuts. Carroll said 1,000 layoffs in the Judicial Branch, which he termed "an impossible number to achieve," would yield $50 million in budget savings. The Judicial Branch would also most likely close six of its 43 court locations because of staffing reductions. INSURANCE MassMutual to lay off 100 at Enfield office About 100 positions are being cut at the Enfield office of MassMutual, home to the company's retirement fund operations, a corporate spokesman confirmed last week. "MassMutual routinely and carefully examines all of its operations to ensure we are focused on activities that effectively and efficiently deliver the greatest value to our policyowners and customers," MassMutual spokesman Jim Lacey said in a state- ment. He added at times this means making decisions that impact staffing levels. The Springfield-based financial services company two years ago spent more than $38 million to renovate its Enfield complex at 100 Bright Meadow Blvd. The company's total Enfield payroll had grown since the renovation to around 2,000, up from its previous total of 1,200, the Journal Inquierer reported. The company also has 200 employees in Hartford at its Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers LLC subsidiary. In June 2014, the state announced it was giving MassMutual up to $13 mil- lion in state incentives as part of an expansion of its Enfield campus. EDUCATION UConn professor equates charter school growth to subprime mortgage crisis Just like the subprime mortgage crisis slammed poorer African-American neighborhoods, so could the growing increase in charter schools, claims a UCo- nn professor in a new report. Insufficient regulation could result in the formation of charter-school "bub- bles": A concentration of poorly performing schools in urban African-American communities, according to Preston Green III, UConn professor of educational leadership and law. In a recent paper that is receiving national attention, Green and three co- authors outline the many parallels they see between today's charter school systems and the early days of the subprime mortgage crisis, where aggressive business practices and unchecked growth created a national housing "bubble" that threw the country into deep recession. Green said the housing bubble was particularly devastating to urban African- American families, many of whom relied on subprime mortgages to purchase their first homes. Without sufficient regulatory safeguards in place to protect them, he said these vulnerable families would later lose their properties to foreclosure when the bubble burst and they were unable to meet the terms of their loans. In his research article, Green and his co-authors said more than $200 million in charter school fraud, abuse, and mismanagement has been identified in 15 states. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT E. Windsor out of casino chase Two Connecticut tribes weighing several Hartford area venues for a third casino say East Windsor has fallen out of consideration, and that discussions are entering a new phase about remaining sites in Hartford, East Hartford and Windsor Locks. "We've spent the last several months going through this process, trying to fig- ure out the best way to preserve Connecticut jobs and revenue," Mohegan Tribal Council Chairman Kevin Brown said in a statement. "East Windsor's clear desire to host this facility made this decision really difficult. However, the fact that one site was removed by the developer and others were not submitted by the property owner made pursuing a facility there extremely challenging." Butler and Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Chairman Rodney Butler said staff from both tribes, who are partnering to develop Connecticut's third casino, will meet with officials from each of the towns to discuss in greater detail exactly what a proposal could entail. The tribes did not give a timetable for rendering a decision on winning site. LABOR Paid family leave would cost $18.5M annually A new study on expanding paid family leave in Connecticut estimates a startup cost of $13.6 million. Ongoing costs would approach $18.5 million for salaries but would be covered by employee contributions. The report, conducted by the Institute for Women's Policy Research, was re- quired by the General Assembly last year. The Permanent Commission on the Sta- tus of Women said the plan favors an employee-contribution model that would not require employers to pay into the self-funding system. Business lobbying groups including the Connecticut Business & Industry As- sociation oppose the adoption of paid family sick leave. The program put forward by the Campaign for Paid Family Leave is solvent after a two-year startup period, the report said. It would require 0.54 percent of an employee's earnings in order to fund that employee at 100 percent wage replace- ment. The report recommends collecting the premiums for a year before workers would be eligible for paid family leave. The state would need to hire about 120 employees to administer what could be 100,000 family leave claimants annually, the report said. BY THE NUMBERS $377.09 The total delinquent car taxes and interest Gov. Dannel P. Malloy owes the city of Hartford, where the Democrat resides, according to the CT Mirror. 35 The number of years Connecticut has used a minimum-pricing system for alcohol, which requires retailers of alcoholic beverages to sell their products at a minimum price determined by the wholesaler industry. 5% The percentage of employees at MassMutual's Enfield campus who are losing their jobs as a result of the insurers' cost trimming. $9M The projected deficit for the city of Hartford in the current fiscal year, according to Mayor Luke Bronin. TOP 5 MOST READ on HartfordBusiness.com ■ Bronin projects steep deficits for Hartford ■ Razing of The Hartford's ex-Simsbury campus sought ■ MassMutual to lay off 100 at Enfield office ■ Restaurant owner admits underreporting receipts ■ UTC: Honeywell merger off table 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, CT Health Care Weekly www.HartfordBusiness.com/subscribe WEEK IN REVIEW The Hartford's former Simsbury campus is slated to be demolished. P H O T O | H B J F I L E

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