Hartford Business Journal

6 Hartford Business Journal • June 13, 2016 www.HartfordBusiness.com TOP STORY Fed up, city fires Hartford baseball stadium builder The city has fired Centerplan Cos. and DoNo Hartford LLC as building overseer of the beleaguered downtown ballpark to house the Yard Goats minor-league baseball team after "losing confidence'' in the developer's ability to meet its latest deadline for finishing the stadium this season. Mayor Luke Bronin announced last week that the city was invoking its contractual right and terminating Centerplan as builder of the $63 million, 6,600-seat Dunkin' Donuts Park. On May 27, Bronin officially called Centerplan's $47.1 million perfor- mance bond on the stadium with Arch Insurance Co., asserting that the Middletown developer had defaulted on its contract commitments to the city. "We've made multiple attempts to avoid this,'' Bronin said. "We felt we had no option but to take this action.'' Apparently the last straw of the city's patience with Centerplan was bro- ken June 3, when Bronin said the developer sent the city an email declaring that it would need at least 60 days more to complete the last bits of con- struction on the stadium. Asked if the prospect of baseball being played in Hartford this season was dead, Bronin said that either the bond surety issuer or the city could try to find a builder to complete the stadium. Centerplan, operating as DoNo LLC, originally pitched the ballpark last year as the anchor to a mixed-use development of retail, office and hous- ing in the city's downtown north quadrant. Earlier this year, Centerplan an- nounced that a Hard Rock Hotel was planned for DoNo. The fate of that project is now unclear. Bronin noted that Centerplan was fired only from involvement in the stadium portion of DoNo. However, he acknowledged that this action will likely impact the city's decisions later on for developing the rest of DoNo. HEALTH CARE Health insurers ask for 2017 rate hikes Connecticut health insurers have asked the state's insurance regulator to approve increases in small-group and individual rates for 2017. Insurers filed their annual rate requests with the Connecticut Insurance De- partment (CID) late last week. For small-group plans sold through Access Health CT, which are for employ- ers with 50 or fewer workers, the average requested increase ranged from 5.1 percent to 11.6 percent. Those plans, offered by Anthem and Healthy CT, apply to 54,706 covered lives. Meanwhile, for small-group plans not sold on the exchange, the average increas- es ranged from 2.1 percent to 28.2 percent. Those plans have 111,102 covered lives. On average, rate requests for individual plans were also all up compared to this year's rates Last year, CID lowered nearly all requested rates, some beneath their current levels at the time. ADVERTISING, MEDIA & MARKETING CT Law Tribune will cease print edition The Connecticut Law Tribune announced to its subscribers last week that it will no longer publish a print edition as of the end of this month. Hank Grezlak, regional editor-in-chief for ALM, the parent company of the legal newspaper, said in the announcement being digital first is more about changing the approach to delivering the news than eliminating print. He said it means producing more stories more often, and then posting them to the web. Readers will receive a digital edition every week, which he said will have the look and feel of the printed newspaper. ECONOMY & LABOR CEOs sour on Connecticut for business A new survey by a magazine aimed at CEOs says Connecticut is the fifth worst state for doing business. The report by Chief Executive Magazine said the state is ranked 46th over- all for doing business. That's based on its 48th place ranking for taxation and regulation; 36th in workplace quality; and 37th in living environment. Last year Connecticut was ranked 45th. The article said the state's main advantage is that Gov. Dannel P. Malloy ap- pears ready to negotiate and is proactively going after new business; and he's using the state's open stance on LGBT as a weapon. It presented as a challenge the fact that a new study showed that other states are closing the gap on Connecticut's livability and cost advantages, while job creation has not returned to pre-recessionary levels. CT's 2016 Fortune 500 rankings announced Nineteen Connecticut companies have made it on Fortune Magazine's 2016 Fortune 500 list. General Electric remains in the top spot in Connecticut for the time being at No. 11. United Technologies Corp. of Farmington maintained its spot at 45. Hartford insurer Aetna saw its ranking improve from 49th to 46th. Bloomfield insurer Cigna saw a big improvement from 90th to 79th on the list of the Fortune 100. Other Connecticut companies in the Fortune 500 include: • 150. Xerox (Stamford) down from 143; • 152. The Hartford (Hartford) up from 160; • 256. Stanley Black & Decker (New Britain) up from 261; • 262. Praxair (Danbury) down from 249; 2 • 292. Charter Communications (Stamford) up from 317; • 308. Priceline Group (Norwalk) up from 339; • 353. XPO Logistics (Greenwich) up from 909; • 368. W.R. Berkley (Greenwich) up from 385; • 381. Emcor (Norwalk) up from 421: • 396. Terex (Westport) down from 358; • 419. Harman International (Stamford) up from 486; • 440. United Rentals (Stamford) up from 461; • 444. Starwood Resorts & Hotels (Stamford) down from 442; • 461. Frontier Communications (Norwalk) up from 540; • 462. Amphenol (Wallingford) up from 487. More state layoffs announced Nineteen more state employees received notice they were being laid off last week, according to the state Office of Policy and Management. That brings to 712 the number of workers who have been cut from the state payroll, out of an executive branch workforce of 31,200 as of March 31, 2016 (excluding higher-ed). There were eight layoffs in the Office of Government Ac- countability and 11 in the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. ENERGY & UTILITIES DEEP files EPA petitions to improve air quality The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has filed two pe- titions with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency seeking air pollution reduc- tions from a Pennsylvania steam-electric station and large, on-road diesel trucks. In the petitions, DEEP asks EPA to require the Brunner Island Steam Electric Station in York County, Pa., to reduce air pollution generated from its three coal- fired electric generating units and set stricter limits on emissions from large on-road diesel trucks that travel through Connecticut. DEEP Commissioner Robert Klee said Connecticut has the Northeast's high- est ozone levels. He said air pollution transported into Connecticut from upwind sources and emissions from diesel-powered trucks are beyond the state's ju- risdiction and the petitions are part of its ongoing effort to have EPA address these sources. GOVERNMENT & POLITICS Treasurer criticizes veto of investment officer pay bill A bill that would have allowed the state treasurer to set the pay range for her department's investment advisors has been struck down by the governor. The state treasurer called the veto a mistake. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said the bill, allowing the treasurer to determine the compensation for a principal investment officer, ran afoul of current state prac- tice, which has the Department of Administrative Services (DAS) commissioner determine appropriate pay. He said exempting the treasurer from the process would reduce the ability of the state's classification system to work. State Treasurer Denise Nappier contested the veto saying a 2013 compensa- tion survey conducted by an external consultant found that the upper limit of the principal investment officer's compensation range as established by DAS and OPM was well below the median pay at similar public pension funds. BY THE NUMBERS 19 The number of Fortune 500 companies based in Connecticut, according to Fortune Magazine's 2016 rankings. $240,000 The median sales price of a single- family Connecticut home sold in April, up 0.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the Warren Group. $122M The pricetag for 267 new diesel electric hybrid buses recently purchased and received by the state Department of Transportation. 46 Connecticut's ranking out of 50 states as a place for doing business, according to Chief Executive Magazine. TOP 5 MOST READ on HartfordBusiness.com ■ Fed up, city fires Hartford baseball stadium developer ■ CT's Fortune 500 rankings for 2016 announced ■ CEOs sour on Connecticut for business ■ Health insurers ask for 2017 rate hikes ■ CT Law Tribune will cease print edition 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 Construction was halted last week on Dunkin' Donuts Park. P H O T O | C O N T R I B U T E D

• Cover