Hartford Business Journal

6 Hartford Business Journal • July 4, 2016 www.HartfordBusiness.com TOP STORY Old State House closes, but for how long? Hartford's Old State House shuttered its doors June 29 amid state budget cuts, but no one is prepared to say for how long. As first reported back in May by the Hartford Business Journal, control of the museum is being turned over from the General Assembly's Office of Leg- islative Management to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environ- mental Protection (DEEP), along with a budget reduction from $589,589 down to about $400,000. The transfer comes as DEEP is seeing its overall budget reduced 11 percent to $63.9 million. It recently announced park closures and reduced hours at facilities it operates across the state. Dennis Schain, a DEEP spokesperson, said his department and OLM are still working out the details of the transfer in operating responsibility. OLM is leasing the Old State House to DEEP to stay in compliance with a 99-year lease it has for the building with the city of Hartford. Schain said once DEEP assumes responsibility for the Old State House, it will be able to make decisions about future operations balanced against its reduced budget. MANUFACTURING AdChem to expand in Manchester Manchester's AdChem Manufacturing Technologies Inc. is planning to expand into two long-vacant buildings across the street from its 369 Progress Drive head- quarters, in the former Dean Machine complex. The buildings have been empty since Dean Machine, a small aerospace parts manufacturer, closed in 2002. AdChem, also known as ACMT, is growing rapidly, both in the number of employees and the need for space for them to work in, President and Founder Michael Polo said. Polo said the 30-year-old company, which supplies parts for Pratt & Whitney and other aeroparts makers, needs more space, after nearly doubling its work- force in the past year from 49 to 88. It is beefing up its operations to accommodate an anticipated groundswell of production related to Pratt's huge increase in demand for both its commercial geared turbofan engines and its F135 military engines for the Pentagon's Joint Strike Fighter. – JOURNAL INQUIRER Berlin mfrs. Precision Punch, Eastern merge A pair of small Berlin manufacturers have merged. Precision Punch Corp., a 51-year-old maker of hardware for making molds, stamping and cold heading, said it acquired its next-door neighbor, Eastern In- dustries, which makes standard and custom feeler gages. Both are housed at 304 Christian Lane. Financial terms weren't disclosed. TRANSPORTATION State's highways among most congested; bridges among worst Connecticut's highways are ranked third busiest and the state ties for fifth nationally with the highest percentage of its bridges (8 percent) considered structurally deficient, putting it in a tie with Michigan. Highway congestion is increasing on the interstate highway system as travel in- creases faster than new capacity is added. More than two out of every five miles of the nation's urban interstates are congested. Forty-three percent of the nation's urban interstate highways (8,020 of 18,567 miles) are considered congested because they carry traffic levels that result in significant delays during peak travel hours. The 10 states with the greatest share of their urban interstate highways con- sidered congested are California, Maryland, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Dela- ware, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Connecticut, Florida and Minnesota. Rhode Island ranks highest when it comes to percentage of deficient bridges at 15 percent. It's followed by West Virginia and Wyoming, 9 percent; New York, 8 percent; and Connecticut and Michigan, 7 percent. BANKING & FINANCE People's to pay $402M for L. I. lender Bridgeport thrift People's United Financial Inc. will deepen its metro New York footprint with its planned nearly $402 million purchase of one of Long Island's leading community banks. People's United, which has more than $39 billion in assets, announced its definitive pact to pay $33.55 for each share of Suffolk Bancorp, parent of Suffolk County National Bank, of Riverhead, N.Y. The deal is set to close late in the fourth quarter, pending all regulatory and stockholder approvals. People's CEO Jack Barnes said Suffolk County's "strong Long Island presence com- plements our previous acquisitions and organic growth in the New York Metro area." After the deal, Suffolk Bancorp CEO Howard C. Bluver becomes New York market president, overseeing Suffolk's integration into People's while continuing to expand the Connecticut lender's brand in New York, People's said. Berkshire's $117M deal widens door to Philly Massachusetts lender Berkshire Hills Bancorp Inc., with Hartford operations, says it will pay about $117 million in stock to acquire a New Jersey housing-consumer lender whose community-banking footprint extends into the Philadelphia market. The Pittsfield, Mass., parent to $7.8 billion-asset Berkshire Bank said that $1.1 billion-asset First Choice Bank, of Lawrenceville, N.J., will operate as Berk- shire's subsidiary, First Choice Loan Services Inc. The deal is set to close in the fourth quarter, once all regulatory and share- holder approvals are in place. Berkshire says it will gain six branches near Princeton, N.J., and two in the Greater Philadelphia marketplace. It also picks up from First Choice $436 mil- lion in net loans (excluding loans held for sale) and $906 million in deposits as of March 31. ECONOMY & LABOR CT ranked 10th worst for small business taxes A new report says Connecticut is the 10th worst state in the nation when it comes to taxes on small businesses. The Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council (SBEC) said in its 2016 Small Business Tax Index report Connecticut has a business tax index score of 65.467, ranking it 41st out of 50 states. South Dakota is ranked No. 1 at 12.114. SBEC said the index ranks the states from best to worst in terms of the costs of their tax systems on entrepreneurship and small business. This year's index pulls together 25 different tax measures, and combines those into one tax score that allows the 50 states to be compared and ranked. One area where the state does well is sales, gross receipts and excise taxes as a share of personal income. Connecticut is ranked 17th at 2.81 percent of personal income. Oregon is first at 0.817 percent. The state is also ranked 15th for its unem- ployment tax level of 1.85 percent. California is first at 0.81 percent. Other indicators hurting the state's overall score include the nation's second- highest diesel tax and sixth-highest fuel tax. DATTCO laying off 138 in Hartford In the wake of losing its bus-service contract with Hartford public schools, New Britain-based DATTCO is laying off 138 people, a state labor agency notice says. CSEA SEIU Local 2001, which represents the workers, said that is close to the number of Hartford school bus drivers currently employed by DATTCO. The union is in the midst of negotiating with Hartford's new school bus transporta- tion provider, Specialty Transportation. Ben Phillips, CSEA SEIU Local 2001's spokesman, said he was unaware whether Specialty has hired any of its members to fill the vacancies. City schools resume classes Aug. 30. BY THE NUMBERS $246,000 The median price of a single-family home sold in Connecticut during the month of May, down from $265,000 a year earlier, according to the Warren Group. 2,921 The number of single-family homes sold in Connecticut during the month of May, up 23.9 percent from a year earlier, according to the Warren Group. 41st Connecticut's ranking out of 50 U.S. states when it comes to small- business tax burden, according to the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council. 138 The number of employees New Britain bus company DATTCO is laying off, in the wake of losing its service contract with Hartford public schools. TOP 5 MOST READ on HartfordBusiness.com ■ Car auction sets records at Mohegan Sun ■ Strained city budget snuffs out Riverfront fireworks ■ State gives conditional OK to Waterbury hospital sale ■ DATTCO laying 138 off in Hartford ■ Cuts hit summer attractions 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 Hartford's Old State House is temporarily closed. P H O T O | C O N T R I B U T E D

• Cover