Hartford Business Journal

12 Hartford Business Journal • January 23, 2017 www.HartfordBusiness.com Middletown Professional Park sold for $1.525M T he Middlesex Professional Park medi- cal-office complex on Saybrook Road in Middletown has a new owner who paid $1.525 million, brokers say. Middlesex Professional Park LLC, an affiliate of Newington's Reno Properties Group LLC, bought the property at 760-770 Saybrook Road, according to Reno Proper- ties, which represented the buyer in the deal. Saybrook Sam LLC was the seller. Middlesex Hospital is among the 22,925-square-foot, Class B office com- plex's eight tenants, Reno Properties said. $1.1M Vernon listing A 34,646-square-foot Vernon industrial building is on the market with a $1.1 mil- lion asking price, brokers say. The building on 5.13 acres at 60 Indus- trial Park Road contains 7,686 square feet of office space, and is equipped with 1,200- and 600-amp power, one dock and three drive-in doors, said listing broker Sentry Commercial. E. Hartford price cuts Asking prices have been reduced on a pair of East Hartford commercial proper- ties, the broker says. The previous $2.45 million asking price for 47 Leggett St. has been cut to $2.15 mil- lion, or $30 a square foot, according to list- ing broker Sentry Commercial. Next door, the price of the building at 69 Leggett St. was trimmed to $1.43 million, or $20 per square foot, from $2.15 million. Each building has 71,000 square feet. $750K Vernon listing A 9,916-square-foot South Windsor industrial building is on the market with a $750,000 pricetag, brokers say. The 30-year-old building on 2 acres at 279 Nutmeg Road South also has a pair of eight- and 10-foot overhead doors, and 4,200 square feet of finished office space, says listing broker Sentry Commercial. Berlin Turnpike Wood-n-Tap A Wood-n-Tap Bar & Grill restaurant has opened on the Berlin Turnpike in Newington. Hartford Restaurant Group LLC signed a 10-year lease for 9,000 square feet in the Raymour & Flanigan furniture building at 3375 Berlin Turnpike for its ninth Wood-n- Tap restaurant, all in central Connecticut, according to tenant broker The Proto Group of North Haven. Raymour & Flanigan negotiated the lease on behalf of landlord Furniture Executives No. 4 LP. The Proto Group represented the tenant. J. Harstan's in Wallingford J. Harstan's Jewelers has leased 3,500 square feet in a retail center on Walling- ford's North Colony Road, brokers say. With Harstan's five-year lease, valued at $372,000, the 10,730-square-foot retail center is now fully leased, according to sole broker The Proto Group. Other tenants include Starbucks, Great Clips, AT&T Phone Store and Panchero's Mexican Grill. CRI's Waterbury lease Community Residence Inc. (CRI), a Newington nonprofit that assists people with special needs, has leased a Water- bury property as a maintenance facility and warehouse, brokers say. CRI leased 1,500 square feet at 617 Watertown Ave. in a three-year lease val- ued at $30,600. The Proto Group LLC represented landlord The Frank DeVino Family L.P. Wollman Realty represented the tenant. Carstar's Berlin addition Carstar has completed a 3,000-square- foot, $685,000 addition to its Berlin auto body shop. Carstar recently drew town officials and others to a ribbon-cutting for the previously 10,000-square-foot facility at 51 Woodlawn Road. The facility opened in 1980. Berlin's JNL Contracting was project manager. With the addition, Carstar added four new employees to its previously 10-person staff, said Berlin economic-development director Chris Edge. Carstar business director Lisa Siembab said the old offices did not fit with its aim to improve customer service. Carstar repairs annually approximate- ly 1,000 vehicles — primarily Hondas and Acuras, officials said. n Deal Watch wants to hear from you. E-mail it, along with contact informa- tion to: gseay@HartfordBusiness.com. Gregory Seay is the Hartford Business Journal News Editor. Gregory Seay DEAL WATCH 760-770 Saybrook Road, Middletown. 279 Nutmeg Road South, South Windsor. P H O T O | C O N T R I B U T E D P H O T O | C O N T R I B U T E D House Dems unveil economic development proposals Two leading Democrats in the state House have introduced 10 bills aimed at encourag- ing job growth and economic development, including measures that expand eligibility for the angel investor tax credit program and cre- ate a small business hotline. Speaker of the House Joe Aresimowicz (D-Berlin) and House Majority Leader Matt Ritter (D-Hartford) said their legislative package has widespread support among House Democrats, and is expected to also garner backing from minority Republicans. "This legislation represents the hundreds and thousands of conversations every member of the House Democrats had this fall with their constituents and local businesses," Ritter said. The bills are largely general outlines of legislative ideas and aren't fully fleshed out, but they include efforts to: • Expand the types of businesses that are qualified to receive cash investments under the angel investor tax credit program; • Create a small business hotline provid- ing prospective and existing small business owners with individualized information and guidance regarding business formation and development, technical and financial assis- tance from the state, and networking resources; • Turn the technical high school system into an indepen- dent agency; • Provide income tax credits to college grads who remain in or move to Con- necticut to work; • Create a taskforce to study the effective- ness, impact and cohesiveness of workforce development programs and initiatives; • Require employers, including the state and political subdivisions, to provide equal pay to employees in the same workplace who perform comparable duties. All the bills will start in various legislative committees, where they will need to be approved before moving on in the legislative process. – Greg Bordonaro Progressive advocacy group says tax hikes must be part of CT budget fix A progressive children's advocacy group is calling for a major tax increase to help solve the state's latest budget crisis, outlining more than $3 billion in revenue-raising options. The report from Connecticut Voices for Children does not recommend a specific amount of new taxes to close projected shortfalls of $1.5 billion next fiscal year and $1.6 billion in 2018-19. But the New Haven- based public policy group outlined options that would place higher burdens on wealthy households and corporations. It also includes broadening the sales tax to cover more ser- vices and potentially establishing a new tax on sweetened beverages. Any push to raise taxes in the next two- year state budget is expected to encounter strong political resistance. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, a Democrat, already has said he will not recommend major tax hikes in his plan and many legislators from both parties cam- paigned last fall on a platform of opposition to further increases. But Connecticut Voices noted that state officials cut more than $800 million from the funding needed to maintain current services when they adopted this year's budget last spring. That reduction, coupled with other cuts in recent years, has reduced the share of the budget that impacts children — largely involving education, health care and social service programs — to 29.5 percent of over- all spending. Those components represented about 40 percent of the budget 25 years ago, according to Voices. Many of the options the nonprofit offers in its new report target the state income tax, Con- necticut's single-largest source of tax revenue. Recommended options, worth close to $1 billion per year in total, include: Increas- ing the top marginal rate on the income tax by one-half of 1 percentage point; boosting rates on capital gains and dividends-related earnings; and raising rates on the earnings of hedge fund managers as part of a regional effort to counter a controversial loophole in the federal income tax system. – Keith Phaneuf | Connecticut Mirror CAPITOL BIZ Speaker of the House Joe Aresimowicz (D-Berlin). P H O T O | C O N T R I B U T E D

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