Hartford Business Journal

10 Hartford Business Journal • February 6, 2017 www.HartfordBusiness.com Vernon's ex-cleaners site to house urgent-care clinic N ew York City landlord Avner Krohn has purchased the former Batti- son's Dry Cleaners site in Vernon for $547,500 to house another area AFC Urgent Care facility. Krohn's Jasko Development, a familiar landlord-developer in downtown New Brit- ain, acquired the 4,300-square-foot prop- erty at 179 Talcottville Road from seller Len Battison. The site will become a sixth location for AFC Urgent Care, brokers said. O,R&L Commercial represented Bat- tison. Zelman Real Estate LLC repre- sented Jasko. All Mail Direct's Berlin digs All Mail Direct has relocated its fulfill- ment and direct-marketing operations to Berlin from New Britain, brokers say. All Mail Direct leased about 54,000 square feet of industrial space on 45 acres at 128 Old Brickyard Lane, just off the Berlin Turnpike/Route 5-15, from landlord Lakewood Associates. All Mail Direct was previously housed at 55 John Downey Drive in New Britain. O,R&L Commercial represented the landlord. North Atlantic Realty was All Mail's broker. Of the 127,000 square feet at the Old Brickyard site, 10,000 square feet is still available for lease, brokers said. L-Train's Middlesex relocation L-Train Electric has leased 2,933 square feet for a cross-river relocation of its power-generator dealership to Middle- town from Portland. L-Train leased space in the flex build- ing at 790 Ridge Road in Middletown. The company was previously housed at 130 Marlborough St. in Portland. L-Train is a leading Connecticut deal- ership for the full line of Generac power- generation products. Bath Fitter's Windsor space Bath Fitter Northern Florida LLC has leased 6,232 square feet in Windsor's Ken- nedy Business Park. Bath Fitter is at 425-431 Hayden Sta- tion Road. Kennedy Parks LLC owns and manages the 102,400-square-foot, multi- tenant facility on 14.04 acres. Sentry Commercial and NAI Global Corporate Solutions represented Bath Fit- ter in lease talks. Windsor Management Co. represented the landlord. J&J's S. Windsor renewal J&J's Tri-State Delivery Service Inc. has renewed its lease on nearly half the industrial space inside 1640 John Fitch Blvd. in South Windsor. The third-party logistics service pro- vider has occupied 124,373 square feet of the 256,000-square-foot facility since 2012. Sentry Commercial represented land- lord Cohen Properties LLC, and Colliers International represented the tenant in this transaction. The remainder of the 47-year-old build- ing, which is no longer listed for sale, also is available for lease, Sentry said. The asked rent is $2.95 a foot triple-net. It has 32 interior docks, parking for 100 vehicles, 15,000 square feet of office space, and rail service. A&S Innersprings' Windsor lease A&S Innersprings US LLC has leased 59,100 square feet of Windsor industrial space, brokers say. The space is at 4 Market Circle. Land- lord Market Circle LLC owns the 7.51- acre property. Sentry Commercial represented the landlord in the lease. Cushman & Wake- field represented the tenant. 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 Malloy promotes insurance-premium tax cut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is pushing to trim the state's insurance-premium tax rate to benefit a sector employing more than 58,000 in the state. Malloy announced last week his state bud- get proposal will include a reduction in the tax rate on insurance premiums — dropping from the current rate of 1.75 percent to 1.5 percent. After adjusting for deductions and cred- its, the premium tax yielded Connecticut $233 million in fiscal 2016 and an anticipated $239 million in fiscal 2017 that ends June 30. Malloy said his budget will anticipate a revenue reduction of approximately $11 mil- lion in fiscal 2018 and $22 million in fiscal 2019 to account for these proposed changes, which would be effective Jan. 1, 2018. Forty-nine states and Washington, D.C. have some form of the premium tax, with rates ranging from 0.5 percent to 4.35 per- cent, the governor's office said. Insurers pay the higher of the two premium tax rates to the state where they are conducting business. By lowering the insurance premium tax rate to 1.5 percent in Connecti- cut, the liability for Connecticut- based insurers conducting busi- ness in states with lower tax rates will be significantly reduced. Under the governor's proposal, the costs of lowering the tax rate — $22 million — will be cov- ered by limiting use of tax credits that companies may apply against premiums tax liability. – Gregory Seay Proposed bill closing tax loophole could net CT $520M a year Democratic state lawmakers last week introduced a bill that would close the "car- ried interest" tax loophole and generate more than $520 million in tax revenue. Similar bills are planned or have been intro- duced this year in New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island as part of a region- ally coordinated effort between lawmakers. A loophole created in the 1990s in federal tax policy allows hedge fund managers and private equity managers to pay a capital gains tax rate of 20 percent, instead of the marginal tax rate of 39.6 percent for ordinary income. Attempts at the federal level to tax car- ried interest like ordinary income have been unsuccessful. Bill 6973, which has 35 legislative co-spon- sors, would impose a surcharge of 19 percent on investment management services fees, but would only be effective if similar bills are passed by the states of Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York. The business community has lobbied against similar bills in the past and will likely raise opposition to the proposal again. – Patricia Daddona Malloy proposes easing mandates on cities and towns Gov. Dannel P. Malloy unveiled a plan last week to ease mandates on cities and towns, led by elimination of a controversial cap on local budgets. The governor, who is expected to rec- ommend a major realignment of aid from wealthier to poorer communities, also pro- posed changes to collective bargaining, tight- ening of prevailing wage standards, granting more flexibility in local property assessment rates and eliminating a requirement for a superintendent in small school districts. Local cities and towns have complained loudly over the past two years since the leg- islature established a cap system, with finan- cial penalties when local spending exceeds certain limits. The cap was supposed to complement a 2015 plan to share state sales tax receipts with cities and towns, but legislators have scaled back that revenue-sharing plan since its enactment. The governor's new proposals also echo some of the collective bargaining changes proposed recently by the Connecticut Con- ference of Municipalities. Malloy's plan, like CCM's, would amend collective bargaining rules regarding bind- ing arbitration — a process cities and towns routinely go through each year to settle com- pensation for teachers, police officers, public works staff and other unionized employees. Specifically the governor would exempt any increased state aid to cities and towns in 2017 from the arbitration review process. In other words, an arbiter could not weigh those grants when assessing a community's ability to afford worker raises. Administration officials already have hinted the only communities likely to receive additional funding next fiscal year would be Connecticut's poorest ones. – Keith Phaneuf | Connecticut Mirror CAPITOL BIZ Bloomfield's Cigna is among Connecticut insurers that could benefit from an insurance-premium tax cut. P H O T O | C O N T R I B U T E D 179 Talcottville Road, Vernon. 128 Old Brickyard Road, Berlin. 1640 John Fitch Blvd., 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 P H O T O | C O N T R I B U T E D

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