Hartford Business Journal

6 Hartford Business Journal • March 6, 2017 www.HartfordBusiness.com TOP STORY Tribes pick East Windsor to host third casino The Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes last week selected East Windsor as the site for Connecticut's proposed third casino. Rodney Butler, chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, and Kevin Brown, chairman of the Mohegan Tribe, who together comprise MMCT Venture, described the proposed casino as both an entertainment and gaming facility. In choosing East Windsor, they rejected two potential sites in Windsor Locks, one at Bradley Airport and the other at the Thrall tobacco farm. The site is at the former Showcase Cinemas. The development agreement states that MMCT will pay the town $3 million no later than 15 months before the casino opens, as well as $3 million annually in addition to regular tax payments expected to total about $5.5 million a year. State lawmakers still must give final approval to allow a third casino in Con- necticut. There are also talks that lawmakers could re-open the bidding process, allowing more potential operators to vie for the third casino site. That would likely delay the opening of another casino, which is being built specifically to fend off competition from the $950 million Springfield MGM Casino, set to debut next year. GOVERNMENT, POLITICS & LAW City rejects 'far-fetched' plan to sell Dunkin' Donuts Park The Hartford city council last week rejected a proposal by one of its members to sell the $71 million Dunkin' Donuts Park. Councilman Larry Deutsch, the only one of nine councilors voting for the proposal, wanted to sell the stadium, which has been plagued by delays, court battles and now an FBI probe recently reported by the Courant. Last week, city officials confirmed the 8-1 vote against the plan. The city is in debt for the ballpark, since the Hartford Stadium Authority, which owns it, is financing it. The city leases the facility from the authority, and subleases it to minor league ballclub the Hartford Yard Goats. Council President Thomas "TJ" Clarke II said the idea of selling the ballpark is "far-fetched." "We are almost done with completing the stadium," he said. "Why would we go through the process of trying to solicit bidders, if there would be any, when there's already a contract in place? And with all of the open legal cases, why would we put it out to bid and who would take on all these legal burdens?" The ballpark is still not yet complete but the Yard Goats are scheduled to host their first game of the season on April 13. TECHNOLOGY VentureClash '17 offers $5M investment challenge Connecticut Innovations announced that it will put up for grabs $5 million in in- vestment funding this year, as part of its second annual VentureClash competition. The first-round application process for the investment competition will run from March 1 through June 9, and focus on attracting companies in four cat- egories: the Internet of Things, digital health, and financial and insurance tech. The top award for the challenge will be a $1.5 million investment, said Matt McCooe, CEO of CI. Two second-place winners will receive a $1 million investment, and up to three runners-up will each receive a $500,000 investment. After two rounds of judging, approximately 10 companies will be invited to Yale University on Oct. 20 to compete in person for investment awards. An out- side panel of judges will help to determine the winning VentureClash companies. Eligible companies must have been in business for 12 months or more; have paying customers or customers actively testing a company product; be focused in one of the four industries described above; and be willing to establish a Con- necticut presence. REAL ESTATE W. Hfd. passes on buying UConn campus West Hartford won't be taking over UConn's soon-to-be-former campus after all. Addressing Town Council at their regular meeting last week, Town Manager Ron Van Winkle made the bombshell announcement. One of the key snags to the town moving ahead to acquire the sprawling property at 85 Lawler Road, sandwiched between Trout Brook and South Main Street, from the state's flagship university at a discounted price of $5 million is Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's proposed budget that drastically cuts state aid to many towns, including West Hartford, Van Winkle said. By late this summer, UConn will debut its new, $140 million downtown Hart- ford campus in the former Hartford Times building on Prospect Street. Meantime, The Children's Museum is proposing to relocate its West Hartford location to the West Hartford campus site. CT housing permits doubled in Jan. Permits issued in January to build new residential housing statewide doubled from a year earlier, public data shows. There were 290 permits issued last month vs. 145 granted in 104 communi- ties surveyed regularly by the U.S. Census Bureau, the state Department of Economic & Community Development said. Just over half of the most recent housing permits were for single-family dwellings, Census data showed. Norwalk paced all towns surveyed, with 76 housing permits issued in January. ENERGY & UTILITIES Norwegian company to buy Proton OnSite for $70M A Norwegian company has agreed to purchase Wallingford's Proton OnSite for approximately $70 million in cash and stock, the two announced. Nel ASA, which like Proton makes equipment called electrolyzers, has signed a non-binding term sheet with Proton, a manufacturer of hydrogen-generation technology used in submarines, hydrogen vehicles and industrial settings. Since 1996, Proton has installed 2,600 electrolyzer units in more than 75 countries. The company booked $27 million in revenue last year and has ap- proximately 90 employees, according to the companies. Proton CFO Sheldon Paul said by phone that the company intends to keep its local operations and workforce. Nel and Proton hope to close the sale in the second quarter. TRANSPORTATION United Airlines to launch nonstops to San Fran. from Bradley United Airlines will offer a new nonstop flight from Bradley International Air- port to San Francisco International Airport starting this summer. Aileen Moriarty, United's Connecticut sales manager, said the new route, which runs from June 8 through Sept. 5, will provide multiple connections to destinations along the U.S. West Coast and to United's international routes to China and business centers throughout Asia. The 128-seat Airbus 319's outbound flight will leave Bradley at 6:30 a.m. (Eastern time), and arrive in San Francisco at 9:46 a.m. (Pacific time). The in- bound flight will depart San Francisco at 10:30 p.m. and arrive at Bradley at 6:53 a.m. GOVERNMENT & POLITICS Top CEOs offer $50M to help bail out Hartford Three of the largest employers in the city of Hartford – Aetna, The Hartford and Travelers – have offered the Capital City a combined $10 million annually for five years in exchange for being part of a comprehensive and sustainable fiscal solution for Hartford. In a short opinion piece last week in the Hartford Courant, Mark T. Bertolini, chair- man and CEO of Aetna, Christopher J. Swift, chairman and CEO of The Hartford, and Alan D. Schnitzer, CEO of The Travelers Cos., said they were willing to pony up the funds in addition to their regular property tax burden and philanthropic giving. The corporate leaders say their firms are vested in the city's success and want to do something to help Hartford avoid bankruptcy. Mayor Luke Bronin has not ruled out bankruptcy but he is working actively to avoid it. The city faces a $22.6 million deficit this fiscal year, and an even larger $50 million deficit the following year. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has said his new budget will provide some assistance to help safeguard the city of Hartford from insolvency. Under Malloy's two-year budget plan, the city would receive an additional $40 mil - lion in state funding. BY THE NUMBERS 12th Connecticut's ranking in U.S. News & World's "Best States" report. $11M The amount of money made by individuals who rented their Connecticut homes or condos on Airbnb in 2016. 290 The number of new Connecticut housing permits issued in January, up from 145 issued in the year-ago period. $65.2M The state budget deficit forecasted for the current fiscal year, according to the state Office of Fiscal Analysis. TOP 5 MOST READ on HartfordBusiness.com ■ Tribes pick East Windsor to host third casino ■ W. Hfd. passes on buying UConn campus ■ U.S. News ranks CT 12th 'Best State' ■ Norwegian company to buy Proton OnSite for $70M ■ City rejects 'far-fetched' plan to sell Dunkin' Donuts Park 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 Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes want to build a third casino in Connecticut at this Showcase Cinemas site in East Windsor. P H O T O | C O N T R I B U T E D

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