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G R E AT E R H A R T F O R D ' S B U S I N E S S N E W S w w w. H a r t f o rd B u s i n e s s . c o m For more B2B news visit AUGUST 7, 2017 Volume 25, Number 32 $3.00 Subscribe online SAVE THE DATE! WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 13, 2017 CT CONVENTION CENTER | HARTFORD Join us in recognizing outstanding young professionals in the Greater Hartford area. Index ■ Week in Review: PG. 6 ■ Focus: PG. 8 ■ The Lists: PGs. 9, 10 ■ Deal Watch: PG. 11 ■ Movers & Shakers: PG. 18 ■ Nonprofit Notebook: PG. 18 ■ Opinion & Commentary: PG. 20 Entrepreneurial Thrill-seeker As president of Hartford engineering firm Freeman Companies, Jamaica native Rohan Freeman has grown his business from a one-person operation with an attic office to a 36-person shop. But his greatest feat may be scaling Mount Everest and other world summits. PG. 3 EXECUTIVE PROFILE Polish Point Man Darek Barcikowski is Connecticut's Polish point man, wearing many hats — including newspaper publisher and honorary consul — for a Polish community that he said numbers roughly 300,000, or about 10 percent of the state's population. PG. 5 ECHN CEO says capital investments key to profitability By Matt Pilon mpilon@HartfordBusiness.com T he newly minted CEO of Eastern Con- necticut Health Network (ECHN), which posted a steep loss last year, expects to turn that around rather quickly. "We're going to be profitable this year by our own measures," said Michael F. Collins, a Bos- ton native who spent much of the past decade working at Massachusetts' Steward Health. While it was concluding its $105 million ECHN acquisition last October, California for-profit hospital operator Prospect Medi- cal Holdings Inc. named Collins interim CEO, taking over for Peter Karl, who resigned. Collins had been overseeing ECHN's integra- tion with Prospect at the time. Last month, he was given the permanent CEO title, a job descrip- tion that includes overseeing Manchester Memo- rial and Rockville General hospitals, which lost a combined $23 million last fiscal year. In an interview in his Manchester office, Collins said he's already putting Pros- pect's five-year, $75 million capital project By Gregory Seay gseay@HartfordBusiness.com D owntown Hartford's housing inven- tory has gotten a big boost from the spate of office-to-apartment conver- sions. But there's one segment noticeably sidelined from the conversion spree — resi- dential condominiums. One Hartford developer, however, has drawn up plans and petitioned the city to create eight owner-occupied living suites above the former Baby Burger and Mayor Mike's restaurant space at 289 Asylum St., in the shadow of the Goodwin Square skyscraper on downtown's western edge. Developer Jose Ramirez's plan for his Asylum Lofts Condominiums cannot come soon enough for some downtown apartment residents and others — many of them Mil- lennials — who covet an urban lifestyle, yet prefer to own their spaces rather than rent. Realtors knowledgeable about downtown Hartford's housing market concede the dearth of condo units in and around the central busi- ness district. They say buyers' demand is tem- pered by their inability to obtain mortgages, frustrating sellers who find it takes much Continued on page 12 Continued on page 14 CEO Michael Collins says he's steering Eastern Connecticut Health Network back to profitability. OWNING in DOWNTOWN Hartford tests condo demand in center-city housing push Hartford developer Jose Ramirez sits inside 289 Asylum St. downtown, where he plans to create eight loft condominiums — the first new condos downtown in more than a decade. H B J P H O T O | S T E V E L A S C H E V E R H B J P H O T O | S T E V E L A S C H E V E R