Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/881000
38 | HARTFORD BUSINESS JOURNAL • OCTOBER 2, 2017 1997 The new owners of Lake Compounce — Kenwood Entertainment — announce a $35 million renovation of the park, the nation's oldest. After months of uncertainty, the Whalers are skating out of town. Team owner Peter Karmanos Jr. refused Gov. Rowland's offer to build a $150 million arena. Griffin Land breaks ground on its Tradeport development in Windsor. 1998 Only two years after moving its headquarters from Farmington to Hartford, Heublein says it is leaving the city by the end of 1998. Gov. Rowland announces plans for a $135 million expansion at Bradley International Airport, including construction of a new 600,000-square-foot passenger terminal. Mount Sinai Community Hospital Association loses its lawsuit against the state to keep the hospital open. The New England Blizzard of the American Basketball League will play its entire 1998-99 schedule at the Hartford Civic Center, after splitting its first two seasons between the Capital City and Springfield, Mass. Gov. Rowland's $350 million package for "Six Pillars of Progress" in Hartford passes the legislature, creating the Capital City Economic Development Authority. After two years of quiet planning, Robert Fiondella, CEO of Phoenix Home Life Mutual Insurance Co., reveals his billion-dollar plan for 35 acres of riverfront property. The proposed Adriaen's Landing — named for Adriaen Block, the first European explorer to reach the site of Hartford in 1614 — calls for mixed- use residential, office, recreational, entertainment and convention facilities. Lincoln Financial Group puts its sign on top of the Metro Center office building. The move to Hartford began in January with the purchase of Cigna Corp.'s individual life insurance business for $1.4 billion. Lincoln also announces its acquisition of Aetna's individual life insurance business for $1 billion. With the handoff of a football into Gov. Rowland's hands, New England Patriots owner and businessman, Robert Kraft, agrees to move his New England Patriots to Connecticut by the fall of 2001, if the General Assembly agrees by Dec. 31 to help fund a state-of-the-art $350 million, 68,000-seat stadium as part of Adriaen's Landing riverfront development. 1999 Connecticut's House of Representatives elects its first female as speaker of the house, Moira Lyons, a 10-term House member from New Britain who was the majority leader. Plans are unveiled for an architectural Goliath to take over the Main Street Market site. The $200 million plan calls for a 22-story building: 10 stories for the 370-room Westin Hotel; 10 stories for 250,000 square feet of Class A office space; and the two remaining stories for penthouses. The anchor tenant would be Hartford law firm Robinson & Cole LLP. Stanley Works says its century-old facilities in New Britain are putting the company at a competitive disadvantage. The company says it will move much of its hardware production to Virginia, China and Mexico. Six months after Gov. Rowland and Patriots owner Robert Kraft signed a deal to move the Pats to Hartford, the whole deal collapses. Developers operating as 18 Temple Street LLC introduce a plan to renovate the Sage Allen building on Main Street and construct a new building on each side of the Sage Allen Tower with 60 housing lofts. Riverfront Recapture opens on Labor Day weekend. Colt's Manufacturing Co. announces that it will cease production of seven models of handguns. Bradley International — already flying high with rising passenger traffic on U.S. Airways, Delta, MetroJet and Delta Express — adds Southwest with nonstop services to Baltimore, Chicago, Nashville and Orlando. World Team Tennis is coming to Hartford's state armory. The Hartford FoxForce is owned by Lisa and Brian Foley. 2000 Gov. Rowland signs legislation approving the $91 million public funding needed to build Rentschler Field, and the $680 million needed for the Adriaen's Landing project. In one of the largest real estate transactions in Greater Hartford in the last few years, New Boston Fund, a Boston-based private real estate investment company, added 570,000 square feet of Class A office space at Rocky Hill Corporate Ridge office park to its Connecticut portfolio. That brings its holdings to 10 percent of the local office building space. The new Aetna Inc. cuts 13 percent of its workforce, getting out of 11 Medicare markets and reorganizing its sales force, all in hopes of boosting profitability. The announcement came after the completed sale of its financial services and institutional divisions to ING Group NV for $5 billion.