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APRIL 2015

New Haven Register Parent Likely To Change Hands Soon “Digital First” Strategy Fails; Investors Bail

By Mitchell Young

$1.50

Non-Profits Take Up Real Estate Slack Page 18

The Journal Register Company and its managing partner, Digital First, the corporate parents of the New Haven Register, are expected to sell shortly for approximately $400 million. The sale includes the MediaNews Group newspapers, both groups are controlled by Alden Capital, a private equity group.

Bloomberg News first reported in January that Cerberus Capital Management, another private equity company and majority owner of the YP [Yellow Pages] company, might pay as much as $600 million for the company. The combined assets managed by Digital First represent the third largest U.S. newspaper group with 76 dailies and 160 weekly newspapers in fifteen states.

In September of 2014, Digital First announced that UBS was hired to help it “review strategic alternatives,” a Wall Street euphemism for find a buyer.

Cerberus, with total assets of approximately $20 billion under management, appears to have been muscled out of the way by the far larger Apollo

Continued on page 11

New Haven Biotech Inks $434 Million Collaboration Deal

Pharma Giant Merck Signs On To New Technology An announcement by the New Jersey based Pharmaceutical giant Merck and the New Haven biotech start-up Arvinas, located at 5 Science Park could may well become the most important New

Haven biotech development since the FDA approved Alexion’s drug Sloiris for the treatment of a rare blood disease in 2007.

Under the deal, Merck will give Arvinas [an undis-

closed], up-front payment and research funding, and is promising more cash tied to development milestones up to $434 million if everything works out over the multiyear agreement.

Continued on page 24

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ON THE RECORD Reinventing The Family Business How A Young Real Estate Entrepreneur Helped Put Downtown New Haven Back On The Map

Chris Nicotra of Olympia Properties LLC, at 41 is one of the youngest and most successful commercial building investors in greater New Haven. Olympia, a family business, was first started in 2004 when Nicotra was 27. He grew up in Woodbridge, went to Hamden Hall, and then on to a business education at Babson College. Nicotra is a past chairman of the Commercial Investment Division of the Greater New Haven Board of Realtors.

that we had set out to do, the capital improvements, the leasing, the management, got the building filled up.

Things started happening in New Haven and by 2003, people started to catch on.

When was your second deal?

That was a property on Whitney Avenue across from the Peabody Museum: 205 Whitney. That was a challenging deal because the biggest problem with that particular building was it had no parking. I went out to the folks at the [New Haven] Lawn Club, and said I want a contract with you guys for ten years, and I want 50 parking spaces.

Mitchell Young, publisher of Business New Haven, interviewed him for On The Record. *** Real estate investing has been somewhat of a family business, did they start you in the business?

At that point, they needed money, so they signed a deal with me for ten years with options at a reasonable rate, less money than other parking areas in town. The building turned from this place where it had no parking, to one where we put capital, a leasing plan, management plan, and filled the building up.

My grandfather was in real estate and talked of business to my father, but by the time I graduated from college, my dad was no longer in the real estate business.

He had gotten out of the real estate business after the whole debacle of the late 80’s, early 90’s, but I grew up with it. So I always knew it, I always loved it. I went to closings when I was 10 years old.

You grew up in real estate, but what was the entry? What was the first thing you had to do to create this company?

I was living in New Haven, I could literally breathe and see change in the air. I set out to find a property and take advantage. It was empty (142 Temple Street, across from the Omni Hotel), it needed TLC, it needed management, it needed leasing, it needed capital improvement; it needed everything.

It was the whole gamut. 60,000 square feet of space on two streets: Crown and Temple. It was the perfect candidate; it was the right size for the project. I approached my father and said would you invest with me in real estate in New Haven, I really believe in it. And the reason I believed is because I lived here and I saw what APRIL 2015

was happening. I had just moved to downtown.

Where were you before New Haven?

I had gone to college in Boston, then I moved out to Las Vegas, then I moved back to Boston and then moved back to the New Haven area.

I wasn’t finding my niche, my family; my friends were all based here, so I decided to move back.

Did your father trust that you really could do it?

I was probably 25 when I made the decision to get into real estate.

I think he definitely did. I had always had that entrepreneurial spirit. I started my first company when I was 16, buying and selling classic British sports cars. In college, I started a dry cleaning company because there was no place to get my dry cleaning done.

So I hooked up with a dry cleaner in

Newton, Mass., and they would come every day to the campus in Wellesley and pick up our stuff.

Were there any things that turned out to be obstacles on that first deal?

Yes, I had to work my butt off to get a lender that would lend money for an office building in New Haven; it was like pulling teeth. I would photocopy newspaper articles from all the different publications, I had a binder; whenever something positive about New Haven was in the news, I’d make a copy and put it in the binder.

I’d make presentations to lenders to say, look we’re on the cusp of something here, you need to lend me money for capital improvements, for leasing commissions, and the biggest hurdle I had was nobody believed in New Haven. In 2000, they still viewed New Haven as a bad place to invest.

They were skeptical, and within a short period of time I did everything

Then I had lenders all over me. So I started this track record of creating value.

Were you accepted even at 28 in this business, or were you accepted because your father was so well known?

I think it was certainly a big help that my father and grandfather have been in this business for a very long time.

My challenge at first was New Haven, period. Once I got over that hurdle and had a track record of success, then it became easier. My grandfather sort of started it, and then my dad did very well with it.

When you look at New Haven today, how do you see it?

I call myself an investor, unlike a developer; I don’t generally develop anything from the ground up. What I would like to do, for my passion, is find old buildings and breathe new life into them.

Continued on page 6

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VIEWPOINT

Business New Haven Editorial

Bio-Science Gets A Boost The announcement that the New Haven bio-tech start-up Arvinas has landed a more than $430 million collaboration deal with pharmaceutical giant Merck is great news for New Haven and Connecticut’s bio-science efforts (see page 1).

than $4 million of their $19 million dollar initial capitalization from the state.

State investments in a host of other start-ups, researchers and companies (see page 24), as well as investments at UConn, and the hundreds of millions of dollars to attract and build a facility for Jackson Laboratories in Farmington, also have a potential for real success.

Importantly, the quick pace of this deal, coming less than two years after the formation of the company, is very encouraging and potentially speaks to a paradigm shift for Connecticut’s bio-science industry.

This publication has always covered and supported the region’s biotech and pharmaceutical industry, and the state’s Venture Capital arm, Connecticut Innovations, but we haven’t always been as enthusiastic about many government investments and actions in bio-science.

For more than twenty years, we’ve watched the seemingly slow pace of development in the industry with several companies taking a decade or more to essentially fail or to be sold for parts.

Today, at least, we want to put away our journalistic skepticism and appreciate what Yale researchers, and the advocates and scientists of Arvinas have started.

Only Alexion, which we first reported on in 1994, has made the breakthrough to commercial success. We can all see the economic impact as their new headquarters takes final shape.

What we hope is happening now, as evidenced by the fast pace of Arvinas’ business development, is that the science and research is accelerating.

With this new paradigm, perhaps we’ll see more real success that creates better health outcomes as well as builds New Haven’s economy.

Connecticut lawmakers have laid down a big bet on bio-science, with Arvinas alone receiving more

Thank You, Ms. Lorimer With the announcement that Linda Koch Lorimer, Yale’s Vice President of Global and Strategic Initiatives, is stepping back into a part-time role, comes an opportunity to recognize her for her part in the success of Yale’s town and gown efforts and interestingly, the region’s bioscience efforts.

In the mid-90s as a sponsor of the then New Haven Venture Capital Group, Business New Haven asked Ms. Lorimer to come and speak to potential venture capital investors about Yale’s goals in economic development.

The invitation brought more than thirty plus VCs from Boston, New York and Connecticut. What Ms. Lorimer told the group was that Yale was changing, it would work hard to unleash its significant research power to help create new companies, to license technology, and to stand as a partner with the VCs if they, too, would step up.

Ms. Lorimer did not come hat in hand, but she also didn’t show any of the arrogance some of the VCs were expecting.

What she did do was ask for participation and help while she outlined Yale’s plans to develop what was to become Yale’s Office of Cooperative Research, created under her leadership as Yale Secretary, along with President Richard Levin.

On another occasion, in our early years our newspaper recognized Yale as Corporate Citizen of the Year. Our February event date brought with it an ice storm, and a Yale Secretary who hobbled in with a full leg cast and a broad smile.

For us, it was a sure sign that we didn’t move too soon in recognizing Yale’s early efforts of change, vis-a vis relations with the city and the community.

The low profile Ms. Lorimer has been as essential in creating a new reality for Yale and the city of New Haven as anyone, and we thank her for it.

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TAXES

Looney Quietly Pitches Statewide Car Tax Senate President Martin Looney Proposes Statewide Mill Rate

N

By Christine Stuart

Lawmakers and municipal lobbying groups are skeptical that the state would actually get the money to the cities and towns.

Rep. Bill Aman, R-South Windsor, said he has a major problem with the motor vehicle tax and how that’s actually going to be done when in the past the state has swept the revenues it’s promised municipalities.

“It raises the issue of taxation without representation,” Fasano said.

He said if there’s going to be a statewide mill rate then there needs to be transparency in municipal budgeting.

Two years ago, municipal leaders successfully beat back Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s proposal to eliminate the motor vehicle tax. A few years before that, Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell tried and failed to eliminate it too.

“Would exempt the first $3,000 of a vehicle’s value and set a statewide mill rate for all motor vehicles” The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities and the Council of Small Towns have also expressed concern.

It’s estimated that the motor vehicle tax raises between $700 million and $800 million in revenue for municipalities.

– Reprinted with permission from ctnewsjunkie.com

AT&T Invests $750 Million In CT

Over Three-Year Period, AT&T Enhances Local Networks

AT&T has invested more than $750 million in its wireless and wired networks in Connecticut APRIL 2015

By Pamela Snetro

services, didn’t see a similar employment drop.

The calendar says it’s spring and while the weather doesn’t always agree, there are many signs that highnet-worth-investors in Connecticut see warmth and growth in their future – and we aren’t talking just daffodils.

The national poll of high net worth investors was conducted in the fourth quarter of 2014 by GfK Public Affairs & Corporate Communications on behalf of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management.

Even with recent talk of the potential sale of an iconic helicopter manufacturer in the state, confidence in the aerospace sector remains high. The sale could potentially create a free-standing, profitable company in its own right. And Connecticut investors have been upbeat for well over a year in anticipation of an upsurge in federal defense dollars being spent in the Nutmeg State.

Connecticut’s defense industry has long been a mainstay

of stability, providing jobs for multiple generations of skilled and unskilled workers. Current projections for the future of the industry in Connecticut are robust.

But in addition to the highnet-worth investors keeping a close watch on aerospace, many with strong market credentials also are looking at the construction industry, which some analysts say could lead Connecticut’s industries in job growth over the next 10 years.

Construction was the industry hit hardest in the economic downturn, but state labor officials maintain it is poised to rebound. The upswing in construction is fueled both by public projects coming on line and the backlog of private projects finally dwindling.

Similarly, the leisure and hospitality sector has gained back all the jobs it lost and added more since its low point. Other sectors, such as health and education

Knights Hoping To Offer Exemplar Returns

In addition to the creation of a statewide motor vehicle tax, Looney’s proposal would change how the state reimburses towns for tax-exempt property under the PILOT grant and would create a regional tax sharing system for large development projects.

UTILITIES

Spring Brings Signs of Growth in Connecticut

For instance, successful Connecticut investors are bullish on the aerospace sector, although that confidence is not as evident in other areas. A new poll shows that 40 percent of those respondents from Connecticut rated aerospace “good,” compared to a mere 29 percent nationally.

obody believes the current system — in which a motor vehicle is taxed at one mill rate in Greenwich and a different tax rate in New Haven — makes sense, he said.

Looney’s proposal, which is wrapped up in a larger bill, would exempt the first $3,000 of a vehicle’s value and set a statewide mill rate for all motor vehicles. He estimated that if the mill rate was set at 29 mills and collected by the state, it could be redistributed to cities and towns. Looney said every town would be made whole and wouldn’t lose any money.

OP-ED

New Haven’s Knights of Columbus Roman Catholic Fraternal Organization provides approximately one hundred billion dollars of life insurance in force for it’s 1.8 million members around the world.

The financial organization is now launching Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors and is hoping to partner with Catholic institutions to provide investment options that comply with their customer’s mission guidelines.

Anthony V. Minopoli, chief investment officer of the Knights of Columbus and

between 2012 through 2014, including more than 40 wireless network upgrades in Connecticut. Upgrades consist of new cell sites, addition of network capacity, and new wireless high-speed Internet connections.

“With a growing range of connected

Employment in the construction sector hit bottom in March 2010, with a low of 48,800 workers employed -- nearly a 30 percent decrease from its high point several years earlier. Now, however, after construction employment began climbing in 2013, it hit 56,800 in early 2014.

The results of the investor poll suggest that Connecticut’s high-networth investors are keeping a close watch on market factors that could affect investments here. Statewide, jobs have grown by about 26,000 through 2014, a trend that is expected to continue.

Overall, analysts are predicting a bullish outlook for investing in 2015, and a reasonable rate of growth without undue inflation.

Regardless of the current weather situation, unless there is a massive upheaval in the cosmos, real spring will eventually follow the long cold winter, and a real recovery will follow the recent recession and ensuing economic doldrums. Spring is the perfect time to prepare for summer growth and fall harvest - and that works for investments as well as crops.

Pamela Snetro is a Financial Advisor and First Vice President with the Global Wealth Management Division of Morgan Stanley in New Haven.

president and chief investment officer of the newly formed firm, told Pension and Investments Magazine that “the Catholic market is at least $150 billion in assets.” He added that “it’s a highly fragmented market and there wasn’t a Catholic Minopoli focus from managers.”

Minopoli also said the goal is “to capture 2.5% to 3% of the $150 billion Catholic market over the next three to five years.”

home appliances, cars and wearable devices, we depend more on network connectivity than ever before,” said John Emra, President, AT&T Connecticut. “AT&T’s continued investment in Connecticut brings a host of new, innovative opportunities for residents and businesses to connect with each other and their customers.”

5

NICOTRA

Continued from page 3

If you look at the average age of anything we own, it’s probably early 1900’s. What has been my challenge of late is New Haven is hot. Investors from Boston, Providence, NYC, California, are flocking to this town. If you look at the names of the recent buyers of properties, you’ll recognize very few of them. They’re people from other communities who realize what a value New Haven has.

What gives New Haven that value?

If you’re an investor from Boston or NYC, it’s almost as simple as coming down to mathematics. The replacement costs of property are far greater than your actual purchase price.

Development is tough, looking at it from an investment standpoint; buildings in downtown Westport sell for $2,000 a square foot. In New Haven, we’re not even at $200 per square foot.

To rebuild this particular room I’m sitting in right now, if you had to buy the land, put in a foundation, do the side work, the engineering, the approvals, the process, etc., you’d be in at well over $400 a square foot.

What I’m saying to you is, you can buy the building for about $200 a square foot, all done and completed and ready to go. The rents are prime to go up because we’re not seeing a lot of new building unless its purpose built, but you don’t see anything really being built on spec.

You’re not in the apartment business, right? You have property behind where Horowitz is, and you wanted to put an apartment building in there, what stopped you?

It’s stick to what you know how to do, stick to what you do best. My expertise is in investing and not necessarily in building. Do I think something will be built there someday? Yes, I do. Will it be me who’s building it? Probably not, maybe I’ll be involved in it, but for the past 15 years, where I have found my niche, is investing in the properties, the leasing, the management.

How do you look at the fact that New Haven is not attracting corporate companies?

New Haven—it is what it is, so I cater to what it is. And what it is, are smaller businesses, mom and pop, architects, lawyers, not for profit start ups, tech companies.

I cater to those people so when I go in and I buy a building, I’ll build out a sleet and I’ll make it really nice and I know that somebody will come along and just lease it as is. They’re not looking for this elaborate build-out with all

6

kinds of bells and whistles. I cater to what New Haven’s market is.

If New Haven is this hot place for investors, why isn’t it a hot place for more corporate players?

Whether it’s Hartford, Stamford, Cincinnati or Boston, corporate headquarters are moving outside of the cities. There’s been a lot of migration from corporate headquarters out to the suburbs and the space is being filled either by people converting the space to apartments, or small business. New Haven is interesting, because we are on the rail line, and so accessible to the Gold Coast. If you look at Fairfield County, most of the wealth in the state is concentrated right along that corridor, and New Haven is just an extension of that corridor. What I’m seeing happening is, the Gold Coast corridor of Fairfield County, from Greenwich and Stamford, is starting to move up this way. There’s a little bit of a gap right now because of Bridgeport.

Buildings in downtown Westport sell for $2,000 a square foot. In New Haven, we’re not even at $200 per square foot.

You mean Bridgeport’s problems work against it?

Exactly. If you look at the rail line, it starts in New Haven, and stops in Manhattan. I think development will continue along that corridor.

Do you think New Haven, which has tried to create an entrepreneurial culture, has done it?

I think it is doing it, I wouldn’t say it’s there entirely. A lot of it is being born on lower Chapel Street, for instance.

One of the misperceptions about New Haven was that it was a hard place to do business and I have found that to be the complete opposite. For a while it kept other people away. The building department treated us with open arms, and the mayor, and economic development folks. They have been nothing but encouraging and positive for us.

When you’re looking at properties, are there still properties that are harder, are they still there and doable?

They’re harder to find, but they do still come about. [Our last completed deal] 758 Chapel Street, right next to the Grove. I have 100% rented out and occupied, good rents, good tenants, that was one of my best gambles. We have a new coffee shop called The Happiness Lab. And now you’re working on another deal that you can’t say yet?

Yes, up by the James English building.

What are the techniques a young developer or investor needs to have in order to have success?

You need a passion about it, you need to be okay with taking risks, have determination, and be very goal oriented. I have properties in Woodbridge, Hamden, Cheshire, all commercial, five, six communities.

When did you first branch out?

When the opportunities were running dry in New Haven and I had to look elsewhere, Hamden was the next logical spot. It’s a very good small business market. It felt like an extension of New Haven for me, since I already had properties on Whitney Avenue. And then from there it went to Cheshire, again on Whitney Avenue. Then to North Haven, Milford, Woodbridge.

What does the total portfolio look like?

50 million dollars and 38 properties.

It’s all of our own staff, we have our own janitors, we have our own maintenance guys, and we have our own management staff. We do a lot of our own leasing.

I have my broker’s license. I figured out early on that I could use that to my advantage, getting a broker’s license and getting in with the broker network.

I was happy to say look, I won’t take a commission, you bring me a tenant and you’re going to get a full 5% commission. So every realtor out there felt like they had a listing in their pocket.

The best check I can write is a commission check, because then I fill the space. I’m happy to do it, brokers are always protected, and they know that.

What could New Haven do to attract corporate tenants?

Yes. I think what this market is, you have to go after the locals to attract those tenants, and they’re out there.

This is an old community, so I think it’s possible.

It’s a lot easier to do that than to try to reach out to the other corporate companies. Promote from within.

Do you think we’re doing that?

How could we do it better?

cause New Haven is becoming this destination, so word of mouth is spreading, and it’s attracting people.

Yale University is growing and they have no plans to stop.

One of the misperceptions about New Haven was that it was a hard place to do business – I have found that to be the complete opposite.

You’re not in the apartment business, but as a real estate person you have to see what’s going on there; what do you think is happening there?

I think investors have looked at what they can get for rents, and they realize that New Haven is under served, that there are people who want to live in communities with other like-minded people, and they want to walk to Starbucks or a concert on the Green.

A lot of those people were forced out of their communities because there wasn’t enough good housing stock for them, and I think it’s finally catching on.

One of the things about New Haven that people don’t ever really focus on, which I think is really important, is the number of affluent, wealthy, influential, high profile people that come to the city every day because of Yale, whether you’re the president of some country, or you are a Nobel Peace Prize winner, or you’re an entrepreneur with billions of dollars, this city sees those people every day. Branford doesn’t, North Haven doesn’t, Bridgeport doesn’t.

We get these incredible jets flying into Tweed, carrying some of the world’s most influential people all coming to New Haven.

How much do you think is driven by pure demographics? We have these millennials now, and the people making this town happen are in their 20’s.

My perspective was different than a lot of people that have been here. When I moved into New Haven as a young entrepreneur at 26 years old, I saw the Town Green District that had just been formed in 1996, and Yale was buying buildings on Chapel Street. I saw the momentum with a fresh set of eyes and I said, this is going to be something. *

I think we’re getting the message out.

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APRIL 2015

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APRIL 2015

New Haven Register Parent Likely To Change Hands Soon “Digital First” Strategy Fails; Investors Bail

By Mitchell Young

Non-Profits Take Up Real Estate Slack Page 18

its managing The Journal Register Company and parents of the partner, Digital First, the corporate to sell shortly for New Haven Register, are expected sale includes the approximately $400 million. The groups are MediaNews Group newspapers, both equity group. controlled by Alden Capital, a private

January that Bloomberg News first reported in private eqCerberus Capital Management, another of the YP [Yellow uity company and majority owner as $600 million Pages] company, might pay as much managed by for the company. The combined assets U.S. newsDigital First represent the third largest weekly newspapaper group with 76 dailies and 160 pers in fifteen states. announced that In September of 2014, Digital First strategic alternaUBS was hired to help it “review for find a buyer. tives,” a Wall Street euphemism $20 Cerberus, with total assets of approximately to have been billion under management, appears larger Apollo muscled out of the way by the far Continued on page 11

UNH Announces More Bucks for Small Business Express New Dean of the College of Business State Frees Up $10 Million for Small Business Loan Backlog

by Jordan Fenster

New Haven Biotech Inks $434 Million Collaboration Deal Pharma Giant Merck Signs On to An announcement by the New Jersey based Pharmaceutical giant Merck and the New Haven biotech start-up Arvinas, located at 5 Science Park could may well become the most important New

New Technology

Haven biotech development since the FDA approved Alexion’s drug Sloiris for the treatment of a rare blood disease in

undisclosed], up-front payment and research funding, and is promising more cash tied to development milestones up to $434 mil-

2007.

Under the deal, Merck will give Arvinas [an

Continued on page 24

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Editor & Publisher Mitchell Young

Editorial Assistant Rachel Bergman

Design Consultant Terry Wells

Publisher’s Assistant Amy Kulikowski

Graphics Manager Matt Ford

Publisher’s Representative Robin Kroopnick Robin Ungaro

Contributors Rachel Bergman Laura Fantarella Mimi Frieman Jessica Giannone Ken Liebeskind Derek Torrellas Priscilla Searles

The release of $10 million in bonds is expected to help alleviate a backlog in the Small Business Express Program, which was designed to help small businesses remain in Connecticut.

At a State Bond Commission the Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Catherine Smith said that the coffers are “down essentially to zero.”

As a result, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said businesses are not receiving the grants they have expected.

“There is a backlog of applicants waiting for additional dollars,” he said.

According to Smith, the backlog is affecting about 40 businesses in the state. Smith

Photography Steve Blazo Priscilla Searles Derek Torrellas Business New Haven is a publication of Second Wind Media, Ltd., with offices at 485 Grand Avenue, New Haven, CT 06513.

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COMING BUSINESS & CIVIC AWARDS HEALTHCARE HEROES BOOKF OF LISTS CT GREEN BUSINESS AWARDS

gram had worked with 1,000 Connecticut companies, creating about 14,000 jobs.

said that while the state has authorized about $30 million under the Small Business Express Program, the DECD does not allocate the funds until the bond commission releases them.

That process has resulted in the backlog which, with the commission’s approvals Tuesday, should clear up, Smith said.

In 2014, Smith said 20 percent of the businesses applying for loans through the program were manufacturers.

“Express supports our small, local companies and ensures that they have the resources they need to keep Connecticut residents working and the “As we need money we take it through the bond commission,” Connecticut economy expanding,” she said.

Smith said. “We don’t issue commitments until we get it The Small Business Express through the bond commission.” program was created in 2011

“Dr. Kench will lead the college in its efforts to expand and adapt to the latest needs of the international and Connecticut business communities,” said Daniel May, provost and senior vice president of academic affairs. “He will bring the energy, scholarship and outreach skills we need to enhance the reputation of the college.”

during a bipartisan special session focused on jobs.

Kench is chair of the economics department at The University of Tampa. His research, teaching, and consulting interests are in the areas of behavioral and experimental economics, microeconomics and public finance.

One year ago, when he was seeking reauthorization of the Small Business Express program, Malloy said the pro-

Attorney General Jepsen Wants CT Private, Secure Announces New Department For Internet Privacy Concerns Attorney General George Jepsen announced the creation of a new department that will work exclusively on investigations and litigation related to privacy and data security.

In 2011, Attorney General Jepsen appointed a multidisciplinary Privacy Task Force to educate the public about data protection and to focus the office’s response to Internet privacy concerns and data breaches that affect consumers.

“When I took office in January 2011, it became immediately clear that data privacy and security were growing concerns in our state and across the country. I appointed the Privacy Task Force – the only task force I have formed in the Office

8

Brian Kench, Ph.D has been appointed dean of the College of Business at the University of New Haven as of June 8.

Kench, a Massachusetts native with a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Connecticut, will lead efforts to enhance the quality, scope and vitality of UNH business programs.

The average allocation is more or less $250,000 per business, Smith said.

Malloy: “Not getting the grants they expected.”

“I am proud to say that we have already helped more than 1,000 small businesses, in industries representing a cross section of Connecticut’s diverse economy, do what they do best — grow, innovate, and create jobs,” Malloy said in March 2014. “Small businesses have always been a stabilizing force in our nation’s economy, stimulating economic growth when times are good and driving recovery when bad.”

Reprinted with permission from ctnewsjunkie.com

of the Attorney General – to address these matters head on. In the four years since, nothing has lessened the importance of our privacy work.

My office has taken a lead role in investigating massive consumer data breaches involving Anthem, Target, Home Depot and others as well as significant issues impacting consumer privacy, including the Google Street View Wi-Fi data collection case. Sadly there is no reason to predict that the demands of privacy and data security concerns will subside in the foreseeable future.”

The new department will be responsible for all investigations involving consumer privacy and data security.

It will also help to educate the public and business community about their responsibilities, which include protecting personally identifiable and sensitive data and promptly notifying affected individuals and the Office of the Attorney General when breaches do occur.

“I look forward to continuing the college’s momentum and increasing its national and international reputation,” Kench said. “UNH offers career-focused business education to diverse and globally aware learners. Our vision is to become a top-tier school of choice for students seeking an experientially based professional education.”

Kench has consulting experience in economic damages and impact analysis, and has served as an economics expert for a variety of national media outlets such as Bloomberg TV, American Public Media’s Marketplace and USA Today.

The past president of the Academy of Business Economics, he earned Tampa’s College of Business Researcher of the Year Award in 2008 and its Teaching Excellence Award in 2009 and 2012.

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ENERGY

Lawmakers Power Up Energy Plans Connecticut Legislators Set Energy Agenda for 2015

By Mark Pazniokas

Oil dealers, who already are furious at the Malloy administration for encouraging residential heating customers to convert to gas, say making the costs of new pipelines recoverable through electric bills would drive up the cost of electricity.

The bill was rewritten to allow DEEP to seek requests for proposals on how to finance the upgrading of gas pipelines, but action on those proposals would require further legislative review, Sen. Paul Doyle, D-Wethersfield and Rep. Lonnie Reed, D-Branford said.

Another bill endorsed Tuesday would cap the monthly fixed-cost portion of electric bills at $10, a legislative response to a request by the state’s largest utility, Connecticut Light & Power, now renamed Eversource Energy, to raise the monthly fixed rate from $16 to $25.50.

Environment CT Phelps: Branford State Rep Wanted more ambitious Reed: Concerned bill bill. might increase costs.

W

House Speaker Sharkey: Wants to bend energy’s cost curve.

ith a packed audience of lobbyists waiting and watching, the legislature’s Energy and Technology Committee approved three dozen bills that define the General Assembly’s relatively modest ambitions on energy policy in 2015.

The more significant bills would ban variable electric rates for residential customers, cap the fixed-costs portion of electric bills and authorize state officials to explore expanding the capacity of pipelines that bring natural gas into Connecticut.

But there are no sweeping efforts this year to reshape how the state regulates the $3 billion market for buying and selling electricity, a commodity whose prices remain stubbornly high in the state.

One of the bills that could eventually lead to a significant impact on the energy market would allow the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to explore how to replace existing 28-inch gas pipelines with 40-inch pipelines.

The generation of electricity in the state is heavily reliant on natural gas, but insufficient supply means that during the winter months electric utilities must periodically buy more expensive power from plants that stand idle except during peak-usage times.

The bill was sought by the administration of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, which concluded that the market would not move on expanding transmission capacity without a nudge from the state.

Mirror Mirror On The Internet

Online News Outlet Connecticut Mirror Launches Data Site The Connecticut News Project Inc., an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization and publisher of The Connecticut Mirror, launched two new companion websites — Trend CT, which will focus on public-interest data, and CT Viewpoints, an opinion forum.

Trend CT purports to be the first data site of its kind in Connecticut and day to day operations for this publication will be overseen by Senior Data Editor Alvin Chang and new Data Editor Andrew Tran.

The site works with contributors who specialize in things like housing, education and energy to provide an informed view of what data says about a neigh10

borhood, a school district, or even an electric bill. Most recently, Trend CT looked at data released by the city of Hartford revealing that white residents in the city live significantly longer than minority residents, on average. The site analyzed data that tracked deaths from 2008 to 2012 to reveal differences in not only median age of death among white residents, non-hispanic black residents and Hispanic residents, but also causes of death, revealing that white residents comprised 48% of deaths from Alzheimer’s disease and 42% of deaths from suicide, while 62% of homicide victims were black and 46% of those who died as a result of HIV were Hispanic, the largest percentage of deaths related to the disease.

Regulators eventually approved a rate of $19.50.

Utility officials have said that capping the fixed rate, which is the monthly fee consumers pay for overhead regardless of usage, only would force per-kilowatt costs up.

The agenda also reflected a historical tension in the committee and the marketplace over how to widen the market for solar energy without increasing costs to consumers, now paying the highest rates in the continental U.S. That meant a significant downsizing in a bill intended to create a dramatically larger market for solar energy by theoretically putting solar within the reach of the 80 percent of residents who either rent or own homes unsuitable for the installation of solar panels.

The “shared solar” bill would have created a mechanism allowing these customers to buy shares of solar panels installed elsewhere, which advocates say already is allowed in at least 10 other states.

But the committee adopted a compromise that creates a three-year pilot program.

Reed said there was widespread concern among committee members, as well as from the Office of the Consumer Counsel, about the potential for increasing costs for electric ratepayers.

Chris Phelps of Environment Connecticut, one of the policy groups backing a more ambitious version of the bill, called the compromise a disappointment.

“Quite frankly, Connecticut is being left behind on these policies,” Phelps said.

But Hoydick was among the committee members to praise the pilot program as a cautious step that would help legislators decide in three years how to proceed further.

“Solar is going to stay,” Hoydick said.

“But the way to make it stay and make it more affordable is to get market pressure to drive the price down.”

With little debate, the committee approved a bill sought by A ARP and other consumer groups that would ban variable electric rates offered by electric retailers to residential customers.

House Speaker J. Brendan Sharkey, D-Hamden, who has final say over which bills come to a vote in the House, said he is most interested in bills aimed at stabilizing or lowering electric costs.

“What I would like to see, mostly, are consumer friendly approaches to energy and the cost of energy, not only for residential consumers but for small businesses,” Sharkey said. “We have to really bend the curve on the cost of energy in the state.”

Reprinted with permission from ctmirror.org

Connecticut Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame Opens First Group of Inductees Announced The Connecticut Broadcasters Association (CBA) has announced the organization’s establishment of a “Connecticut Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame” to complement its established program of lifetime achievement awards, and has revealed the names of the Hall of Fame’s first 12 Guilford’s inductees.

D’Ascenzo: First

New Haven’s long time favorite Al Terzi gets his due.

They are: (Posthumous honor) Boyd woman in first Broadcaster’s E. Arnold of Canton;- Gerry Brooks Hall of Fame of Glastonbury;- Pablo de Jesus induction.

Colon Jr. of Bridgeport;- Denise D’Ascenzo of Guilford;- Brad Davis of Bloomfield;- (Posthumous honor) Arnold Dean of Rocky Hill;- Joe Dimaggio of Wethersfield;- Richard Ferguson of Westport;- Bill Glynn of Wethersfield;- Ed Henry of Middletown;- John Ramsey of West Hartford; and- Al Terzi of Southington, to be honored during the Connecticut Broadcasters Association 60th Annual Convention.

WWW.CONNTACT.COM

Fight Over Flight

Whitehead with daughter Rose in front of his “No. 21”.

Give Your Bottom Line a Boost

An Ohio Statehouse panel has approved a resolution that challenges Connecticut’s claim that Gustave Whitehead was the first person to fly a “heavier than air” machine. Connecticut’s claim is the inventor did just that on August 14 1901, two years earlier than the Wright Brothers launch at Kitty Hawk on December 17, 1903.

In defense of Connecticut’s aerospace industry, Connecticut legislators fired a first strike in 2013, declaring Whitehead’s flight as predating the Wright brothers.

The Tar Heel state of North Carolina also has a dog in the fight, maintaining a statewide and license plate slogan “First in Flight,” creating a two front war – perhaps John Kerry can help?

REGISTER

Continued from page 1

Global Management group, with more than $164 billion under management.

Apollo describes itself as “contrarian investors,” but the competition hasn’t done much for the expected price, which is now estimated to be around $400 million for most of the group’s media properties.

Few industry sources believe there is much more to cut as editorial staff has been whittled down across the group, and printing presses already scrapped for outsourcing where possible. The New Haven Register is currently printed by the Hartford Courant.

Ken Doctor, a columnist for the website NiemanLab, set up by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism, wrote this month, “And the big question: What’s in the formula for turnaround?”

The Register had been sold by the Jackson family in 1986 for a reported $175 million to game show mogul Mark Goodson. Goodson then sold the paper three years later to Ingersoll Publications for $275 million.

Ingersoll would soon morph into the Journal Register Company under the leadership of Robert M. Jelenic.

Jelenic was seen as a mercurial and aggressive CEO who almost immediately began cutting costs and eliminating staff at the Register to help fund new acquisitions.

Under Jelenic, the JRC’s last major acquisition was of Michigan’s 21ST Century Newspapers in 2004 for $415 million. ‘’Acquiring these award-winning suburban newspapers extends our footprint into some of Michigan’s most affluent and fastest-growing markets,’’ said the JRC CEO at the time.

Michigan led the country into the 2007 recession, and the price for what was a modest daily circulation of 137,500 and a bunch of weeklies proved to be far too rich for the company.

That acquisition, along with Jelenics’s death from cancer at the end of 2008, APRIL 2015

helped set the stage for the eventual demise of the company, which declared bankruptcy two years later.

The JRC was purchased out of bankruptcy by Alden Capital as it bought distressed newspaper groups. Alden tried to implement a turnaround strategy through further cuts and development of digital publications. As that plan proved difficult, the JRC filed bankruptcy again in 2012, primarily to move its pension obligations to the federal government’s Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.

The JRC was a proponent of the “clustering” concept of newspapers, other Connecticut properties include the Torrington Register, the Middletown Press, and a variety of weeklies throughout Connecticut. JRC clusters include Albany, Philadelphia and Michigan.

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Alden merged through a complex management deal run by Digital First [essentially the corporate parent of both], combining the JRC with Media News Group in a move for more scale, even as it started selling out newspaper holdings where it could.

The new hope was to create an attractive digital platform placed under what would be the ill-fated Digital First name and strategy.

Industry sources say even more savings through staff and production cuts were wrung out of the newspapers to fund the transformation.

However, while cuts were happening at the newspapers, a 50 to 100 person group was set up in 2011 in New York under the name Thunderdome. The Thuderdome plan to centralize news and create a unified, innovative, high tech, digital effort to leverage the vast newspaper network was the brainchild of CEO John Patton, hailed as a visionary in the industry.

By the spring of 2014, the company apparently acknowledged that its Digital First strategy had failed and shut down Thunderdome. In September, it brought UBS in.

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Jepsen Lays Out Gambling Expansion Concerns Attorney General Sees Legal Obstacles To Casino Expansion

By Christine Stuart

A

ttorney General George Jepsen met with legislative leaders to outline his legal concerns over allowing the state’s two federally recognized tribes to open up a casino outside their reservations In the letter to all six legislative leaders, Jepsen explained that the legislation may violate the revenue agreements the state currently has with the tribes, and it may serve as a trigger to increase the number of tribes to succeed at asserting the right to casino gambling.

The legislation allows the Mohegan Tribe and the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation to jointly open up to three new gambling facilities. The immediate goal of the legislation is to slow the number of gamblers who may head north to the new MGM casino in Springfield.

Jepsen said he offered the information to lawmakers to help them identify the “legal uncertainties” related to the legislation and the tribes’ memorandum of understanding with the state.

result of the agreements they signed with the state and the U.S. Secretary of the Interior under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. But it’s unclear if they would need to amend those agreements and, if they did, whether it would be approved by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior.

“We’re going to examine the letter and take it into consideration as the bill moves through the process,” Adam Joseph, a spokesman for the Senate Democratics, said.

Jepsen warned in his letter that the state’s 25 percent share of the casinos’ gross slot revenue would “cease if state law permitted any person other than the Tribes to operate such games or other commercial casino games.”

The two federally recognized tribes have exclusive gaming rights in Connecticut as a APRIL 2015

Mohegan Chairman Kevin Brown and Mashantucket Pequot Chairman Rodney Butler said in a statement.

But it won’t be easy, according to Jepsen. “Given the unique nature and history of the state’s gaming relationships

with the Tribes there is very little in the way of legal precedent or guidance that allows for a confident analysis of these complex and uncertain legal questions.”

– Reproduced by agreement CTnewsjunkie.com

The proposed legislation “could be deemed a change in

There’s a question about whether a third party could challenge the tribes exclusive rights to gambling off their reservation. state law that would terminate the moratorium, affording the Tribes the right to conduct video facsimile games free of the payment requirements under the MOUs. How a court or other competent authority might resolve this legal issue is at best uncertain,” Jepsen wrote.

Another part of the problem highlighted by Jepsen lies in defining the new business entity the two tribes will form in order to operate the casino.

“Such legislation also should make clear that only the Tribes may own an equity interest in whatever business entity is formed to operate casinos,” Jepsen wrote.

AG Jepsen: Legal obstacles to expansion significant.

best way to protect nearly 10,000 Connecticut jobs and hundreds of millions in tax revenue that will be lost when a new casino opens in Springfield in 2017, while also addressing any legal and technical issues with the state,”

There’s also a question about whether a third party could challenge the tribes exclusive rights to gambling off their reservation. A footnote in Jepsen’s letter points out that giving only these two tribes the right to gaming operations off the reservation could be a violation of the Equal Protection Clause. A third party could also say it’s a violation of the Commerce Clause because it seeks to protect instate economic interests from interstate commerce.

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MANUFACTURING

Fair Haven Factory Buzzes

Local Manufacturer Carving Out A Niche in the Foodie Economy

By Derek Torellas

A

mid the whining of power sanders, the droning of drills, and stereos playing Mexican folk music, the interior of a future bar or restaurant was taking shape in the corner of a Fair Haven factory.

BoldWood Interiors, on the corner of Haven and Market streets, has been specializing in bar and restaurant-specific furnishings since 1991. That year, owner Rob Bolduc took over the business from his father and transitioned the company from residential cabinetry to commercial cabinetry, then into commercial bar furnishings.

“I’ve spent a lot of time sitting on the other end of the bar,” Bolduc said.

“Many, many years of that.”

Most of the company’s customers are from out of town. A majority of the work, Bolduc said, is for customers operating chains, like Ninety-Nine Restaurants and the Norwalk-based Barcelona restaurant group.

“I’ve spent a lot of time sitting on the other end of the bar,” Bolduc said. “Many, many years of that.”

While speaking, Bolduc pointed to partially completed black cabinets, and said they were going to Barcelona’s Washington D.C. restaurant.

“We ship wherever we need to, to do a project,” he said. “I’ve gone to California, Guatemala, Dubai.”

Still, Bolduc said the most fun projects are for New Haven restaurants.

“I try to do as much work in New Haven as we can,” Bolduc said, “because it’s in my backyard.”

BoldWood and co-located New England Seating, a restaurant booth and fur14

Company’s West Haven Water Street Location to Be Key Part of New Outlet Mall

The Bilco Company, headquartered in West Haven, will move from its West Haven site to New Haven on Memorial Day weekend.

Bolduc had been leasing the Fair Haven location until he purchased it in 2010.

This allowed him to expand the workspace and take on more jobs. BoldWood currently employs about 20 full-time workers.

According to Bolduc, he understands not only his customers’ needs, but their customers’ needs as well.

Bilco Returns to New Haven

Bold Wood Interiors’ work at the Corner Pug, West Hartford

niture manufacturer, benefit from a close partnership. Aside from sharing the building, the two employ the same salespeople.

“We’re a one-stop shop,” he said. “We’re the only ones in the northeast that you can come in and you can buy everything from the millwork to the booth seating, everything in one building” BoldWood purchased a CNC machine in December.

The CNC, computer numerical control, is an automated machine that precisely cuts wood to the desired dimensions based on a computer file. Mike McKinn, of East Haven, is the one who creates the designs on a computer.

“Everything that goes into the CNC comes from CAD software which turns it into CAM,” McKinn said, as he hovered near his screen showing a threedimensional rendering of a bar and wall.

CAD is computer aided drafting, and CAM is computer aided manufacturing, McKinn added. He taught himself how to use CAD, though later McKinn received some training from CNC machine makers and software developers.

“It’s more precise, it’s repeatable,” McKinn said. “I can get a standard cabinet and reproduce it 20 times.”

With the push of a button, the parts would be made on the CNC in 12 minutes. The same job done manually would take a “really good cabinet maker” 30

minutes to an hour, and a less-experienced worker half a day, according to McKinn.

“Having the CNC machine,” Bolduc said, “is a big game-changer for us. It’s changing how we’re going to do things and operate and grow.”

BoldWood Interiors has a direct relation to the health of the restaurant business, so when the recent economic recession affected the restaurants, it could be felt in BoldWood’s manufacturing shop.

“People weren’t really doing new restaurants, they were kind of just slapping a coat of paint on and reopening,” Bolduc said. “So there weren’t as many openings for a couple of years; we got a little slower.”

According to Bolduc, the chain restaurants hampered by the recession feel more confident now. Ninety-Nine Restaurants, which spent five years closing some of their sites, has been more active and remodeled restaurants in the past two years.

It’s good when the restaurant chains know they’ll be able to afford the changes they’re making, said Bolduc, and the past two and a half years have been busy at BoldWood Interiors.

“I think it’s a good sign for the economy in general,” Bolduc said.

Torellas, a Business New Haven intern, wrote a version of this article for the NewHavenIndependent.org

West Haven has been home to Bilco’s headquarters since 1953, but the company’s intended move is more of a return. The company was originally founded in New Haven in 1926.

Bilco produces specialty access products, which includes roof hatches, basement doors, smoke and fire vents, and intruder defense systems for both residential and commercial buildings. Their manufacturing facilities are located in Zanesville, Ohio, and Trumann, Ark. The location that Bilco will vacate on Water Street will be sold to developers of the proposed outlet mall in West Haven. The Haven shopping center is envisioned to have 100 stores, six restaurants, and a pier for patrons traveling by boat.

Both the West Haven and state governments have already given their support for the project.

The city worked with about 20 properties, including Bilco, to relocate them to other parts of West Haven. Bilco, however, was not able to find a suitable location without leaving West Haven. There was even a commitment from them to move into a planned six-story high-rise called the West River Crossing that was never built.

The building that Bilco will relocate into is the former Starter Corp. building at 370 James St., built in 1915. All the West Haven employees will remain with the company after the move.

– By Derek Toreellas WWW.CONNTACT.COM

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ALMANAC

Murphy Takes Tea for Two Matt Murphy, Business New Haven’s Small Businessperson of the Year in 2013, is continuing to grow his North Branford-based Murphy Distributors.

apps, which lets users print onto canvas, posters and greeting cards alongside traditional photo paper. Apple Pay is also available in the Printicular iPhone and iPad app. Over 6 million photos have been printed to date using MEA’s Printicular app.

Murphy began his company importing and selling wines with an emphasis on South America, where he worked and learned the wine business.

U.S. Secretary of Treasury Jacob J. Lew visits Quinnipiac University and meets Matthew O’Connor, dean of the School of Business and Engineering. Lew (pictured right) attended the annual Faculty Scholars and Student Service Learning Celebration.

Banking On North Haven William H.W. Crawford, IV, Chief Executive Officer of United Financial Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: UBNK United bank], cut the ribbon to their newest Banking Center at 117 Washington Avenue in North Haven.

The North Haven Banking Center is a two-story, approximately 5,000 square foot, stand-alone building that provides customers access to full service banking, including retail banking, mortgage and commercial lending, financial advisory services and private banking. The location also provides double-drive up lanes, along with a drive up ATM. North Haven is United’s second retail banking location to open in Greater New Haven over the past 12 months.

The Bank opened a branch in Hamden at 2290 Whitney Avenue in February 2014. United first came into the New Haven market in in July 2011, with a Loan Production Office at 2319 Whitney Avenue in Hamden.

Murphy has continued to branch out, now featuring craft beers, and what the company says is Connecticut’s largest selection of Kosher wines.

Murphy recently signed an agreement with Vermont’s Owl’s Brew Teas, which the company says are “artisanal, fresh brewed, ready to pour, and crafted for cocktails.”

Owl’s Brew was founded by Jennie Ripps and Maria Littlefield, two friends who began their effort throwing tea parties featuring custom teainfused cocktails. They launched Owl’s Brew in August of 2013.

A new MRI scanner promises to give researchers at the University of Connecticut their clearest pictures yet of the inner workings of the human brain.

At more than ten tons, the scanner made by Siemens was hoisted by a huge crane inside the David C. Phillips Communication Sciences Building where the Brain Imaging Research Center (BIRC) is housed.

Local App Developer Launches With Google Wallet New Haven app developer MEA’s app, Printicular, has launched with Google Wallet Instant Buy integration. Google Wallet was developed by Google to make cashless transactions a reality for Android users. Printicular allows users to select, pay and print photos direct from their mobile device. The app is part of MEA’s family of photo printing

UNH to Offer Master’s Degree in Forensic Technology The University of New Haven Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences announced that it will begin offering the nation’s first master’s degree in forensic technology this fall.

“The forensic technology program will provide a highquality professional program in a highly technical area of study in great demand by police departments all

16

UConn Puts Up Points in the Brain Game

UConn officials say the MRI scanner is an “important milestone in UConn’s continuing rise to prominence in the cognitive and brain sciences.”

As the company’s newest and most advanced model, University researchers will have access to one of the most advanced imaging platforms available anywhere in the world and the BIRC scanner will be devoted solely to research.

“This is huge,” said Emily Myers, an assistant professor of speech, language, and hearing, whose work makes heavy use of MRI brain scans. “This scanner is a big leap beyond the previously available research scanners.”

over the country,” said Mario Gaboury, dean of the college.

Students admitted into the 42-credit program must have a bachelor’s degree in forensic science, criminal justice, engineering or a natural science. Those admitted to the program will be required to complete coursework and a capstone experiential learning exercise, such as an internship or a research project.

Wisdom Returns To Westville

By Markeshia Ricks

Ninth Square fashion designer (by way of Jamaica) Neville Wisdom is taking his design studio back to where it all began for him—well not exactly that far back. He’s heading back to Whalley Avenue in Westville Village, where he first owned a boutique in 2008, to expand his studio from his space at 63 Orange St. in the historic Ninth Square.

The designer said he needs more room to create and launch what he hopes are the beginnings of bigger, small-scale manufacturing of his brand. Up until a year and a half ago, Wisdom designed much of his clothing line in Jamaica. He and his brother owned the building where he produced his clothes, and he would go down there for several months to make them. But Wisdom said as his business has grown, the need to be in the United States to oversee it also has grown.

Wisdom said he plans to outfit his new studio with upgraded equipment such as a digitizer, sewing machines and a buttonhole machine, with the help of a one-year matching express grant from the state Department of Economic and Community Development. He said similar grants are out there for small businesses like his that are looking to upgrade and expand. He credits the city’s Office of Economic Development for informing him about the state’s Small Business Express program.

Edited Version: New Haven Independent.org for complete story

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Location! Location!

Location!

Non-Profits Are on the Move Renting, Building, Buying and Refurbishing

By Rachel Bergman

G

reater New Haven is home to more than four hundred non-profits serving a wide range of needs in our community. Comprising almost 14% of the Greater New Haven workforce, non-profits inevitably represent a large chunk of real estate transactions, as well. As a sector of the economy, non-profits are tenants, landlords, builders and movers in the real estate market.

Often, non-profit real estate transactions are a core element of the mission and serve goals in unique ways, as in the case of Ball and Socket Arts in Cheshire. The organization mobilized around the idea of rescuing an old factory too beautiful and too important to the landscape to pass up when it came on the market, according to Jeffrey Guimond of the project. The Ball and Socket factory, a manufacturing facility from 1850 to 1992 when it ceased operations, was then sold to Dalton Enterprises and used primarily for equipment storage.

When the property was listed for sale in 2014, a group of local artists seized the opportunity to purchase the site in September and convert the former stalwart of Cheshire’s manufacturing core into an arts facility for the community.

The project will be years in the making, with the Department of Economic and Community Development playing a supporting role in the Brownfield remediation at the site by coughing up $400,000 in grant funds as well as $1.68 million in loans to Ball and Socket Arts.

Brownfields are real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.

After carefully charting their work flow patterns architects and staff put together an ideal design for their new space.

The former manufacturing site will be assessed, cleaned up, and upcycled to provide studio space, galleries, a performance venue, food court, and a fine dining experience as part of the collaborative focused on community development and the arts.

Ball and Socket Arts has engaged CREC (Capitol Region Education Council), another non-profit working in the construction and redesign of magnet schools and other educational centers, as the project manager in redesigning the space, which, if fundraising goals are met, hopes to open to the community by 2017. The space will consist of 65,000 square feet across four buildings on three acres of land and the visionaries behind the project, Jeffrey Guimond, Kevin Daley and Ilona Simogyi, believe it’s an opportu18

A lot of pro bono and discounted labor went into Love’s space, including the polished concrete floor.

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The first step to rehabilitating the historic factory site was to remove the original signage for repair and restoration. Principal Kevin Daly gets the job done.

nity for increased economic activity in the neighborhood that could even spur a rise in property values.

Non-profits serving a wide range of needs comprise almost 14% of the Greater New Haven workforce, inevitably they represent a large chunk of real estate transactions, as well.

For other nonprofits, like the Achievement First network of charter schools, 18,789 square feet of space leased from Blake Street Center Associates serves the objective of expanding program models, like the school system’s new lease at 495 Blake Street. Beginning with the 2015-2016 school year, AF’s Elm City College Prep will use the Blake Street space to pilot the Greenfield Program of education, utilizing smaller class sizes for instruction.

Through a competitive process, they’ve engaged the PAC Group, a private construction firm, as project managers responsible for converting the space into 9 classrooms, a cafeteria, a kitchen, and support office space for teachers and adminAPRIL 2015

istrators. They anticipate four months of construction work before school starts and will finance the upgrades with a combination of philanthropy dollars, landlord supported tenant upgrades, and debt.

Ultimately, non-profits grow like small businesses, expanding to outgrow an office, as in the case of Love 146, a New Haven-based non-profit engaged in the abolition of child trafficking and exploitation. The agency recently moved from offices at Temple and Crown to 839 Chapel Street. Love 146 has become the tenant of Robert Orr, the architectural pioneer behind the theory of “new urbanism,” promoting downtown living and working for healthier urban economies. The organization doubled their space, moving out of offices of approximately 2400 square feet, to an open space of almost 5700 square feet situated

Achievement First will lease part of the building for their Elm City College Prep fifth grade class, but may expand in the future

above a consignment and antiques retailer.

Thanks to architect Ben Northrop with Stuart Lathers Associates, local contractor Restoration Project Management, who already donates a percentage of profits to Love 146, and some other pro bono construction assistance, Love 146 was able to retrofit the space at almost 125% lower than the cost of such work on the open market.

Crews spent about two months building walls, installing a polished concrete floor and designing an office based on a map of their organizational workflow. The space at Chapel incorporates a training area to welcome outside groups. They’ve been able to use their new location to comfortably accommodate all 24 employees at once, to train individuals working with children and engaged in advocacy, and even to host parties.

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REAL ESTATE Sold

Franco Fellah, at the HK Group, finalized the sale of the property at 370 Westport Avenue Norwalk, for $2,950,000. The 4,413 SF twostory building sits on a 0.35 acre lot zoned Business 2: the only tenant is Bankwell, with their newly built drive-thru branch. The seller was 370 Westport Avenue, LLC, the buyer The Beach House, LLC.

Bob Landino’s Centerplan Construction’s 160 apartment unit complex on College and Crown Street in New Haven is on track to be completed by the fall of 2015. Over the next couple of years nearly 1,000 units are in the pipeline in a variety of projects in downtown.

Apartment Market Research Report Says: Rent! Rent! Rent!

According to Marcus & Millichap’s 2015 Apartment report for Greater New Haven and Fairfield, growing rental housing demand is expected to maintain tight apartment vacancy in New Haven county in 2015.

Through the first quarter, recently completed apartments in Fairfield and New Haven counties have been well absorbed. Analysts believe an expansion of rental housing inventory may also play a vital role in assuring the continued growth of the local economy by making it easier for local employers to recruit workers to the area.

According to data looking at the combined rental market in New Haven and Fairfield counties, promising market conditions are attracting the interest of investors. Sales of complexes pricing from $1 million to $10 million doubled last year. Over all, nearly one third of sales in the market comprise properties selling for more than $10 million, the domain of large private buyers and institutions.

Marcus & Millichap’s 2015 Apartment Forecast is based on the following factors: Employment: Improving operating conditions will support the addition of 12,500 positions in 2015, marking a slight moderation in hiring from last year. Growth in professional and business services, and retail trade fueled the creation of 13,400 jobs last year. Estimates propose that employers will create 12,500 jobs during 2015, a 1.5 percent 20

increase that will raise payrolls in the market above the pre-recession peak.

Construction: Developers will complete 1,300 units during 2015, representing a minor drop from the number of apartments delivered last year. This includes more than 700 rentals in New Haven County. One key project slated for completion includes the 160-unit College & Crown in New Haven.

Vacancy & Rents: Despite severe weather, a sufficient number of tenants moved into apartments during the first quarter this year to trim the vacancy rate 10 basis points to 3.6 percent. Prospective tenants will respond positively to new rentals coming online, absorbing a sufficient number to maintain marketwide vacancy at 3.7 percent during 2015. The average marketwide rent of $1,636 per month in the first quarter was virtually unchanged from the corresponding period in 2014, although a 3.5 percent increase was recorded in New Haven County over the past year.

Sales Trends: In 2014, the number of transactions doubled from the prior year before, while dollar volume also jumped dramatically. Sales of properties pricing from $1 million to $10 million rose notably during the year.

The average price of properties sold last year rose 5 percent to $174,400 per unit. Assets traded at average cap rates in the high-5 to mid-6 percent range. A strong environment for rental property operations and unfulfi lled demand for income-producing assets with appreciation potential will support an active investment market this year.

Analysis and data was compiled by Marcus & Millichap, a private real estate brokerage firm specializing in real estate investment sales, financing, research, and advisory services around the U.S.

Joel Nesson of Press/Cuozzo Commercial Services has leased 2,440 square feet of industrial/flex space at a commercial condo, 125 Commerce Court, Cheshire.

Nesson represented the tenant, Insight Pest Solutions, a national organization. The owner/landlord, Fazzone Investments & Properties, LLC, was represented by Jim Fazzone The Geenty Group, Realtors, is pleased to announce the lease of 1,440 SF at 29 Soundview Road, Guilford. The Tenant is National Roofing Company, Inc. Jeffrey Beeman is the President. They will house their roofing company in the space, using it for general office and warehousing of roofing materials and the like.

This unit is in a multi-tenant facility, offering both a loading dock and drive-in door. The Landlord is Russo Real Estate, LLC, and Bill Clark, Senior Vice President at The Geenty Group was their agent. Vance Taylor of Commercial Real Estate Group in Torrington was the agent for the Tenant.

Kristin Geenty SIOR and Kevin Geenty SIOR of the Connecticut Chapter reported a Member to Member transaction with Jeffrey Gage, CCIM, SIOR, MRICS, also of Connecticut. This sale was of an 85,000 SF light industrial/ flex building on 11.2 prime acres at 20 Thompson Road, Branford, CT, which sold for $4,007,000.00. The Seller, Brady Corporation, an international, multi-faceted supplier of various products for business, has agreed to lease back 20,000 SF of Class B office space in the building.

Fred A. Messore, Senior Vice President has completed the sale of two redevelopment properties in West Haven.

513 Sawmill Road, a 1.61 +/acre lot was sold by Walmart Realty to McDonald’s- USA, LLC for $1,100,000.

HIGHVILLE FINDS A HOME After searching for more than three years, Hamden-based Highville Charter School has purchased a 108,000 SF office building on over 4 acres at 1 Science Park in New Haven from AT&T. The purchase price was $5,800,000. Alan M. Fischer, CCIM, SIOR, of Fischer Real Estate Inc. represented Highville in this transaction. Cushman & Wakefield was the listing agency. Originally built in 1952, AT&T gutted the brick, stone and concrete building down to its slab and steel framework and completely rebuilt it into a call center in 1993.

Highville will now convert the open layout into classrooms to meet its expansion needs and “its vision to become a true community school.”

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of space consisting of laboratories and offices for their biotechnology company. Kristin Geenty was the agent for the Landlord, while John Keogh of Colliers International in New Haven was the Tenant’s agent.

Yale Picks Up Space Near Biz School Yale Properties Takes on Lease in Former Traveler’s Insurance Building

121 Whitney Avenue, New Haven owned by Motor Inn Associates, Inc., Is Yale’s new landlord. The office building housed law firms after the Travelers Insurance Company moved to new offices in Hamden, but the largest tenant moved out last year, leaving approximately 6500 square feet vacant. With a strategic location just two doors down from the newly constructed Yale School of Management building, Yale will use the offices ancillary to the School of Management, or possibly as swing space. Ted Schaffer of Press/Cuozzo was the sole broker involved in this transaction.

Cushman & Wakefield has been named the exclusive leasing agent for 1000 Bridgeport Avenue, a fivestory, 134,035-square-foot Class-A office building located just off exit 11 of Route 8 in Shelton, Conn. Recently acquired (May 2014) by Fairfield Realty Group, the new owners are planning a multi-million dollar capital-improvement program to revamp the property.

Kevin Foley, executive director, and Michael Dillon, direcReal Living Wareck D’Ostilio announced its awards for Outstanding Sales Production for 2014.

Regina Sauer of Orange was recognized as Top Producer, which included highest multifamily sale and highest residential sale.

Kristen Keslow of Woodbridge recognized for highest condo sale.

Young Lee of Orangehad the highest business/commercial sale for the company.

Woodbridge resident Nancy Andersen was recognized as “Rookie of the Year.”

The awards are made on the basis of sales and listing volume for the 2014 fiscal year.

APRIL 2015

tor, are the exclusive leasing agents for the property.

Marcus & Millichap, announced the sale of South Adams Apartments, a 103-unit apartment property at 40 Olcott Street, Manchester, for $8,350,000.

Eric Pentore, a senior associate with the Witten & Nolletti Group of Marcus & Millichap’s New Haven office, and along with Victor Nolletti and Steve Witten, had the exclusive listing to market the property on behalf of the seller, New England Residential Properties Limited Partnership.

Leased The Geenty Group, Realtors, reports four new leases at 21 and 23 Business Park Drive, Branford, which is owned by Todd’s Hill Investment Circle.

At 21 Business Park Drive, Pexagon, Inc. has leased a 1,740 SF unit for their printing business. Their President is Brian Campbell.

Also at 21 Business Park, Associated Medical, Inc. has leased 7,376 SF of office space and warehouse space. They are a durable medical/home medical equipment provider as well as a provider of clinical and consultative services.

Associated Medical also has a Women’s Health Division.

Barbara Doyle is the Senior Vice President. Kristin Geenty, SIOR, and Kevin Geenty SIOR, were the sole agents for these transactions.

At 23 Business Park Drive, a bioscience incubator, mAbChem. Inc. has leased 1,044 SF

Staten Bio Technology, LLC has leased 1,142 SF of lab and office space at 23 Business Park Drive, for biochemical and cell biology research and development. Paul DiSilva and James Landro are the company’s Principals. Kristin Geenty was the sole agent in this transaction.

Geenty Group, Realtors, also reported the lease of two, 1,000 SF flex units at 2344 Foxon Road, North Branford. The Landlord is Cooper Partners, LLC, and the Tenant is Henry Martone, and his All Seasons Energy oil company. Bill Clark, was the sole agent in this transaction

AIA Business Architecture Winners Local Architects Recognized

by Connecticut AIA

The Connecticut Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) has announced its 2015 winners of the Business Architecture Awards, sponsored in part by Business New Haven.

This statewide award honors architects for solving business problems for Connecticut clients.

The award focuses on “Business to Business” projects, but may include non-profit businesses. The award acknowledges those projects that both enhance the built environment and achieve business goals, such as growth or future planning.

Projects are submitted in two categories: under 50 employees and over 50 employees. New Haven-based Svigals + Partners took the prize for the under 50 employees category for the renovation of the Connecticut Center for Arts and Technology’s (ConnCAT) offices at 4 Science Park.

People Briotti Group announced four members of their team have been named 2015 Connecticut Five Star Real Estate Agents.

They include: Theresa Gorman, Sandy Laliberte and Dot Dorso from their Waterbury office and Maria Vilar from their Wolcott office.

Five Star Agents are chosen based on survey input from customers. Market-research firm, Five Star Professional, surveyed Connecticut-area residents who purchased a home priced at more than $150,000 within a nine-month period (September 2013 to May 2014).

Kathleen Maturo has joined Weichert Regional Properties, in the Orange office as an agent. She will cover Bethany, Orange, Woodbridge, New Haven, Valley and the Shoreline. In addition to her position as a real estate agent, Maturo works as the Associate Director of Geriatric Services at Yale New Haven Hospital.

She has a Masters in public health and a bachelor’s in business administration.

Matthew Hughes has joined the Weichert Realtors Shoreline Properties in Branford, as a Licensed Sales Associate. Matthew is a graduate of SCSU.

CONNCAT, Jury comments: “This engaging, inviting project does a lot with a little. It demonstrates growth and takes the client to the next level. It has energy, dynamism, and shows what can be achieved with a small budget.”

The prize-winner in the In the over 50 employees category was Stamford-based CPG Architects for their project at Dorel Sports in Wilton.

DOREL Jury comments: “The project looks like its story; it merges both the staff and visitor experience and meets all the strategic goals. The design supports the firm’s branding and gets out the message of what it does. Interesting and well executed, it shows that you can have fun doing a project.”

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MANUFACTURING Naugatuck’s Gar Kenyon Sold To The Loar Group

Electric Boat Gets $32.6 Million For Nuke Sub Work

Acquisition of Aerospace Company With New Haven Roots Positions Company for New Growth The Loar Group is acquiring Naugatuck-based SAF Industries, LLC (dba Gar Kenyon), a manufacturer of aircraft components.

Loar is a diversified aerospace manufacturing company with corporate offices in Midtown Manhattan and has existing manufacturing facilities in Meriden (AGC), Yankton SD, and Mukilteo WA. Loar is affiliated with the private equity firm Manhattan based JLL Partners, which has a wide range of investments including dental offices, construction companies, schools, and biotech companies.

Gar Kenyon operates out of a 44,000 square foot plant at 238 Water Street in Naugatuck. According to a report in the Naugatuck Citizen News the company employs thirty people.

The company say’s its “a leading designer, manufacturer, and supplier of precision components used in hydraulic and pneumatic systems across the aircraft” and adds that more than “95% of Gar Kenyon’s revenues are from proprietary products”.

Loar says the business will continue to operate as Gar Kenyon. Dirkson Charles, Loar CEO, said, “The addition of Gar Kenyon’s highly engineered and proprietary products will also allow us to improve our solutions-based engineering approach to assisting Loar’s customers.”

GAR Kenyon began in Brewster, NY in 1950, was acquired by Heli-Coil of Danbury in 1962, which it-

self was acquired in 1970 and Gar Kenyon was moved to New Haven.

Gar Kenyon was sold in 1988 and then sold again to the New Haven Manufacturing Corp. two years later in an employee leveraged buyout.

The employee owned company went bankrupt and former New Haven real estate developer Bob Mathews bought the company out of bankruptcy in 1997.

Stephen Fournier, Mathews’ Chief Operating Officer, purchased the company from Mathews in 2003 and moved it to Naugatuck. As part of the purchase, Fournier has been retained as a consultant to Loar.

Report Says U.S. Technology Orders Down

Bread Company Taking A Slice Out of CO2 Emissions

U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $304.74 million in February, according to the Association For Manufacturing Technology, down 10.6% from January’s $341.02 million and down 14.8% when compared with the total of $357.86 million reported for February 2014.

Pepperidge Farm is doubling down on its clean energy efforts with the installation of a new 1.4 megawatt Fuel Cell to power its bakery in Bloomfield.

“U.S. manufacturing is facing some pressure in terms of a stronger dollar and lower capital expenditures from the energy industry, but in taking the long view, we’re still in a good position overall,” said AMT President Douglas K. Woods. “The automotive and aerospace industries continue to be strong performers, and a number of international manufacturers are making significant investments in U.S. production facilities.”

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The Fuel Cell will join one placed into service in 2008 from FuelCell Energy, Inc., (Nasdaq:FCEL) of Danbury.

FuelCell Energy will manufacture, install, and service the power plant and work on the project will be started “immediately.”

The new power plant will supplement the existing DFC power plant that was installed at the bakery in 2008.

“The addition of this low-emission fuel cell power plant to complement our existing fuel cell installation” said Harry Pettit, Manager of Systems

Electric Boat has been awarded about $40 million in Navy contracts recently, in part to help service the nation’s nuclear fleet.

An existing contract between the Navy and Electric Boat was modified to add $32.6 million for Electric Boat, “to provide a nuclear regional maintenance department,” according to a release issued by the U.S. Department of Defense.

The original $20 million contract, which was announced in 2013, has been augmented several times in the past. The original contract had already grown to $65 million before last week’s $32.6 million addition.

Mohegan Gambling On “Renewable” Wood Energy – Down Yonder It may be more slots and a drive-in Casinos here in Connecticut, but the Mohegan Tribe is betting on wood pellets as it continues to grow its alternative energy business.

Northeast Wood Products, owned by the Mohegan Tribe, is seeking to turn a failed Tennessee ethanol plant into a wood pellet factory. The closed Tennol energy plant in Jasper, Tennessee would be retrofitted to produce 125,00 tons of wood pellets per year, employing as many as twenty-five workers.

Northeast Wood Products has plants in Ohio, Virginia, and Indiana but this would be their largest.

The Mohegan plant is facing opposition from some environmental leaders who believe that wood energy production will lead to exploitation of the state’s forests.

Dennis Haldeman, a Chattanooga environmental activist who is a member of the Energy Justice Network, is opposed to biomass energy generation. Haldeman told the Times Free Press “There isn’t waste wood around here any more.”

and Infrastructure Engineering, at Pepperidge Farm.

FuelCell Energy says the power plants will “prevent the emission [as compared to grid-based power] of more than 9,400 tons of CO2, an equivalent to removing more than 1,800 cars from the road.

Buffalo Armory CEO To Speak AT NH Manufactures’ Meeting Retired U.S. Army Major General John Batiste, President and CEO of Buffalo Armory LLC, will speak at the New Haven Manufacturers Association Annual Meeting on June 4 in Branford.

Buffalo Armory LLC produces a new armor and advanced high strength, formable steel. The company says “Star Armor simultaneously protects against both armor piercing and fragmentary, IED threats.“ The New Haven Manufacturer’s Association was founded in 1913.

More Fuel Cell News: Doosan Appoints COO Doosan Fuel Cell (Doosan) has appointed Dr. Sathya Motupally as its Chief Operating Officer (COO). Dr. Motupally, a 13-year industry veteran who previously served as Doosan’s Vice President of Research, will be the company’s first COO. Doosan, located in South Windsor, Connecticut, designs, engineers, manufactures and services their PureCell Model 400 fuel cell in commercial and industrial applications. Formed in July 2014 following Doosan Corporation’s acquisition of ClearEdge Power (formerly UTC Power), Doosan is the U.S. arm of the Doosan Fuel Cell Business Group and focuses on the production of a 400-kilowatt phosphoric acid fuel cell capable of supplying combined heat and power to building and utility systems.

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HEALTH BIO/PHARMA

from page 1

Arvinas was launched in 2013 with a $19 million investment led by Connecticut’s Canaan Partners, Vice President, Ted Shannon [New Haven region resident], who took the role of Arvinas’s initial CEO. The state of Connecticut through the Connecticut Development Authority and Connecticut Innovations, invested $4.25 million.

The company says it is “built around Yale-patented technology from Craig Crews, the Lewis B. Cullman Professor Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology and professor of Chemistry and Pharmacology at Yale.”

Both Crews and Shannon wanted the company located in the New Haven region and rejected offers to locate it in larger biotech communities.

Shannon said at Yale researcher the time, Crews: Building “we have a bio-tech by abundant “degrading” proteins. talent in Connecticut and there is great merit in keeping this close to Craig and Yale. There is no reason to leave the area.”

The announcement of the partnership with Merck comes only three months after the company put in place a new CEO, Manny Litchman, a former Senior Vice President of Novartis, where he managed some of the pharma giant’s innovative cancer and gene therapy programs.

A company release says Crews’ technology is “designed to get rid of unwanted proteins by triggering a cell’s natural clean-up system, marking targets for removal and letting the body’s degradation mechanisms do the rest.”

While most of us won’t understand the science, what we can understand is Crews’ track record.

Crews raised $18 million to found another company, Proteolix in 2003, which developed a drug now marketed as Kyprolis, which treats multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that forms tumors in bone. Crews’ research that led to the drug began in 1997 and by 2009, Proteolix was sold for more than $800 million to Onyx Pharmaceuticals.

Onyx was sold in 2013 to Amgen for $10.3 billion, a purchase made

by Amgen largely to get control of Kyprolis which received FDA approval a year earlier.

Kyprolis just received expanded FDA approvals, which promises to make the drug a cancer blockbuster, bringing Amgen as much as $2 billion per year. Survival rates reaching 65-70% for patients that had already had relapses after other treatments is what is driving

Cara Therapeutics Presents Research From Pain Drug Study Cara Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq:CARA), a Shelton based biotechnology company focused on developing and commercializing new chemical entities designed to alleviate pain and pruritus [itching], presented new data at conference for the Therapeutic Potential of Kappa Opioids, in Chapel Hill, NC on April 22 from Cara’s human abuse liability (HAL) study of I.V. CR845.

The drug is Cara’s “first-in-class peripherally-selective kappa opioid agonist,” which the company claims has a “low abuse potential”, while delivering “significant reductions in pain intensity.”

CR845 is currently in development for the treatment of acute and chronic pain and uremic pruritus. The company reports in over 400 subjects dosed to date, I.V. CR845 was found to be safe and well tolerated, without incurring the dysphoric [feeling unwell] and psychotomimetic [hallucinatory or psychotic] side effects that have been reported with other treatments. The company’s release added, “In a human abuse liability trial, I.V. CR845 showed statistically significant reductions in reports of feeling high.”

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the interest in the drug that Crews developed.

Litchman explained the potential for Arvinas’ technology, today, “The majority of protein-targeting therapeutics in the market or in development, work by either inhibiting or boosting their targets, whether via antibodies or smallmolecule chemicals.

But only about a quarter of the body’s CEO Litchman: More roughly deals to be made.

20,000 proteins can be effectively drugged that way. By attacking proteins from within their home cells, however, Arvinas’ technology can potentially open up new avenues of therapeutic development, exposing some long-untouchable targets to guided degradation.”

He added, “that potential was a major selling point for Merck.”

Arvinas did not license its whole portfolio to Merck, which has an option to expand its reach with additional agreements.

Litchman expects to get an oncology drug into initial trials in the middle of next year and will likely link some additional pharma partnerships, built on the credibility generated by the Merck deal.

By Mitchell Young

Yale Researchers Use Ebola Like Virus to Attack Tumors Brain tumors are notoriously difficult for most drugs to reach, but Yale researchers have found a promising but unlikely new ally against brain cancers — portions of a deadly virus similar to Ebola.

A virus containing proteins van den Pol: found in the Lassa virus Hunting tumors — like Ebola, a hemorrhagic with viruses fever virus found in some parts of Africa — passed through the formidable blood-brain barrier and destroyed brain tumors in mice, according to research released April 16 in the Journal of Virology.

“The chimeric virus turned out to be completely safe in animals and tended to specifically target cancer cells in the brain,” said Tony van den Pol, professor of neurosurgery at the Yale School of Medicine, researcher at the Yale Cancer Center.

Connecticut Bioscience Fund (CBIF) Awards Nearly $1 Million University of Connecticut Health Center (Robert Clark, M.D) has been awarded $454,813. Yale University (Dianqing Wu, Ph.D.) has been awarded $500,000. Dr. Clark’s project involves development of a multiple sclerosis (MS) bloodbased biomarkers test that “clearly distinguishes healthy individuals from those with MS.” A release from UCONN say’s “there is no single test that can make a definite diagnosis of MS.” Clark is working on the project in collaboration with Dr. Frank Nichols at University of Connecticut Health Center.

Dr. Wu’s project at Yale involves continued development of a targeted, antibody approach for colorectal cancer (CRC) treatment. CRC is the third most common cancer in developed countries with an estimated one million cases diagnosed each year and 500,000 deaths each year.

Medicaid: $45M State-Federal Disagreement On Payouts A $45 million hole in this year’s budget is the result of a disagreement between state and federal officials over how much the federal government should reimburse Connecticut for Medicaid spending for clients who became eligible under Obamacare.

Benjamin Barnes, the governor’s budget director, has said that the state’s budget deficit had grown by nearly $72 million to $133 million. More than half of that deficit growth came from $45 million in lowerthan-anticipated Medicaid payments.

The federal government pays Connecticut 50 cents for every dollar it spends on care for most Medicaid clients. But beginning in 2014, the reimbursement rate rose to 100 percent for poor adults without minor children who were newly eligible because of Obamacare.

Connecticut was the first state in the country to expand Medicaid as part of the health law, beginning the coverage expansion in 2010. The federal reimbursement rate for their care rose from 50 percent to 100 percent as of Jan. 1, 2014.

But what if one of those clients went to the hospital in 2013, but the state didn’t pay the bill until 2014?

Connecticut officials have asked the federal government to base the reimbursement percentage on the date care was paid for, rather than when the service occurred. That is, as long as the state paid the bill after the start of 2014, the federal government would pay the full cost, even if the care were delivered in the previous year. Federal officials have maintained that to qualify for the full reimbursement, the care must have taken place on or after Jan. 1, 2014.

By Ariellle Levin Becker, CTmirror.com

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MARKETING Onofrio: A Two Minute PR Drill Fran Onofrio, President of Mason Inc., a Public Relations firm in Bethany, weighed-in on what PR looks like today. Mason Inc. is a full-service communications services firm providing advertising consultation, public relations, digital and social media services, and media planning. Fran has years of experience including work with Aetna, Bigelow Tea, Bruegger’s Bagels, Emhart Black & Decker, Hospital for Special Care, Krispy Kreme, Travelers, United Illuminating and Yankee Gas. He is a recipient of the PRSA Mercury Award for the Connecticut Public Relations Practitioner of the Year, and in 2010, he was inducted into the PRSA College of Fellows.

Fran currently serves on the UConn Alumni Association Board of Directors.

BNH: What traditional strategies for PR still work?

FO: Working closely with the media to help get the word out on a client pro-

gram. As a PR practitioner, it’s also still one of the most rewarding parts of the business, to work with traditional media.

BNH: When do you decide social media is important for a client?

FO: Day 1. For message consistency and amplification of the message, social media and PR should go hand in hand. It encourages engagement with your audience, but it’s a bit different than just pushing messages out. You really have the opportunity to listen to and give and take with your stakeholders.

We’ve always integrated it, folded it in with public relations.

BNH: Any advice for companies who shy away from social media?

FO: We hear that less and less. A couple of years ago,

it was like “uh I don’t want to go near it,” but less so now. If you don’t want to tell your story, your competitors are going to tell their story. The field has changed and we work to be as integrated as possible with other disciplines like digital and social, and even paid social. We’ve put more resources to measurement and analytics because more clients want to see that we can track that activity and the impact it has.

BNH: How do you handle a client when they’re wrong or don’t want to listen?

FO: All we can do is counsel the client and advise them what we believe will work best based on our training and experience.

We also have faith that they know their business best.

However, if it is an ethical matter or crisis situation, there is little room for negotiation. Where there is smoke there is fire, and the truth always comes out.

The German Wings situation is a good example of that. We’ll go to the mat to make a client understand that their brand reputation and ultimately their business will be at stake, but we will not compromise our credibility as a firm or as public relations professionals. over and smells him saying she “loves the smell of bacon.”

Omelet of Bacon, Eggs and Protest Connecticut chickens produced 669 million eggs last year and now one famous nutmeg resident will help sell them. The American Egg Board is launching a print and online advertising campaign featuring Kevin Bacon, who lives part-time with his wife Kyra Sedgwick, in Sharon.

The online spot has Bacon lying on a kitchen counter when a woman leans 26

The tongue in cheek campaign dubbed “Wake Up To Eggs With Bacon” is produced by New York advertising agency Gray.

The timing couldn’t be better for the campaign as the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services and Agriculture’s new Dietary Guidelines for Americans says that eggs aren’t as big a factor in raising cholesterol as previously thought. According to the agencies, genetics are 85% of the cause of a person’s cholesterol level and diet only 15%.

A SOCIAL MEDIA BREAKDOWN: WHEN TO USE WHAT Fran says not all social channels are right for everybody, but there are plenty that are suited to business. He recommends conducting a social media analysis before embarking on a program and then periodically as a barometer to measure the program’s effectiveness.

Linked In: Is well suited for business-to-business communications.

If you provide a service to professionals, LinkedIn can be a great way to connect with employees of a customer or potential customers. Thought leaders can use Linked In to post articles and share opinions. It also offers powerful recruitment tools, so if you’re looking for new talent, LinkedIn is an effective resource.

YouTube: Great for business-tobusiness communications and business-to-consumer, YouTube videos are a powerful tool to tell your story and get your message out. Complex topics can be more easily presented through video. YouTube also is important for search engine optimization because videos consistently rank highly in search results.

Facebook: Facebook is an important venue for business to consumer communications, including paid social media content. Without paid social, you may not even be reaching your target audience.

Facebook helps you stay close to

A protest movement however, about the treatment of egg-laying hens appears to be hatching. Protestors in late February roosted in front of the egg section in a Whole Foods Supermarket near the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. The group, calling itself Direct Action Everywhere, or DxE, said protests [for better treatment of farm animals] were being staged across the world.

Good Deed, or Bad Seed?

Cambridge, Massachusetts based Monsanto [NYSE: MON], may have just learned the wisdom in the saying that no good deed goes unpunished, as its

your audiences. It gives business a mechanism to listen, share and build the brand personality.

Twitter: makes quick, effective communication easy, but it also allows a business the opportunity to understand what is trending and monitor for brand mentions. Because Twitter is searchable, business also can use it for research.

Instagram: Photo sharing is a great way for businesses to connect with consumers through the emotionally powerful use of photos and videos. It’s a nice way to build a quick brand identity and following, everyone can relate to pictures.

Pinterest: Another photo-sharing social media platform, can help your business showcase its products and services. It also can help drive traffic back to your website.

Research shows that Pinterest skews female and that most people use Pinterest to find “inspiration” for decorating, shopping, etc.

Google +: Google+ can help with a business’s overall search engine optimization, but Google + also offers brands the opportunity to engage with their followers in hangouts. Good for both business-to-business or business to consumer.

donation to a Connecticut non-profit is drawing sharp criticism.

The agrochemical and biotech company has gathered a legion of critics for its creation of products ranging from the herbicide Round Up to genetically modified (GMO) seeds.

Those controversies have spilled out onto the trails of the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center in Mystic (www.dpnc.org). The center received $5,000 from Monsanto to support its “Plants and Pollinators: Perfect Partners” school program, teaching about butterflies, bats, and bees.

According to the New London Day, 150 signatures were gathered on an anti-Monsanto petition. The Preserve’s board has decided not to apply for new funds from Monsanto and has created a policy of pre-approval of donor gifts.

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By Christine Stuart Connecticut was one of the first states to pass a Family and Medical Leave Act in the 1990s, and a coalition is hoping it maintains its edge by passing a bill to ensure that it’s paid leave.

Currently, most large employers offer some type of paid leave for employees who need to take care of a sick loved one, are sick themselves, or just had a baby, but at least 40 percent of the workplace is not even covered by the federal legislation championed by former U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd. The bill would give employees, including those making minimum wage, an option to contribute as little as a $1 per week to a trust fund that would provide them with their full salary for up to 12 weeks of leave.

Catherine Bailey, public policy director for the Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund, said even those who have access to unpaid leave are scared they will get fired if they take it or they simply can’t afford to take it.

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WHO’S WHAT WHERE overal responsibility for Connecticut. Madrak is a University of Connecticut graduate, and previously was vice president of consumer experience at health insurer WellPoint Inc., now Anthem Inc.

Emra

Andrew Bernstein of Cheshire has been named director of annual giving at Quinnipiac University.

Bernstein is responsible for overseeing the university’s direct mail, telemarketing, and crowd funding programs, as well as increasing membership in The President’s Council, the society of leadership donors who give a minimum of $1,000 annually to support Quinnipiac. Bernstein earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Quinnipiac and an MBA

Ion Bank has awarded their top annual customer service commendation to Anna Michael, Bank Teller located at the New Haven Road, Naugatuck branch.

The Bank’s SARF Award (Safety & Security, Accuracy, Responsiveness and Friendly, Personalized Service) is given every quarter to the employee who best exemplifies the Bank’s service standards.

Mrs. Michael has worked for Ion Bank for 6 years.

She volunteers at the Watertown Fall Festival and the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Waterbury, Sacred Heart University has named Douglas J. Manoni to its Board of Trustees. Manoni is chief executive officer of Source Media, a digital media company and provider research and marketing services for the financial services, health care and technology industries. .

He is a graduate of Sacred Heart University and received SHU’s Alumni Achievement Award in 2014.

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TD Bank has named Richard Bochicchio as Managing DirectorBusiness Development in Asset Based Lending.

Bochicchio has more than 30 years of experience originating and executing ABL and leveraged finance transactions. Prior to

TD Bank promoted Michelle L. Sullivan to Vice President, Small Business Relationship Manager in New Haven, Conn. Sullivan has 26 years of experience in retail banking and lending.

She joined TD Bank in 2004 as a Wealth Advisor (Retail Management, Private Banking) and most recently served as a Store Manager in Wethersfield.

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Nicole Lambusta, a human resources business partner at Quinnipiac University, was selected to serve on the Society for Human Resource Management’s standard-setting panel for the SHRM-Certified Professional (SHRMCPSM). Lambusta shared her expertise as the organization refined its exams for SHRM’s new certifications. Lambusta earned both a bachelor’s of science degree in marketing and an MBA from Quinnipiac.

Ineshia Proctor has been appointed Director of Customer Care for Comcast’s Western New England Region. Proctor is responsible for overseeing day-to-day operations of the company’s local regional call centers located in Enfield, Connecticut and South Burlington, Vermont.

In her last role, Proctor served as Customer Service Manager for Advanced Services based in Newark, Delaware for the company’s Freedom Region. Proctor attended the University of Maryland’s University College, where she earned a Bachelor of

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Jason Madrak, formerly chief marketing officer for Acces health CT, Connecticut’s health exchange, has been named vice president for Connecticut with

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joining TD Bank, he served as Head of ABL at Sterling National Bank in New York City. Bochicchio received an MBA from New York University and an undergraduate degree from State University of New York at Albany.

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John Emra has been elected to the board of directors of the Connecticut Business & Industry Association [CBIA]. He leads the company’s legislative, regulatory and community affairs activities in the state. Emra began his career at AT&T in September of 2001 and worked as its regional vice president for external and legislative affairs in Connecticut until becoming state president.

Emra holds a bachelors degree in political science from Southern Connecticut State University.

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Kara Williams, senior vice president, director internal audit at Webster Bank has been elected to the board of directors of The Cove Center for Grieving Children and Janel Crite, senior auditor at Webster Bank, has been elected to the board of directors of Girls on the Run of Greater New Haven. As a new board member, Williams, a certified public accountant, will promote the image and welfare of the organization through her leadership and participation in fundraising events. Crite will serve as the Girls on the Run chapter’s treasurer.

Four new members have been elected to the University of New Haven Board of Governors. They include Michael Ambrose ’84 of Trumbull, Conn.; Michael Gianoni ’92 EMBA of Sullivan’s Island, S.C.; Robert Manice of Dover, Mass.; and Rose Polidoro ’77 of New York, N.Y. Ambrose

is vice president of aircraft design and manufacturing engineering at Sikorsky Aircraft. Gianoni is president and chief executive officer of Blackbaud, a leading software and services company serving the worldwide philanthropic community. Manice spent 20 years in commercial real estate development and finance before pursuing his passion for art. He maintains a studio in Boston. Polidoro is founder and president of Rose Polidoro Enterprises, Inc., a marketing consulting company.

Mary Beth Nelsen has been appointed to The Bridgeport Regional Business Council’s Women’s Leadership Council (WLC). Mary Beth Nelsen is President of The Right Resource.

Connecticut Turnaround Management Association (CTTMA) announced the election of a new president, chairman, corporate secretary, two new vice presidents, and a new director. The new president

is David Weinstein, a senior vice president of Ares Management LLC, succeeding Phillip G. Kane, Jr., a vice president at Hartford-based U.S. Bank and a resident of Vernon, Conn., who becomes chairman. Mr. Weinstein, a Weston resident, had previously been the organization’s vice president for programing

Neuman Debra Neuman has been appointed Senior Vice President of Advancement at Mystic Aquarium. In her role, Neuman will be responsible for building and growing a comprehensive fundraising program and

growing individual major gifts programs in support of the mission programs at Mystic Aquarium. She will oversee the Mystic Aquarium team responsible for development, grant writing and major gifts. Debra is an alumna of Wesleyan University.

Abbate Insurance Associates has named Lisa IannottiMontz the new Vice President of Personal Lines. Montz joined the Abbate team in March of 2009, and prior to her role at Abbate, she was the Sales Director for William Raveis Real Estate in Shelton.

Dr. Richard Stahl has been appointed senior associate dean for strategic relationships at the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University. Stahl comes to Quinnipiac from the Yale New Haven Health System, where he most recently served as vice president for clinical services.

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TECHNOLOGY The Internet Is Making You Smarter – J/K [J/K = Just Kidding]

Fake News Costs Company $11.9 million In what may turn into a significant ruling affecting Internet promotion, the Federal Trade Commission [FTC] and the State of Connecticut were awarded a judgment of $11.9 million in early March by US District Court Judge Janet Hall.

LeadClick was a subsidiary of Corelogic (NYSE: CLGX), a $3.17 billion market cap company in Irvine California that was closed down in 2008.

Rally Bus founder Numaan Akram.

Hall ruled that the defendants, LeanSpa LLC, NutraSlim, LLC, and LeadClick Media were responsible for any deceptive or otherwise illegal acts and practices performed by affiliate marketers.

So you like the attention you get on “family movie night” when a quick trip to Wikipedia makes you seem so smart.

According to researchers at Yale, the operative word here appears to be seems.

In a recent edition of The Journal of Experimental Psychology, a Yale led study found that “if subjects received information through Internet searches, they rated their knowledge base as much greater than those who obtained the information through other methods.”

Nine different experiments and more than 1,000 participants were involved in the study.

“This was a very robust effect, replicated time and time again,” said Matthew Fisher, a fourth-year Ph.D. student and the lead author of the study. “People who search for information tend to conflate accessible knowledge with their own personal knowledge.”

In one experiment people searched online for a website that answers the question, “How does a zipper work?” The control group received the same answer that they would have found online, but without searching for it themselves. When later asked how well they understood completely unrelated domains of knowledge, those who searched the Internet rated their knowledge substantially greater than those who were only provided text. Prior to the experiment, no such difference existed.

“The cognitive effects of ‘being in search mode’ on the Internet may be so powerful that people still feel smarter even when their online searches reveal nothing,” said Frank Keil, the Charles C. and Dorathea S. Dilley Professor of Psychology and Linguistics and senior author of the paper.

Keil recalls being cut off from Internet access during a hurricane, and says, “I felt myself becoming stupider by the hour.” For the younger generation, the effect may be even more pronounced. “The cell phone is almost like the appendage of their brain,” he said.

“They don’t even realize it’s not real until they become unplugged.”

UNH STUDENT GETS EPA FELLOWSHIP Rebecca Andreucci, a biochemistry major at the University of New Haven, is among five New England students and 34 students nationwide studying environmental science and related fields earning a fellowship worth as much as $50,000.

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The affiliate companies all sold weight loss and “colon cleanse” products by marketing them on their own websites. LeadClick was hired to promote the products and it used what the plaintiffs said were fake news sites to build credibility for the products.

The sites listed claims of testing and analysis from “experts,” but the information on the sites was ruled to be fabricated and represented a “material misrepresentation by the companies.”

Senator Murphy Searches For Angels Among the “One Percenters” Connecticut’s Senator Chris Murphy may lean left, but he’s found some well heeled folks he’d like to give a tax break to.

Murphy has a proposal modeled after a Connecticut law to give Angel Investors a 25% tax break if they pony up $25,000 or more in a U.S. based start-up.

Explaining the proposal he said, “these industries give us the most bang for our buck.”

Connecticut Angel Investor law provides investors that invest $100,000 or more a 25% tax credit.

The Angel Resource Institute, a non-profit research organization, claim that angel investors together invested $1.65 billion in 2014.

Forbes Magazine reports that there are between 5-7.2 million people in the United States who are accredited investors. To be an accredited investor, (an SEC designation to protect investors and allow them to invest in certain equity investments) individuals must earn $200,000 or more in base salary or have a net worth of $1,000,000 or more.

Forbes adds “there is an estimated 756,000 angel investors in the U.S. who have made an angel investment or participated in a friends and family round of financing.”

The EPA’s Greater Research Opportunities fellowship program will provide Andreucci with a paid internship at an EPA facility working with scientists in her field of study. Andreucci, originally from Hamden, is an undergraduate entering her junior year.

Andreucci said, “Being an award winner means I can gain valuable work experience without having to settle

Rally Bus Hoping to Get Rolling – Faster

New Haven start-up, Rally Bus has chosen to hip up its act by hiring Catch New York to redesign the company’s brand, digital presence, mobile application, and web site.

Rally Bus is a “crowd powered” on demand travel company, that helps users organize charter bus opportunities for events.

A diverse group of investors recently funded the company with $1.25 million, investors include the Yale Innovation Fund [YEI], Connecticut’s venture arm Connecticut Innovations, First Niagara Bank, and angel investors.

Numaan Akram, founder and CEO of Rally Bus, said about the marketing hook-up, “Catch New York is helping us guide our rebrand, working closely with our team so we’re able to execute on many projects at once for streamlined customer engagement and smoother, more effective social media interaction for our riders.” Akram cut his teeth in 2010 with the event Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear hosted by comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert in Washington, DC. Akram wrote a software program to allow people to “self-organize” buses using existing charter bus providers, and a total of 5,000 people were transported to the event from around the country.

Today, the company claims more than 60,000 riders have used the service to get to sports, entertainment and cultural events in cities across the country.

for an unpaid internship or worry about costs of relocation.”

The fellowship provides up to $20,700 a year of academic support that includes both stipend and tuition support as well as $8,600 for an internship during the summer for a combined total of up to $50,000 over the life of the fellowship.

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