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JANUARY 2014

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THE BEST BUILDINGS Connecticut architects’ superlative work of 2013

Shubert Theater Sold to CAPA Deal will phase out city’s contribution over 10 years

By Michael C. Bingham NEW HAVEN — Ninety-nine years to the day after it first opened its doors to the public, the Shubert Theater was sold by the city to its private operator for $1.

On December 11, in the lobby of the “Birthplace of the Nation’s Greatest Hits,” outgoing New Haven

Mayor John DeStefano Jr. officially signed ownership of the College Street theater over to the Connecticut Association for the Performing Arts (CAPA), the non-profit organization that has operated the Shubert since 2001.

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BNH Roundtable

What’s in a (Brand) Name?

HOW NEW HAVEN SHOULD SELL ITSELF TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD

In the marketing profession the most talked-about concept of the last decade may be branding. What is your company’s/ product’s/state’s ‘brand,’ and how does it at once encapsulate your most attractive trait to potential customer(s) and differentiate you from your competitors? For years now some very smart people have sought to confront a key question: Does New Haven have a ‘brand’? And if not, what should it be? To address this question, BNH invited not members of the Elm City’s best-and-brightest community of marketing and PR professionals, but instead a group of what might be thought of as ‘disrupters’ — young, highly accomplished professionals whose paths to success have circumvented conventional notions of brand-building but whose reputations in one way or another remain inextricably linked to their home city’s. They included: Anne Haynes, former CEO of the Economic Development Corp. of New Haven and now a Sloan Fellow at MIT; Miles Lasater, co-founder and chairman of the New Haven financial-services firm Higher One and entrepreneur at large; Janna Wagner, co-founder of All Our Kin, a New Haven non-profit that provides community child care; Bruce Ditman, chief marketing officer of Marcum, a multi-state accounting and consulting firm; Pedro Soto, chief operating officer and executive vice president of Space-Craft Manufacturing Inc. in New Haven; and Erik Clemons, president and executive director of the Connecticut Center for Arts & Technology (ConnCAT), a Science Park-headquartered non-profit that provides post-secondary career training. What follows is an edited transcript of that conversation, which took place December 30 at downtown co-working space the Bourse. Editor Michael Bingham was tasked with keeping the conversation on track. Business New Haven publisher Mitchell Young charachteristically put his two sense in. *** Bingham: The genesis of this discussion came from a quote from mayorelect Toni Harp, who said that New JANUARY 2014

nicate well. After being away for a year not too far up the road near Boston, and recognizing what we got is everything that Kendall Square [in Cambridge, Mass.] wants. A lot of people that I brought down from the Boston area really couldn’t believe what they were seeing. I would say it doesn’t need a bigger brand — it needs a more visible and communicable brand.

Anne, if New Haven has a brand, what is it?

Haynes: It is a really complex brand to communicate. Other people have said it is a big town that feels like a small city.

But it is incredibly complex — a little bit of everything, all wrapped up in a package you can put your hands around.

Wagner: It’s a small city with everything that you want in a big city — as well as all the problems of a big city.

“Greatest Small City In the World.” #GSCIA Haven needed a ‘bigger brand.’ Let’s start by asking what that means to each of you.

Ditman: I agree we need immediate brand attention for New Haven. I don’t know if we need a bigger brand but I know we need a better brand — and a better understanding of what branding does, how one does it and implementing it globally.

Clemons: From my vantage point, New Haven is for lack of a better term a tale of two cities. In terms of branding New Haven needs to have one dream. There is a New Haven that is spawned from Yale

?

[whose residents] are dreamers, and there are those on the periphery of that who have dreams deferred. To the extent that we can have one dream for New Haven in terms of branding that would be good for me, and hopefully I captured what Mayor Harp was talking about.

Haynes: I would follow up on Erik’s comment. I think New Haven has a brand and that our problem is [presenting] that brand in a unified story as well as every little story that makes up New Haven makes up the larger. I think it is very typical of New England: New Englanders don’t self-promote and they don’t commu-

Ditman: That’s not branding; that’s the reality. Branding is the act of communicating what you wish [the subject of the brand] to be perceived as. We have all the realities, the good and the bad. What we are communicating is how we wish to be viewed by someone who is not here.

Lasater: The brand [New Haven has] actually now is probably not what we want it to be — and maybe that’s what the mayor-elect was trying to get at. I think what you’re pushing the conversation toward is: What do we want people to understand about our city?

Wagner : You know — ‘The Greatest Small City in America.’

Ditman: I love that.

Wagner: The Greatest Small City in America is aspirational, but it also includes people that I care about and work every day for. I think you’re right [about] the disconnect [between] what we have and who has access to it.

Haynes: Cities like Palo Alto [Calif.] could claim to be the best small city in America Continued on page 12

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Editorial

Op-Ed

CALENDAR School Choice: Reason for Optimism

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A United Way to Give

In early December, Yale School of Management (SOM) Professor Barry Nalebuff challenged his colleagues at Yale University to increase their giving to the United Way of Greater New Haven.

Rhodes scholar Nalebuff has published multiple management books on everything from business strategy to game theory over his 23-year career at Yale. He has been a leader at Yale and SOM on many initiatives.

states will enact schoolchoice reforms.

Education freedom doesn’t get much attention from the legacy media anymore.

A plausible reason for the news blackout: Choices are proliferating.

In 1998 Nalebuff founded Honest Tea with Harvard’s Seth Goldman. The pair built the company into a multi-million-dollar enterprise and what they called a “values-based business” characterized by generous philanthropy. In 2008 they sold Honest Tea to Coca-Cola, the company that helped finance its expansion.

Nalebuff’s academic and private-sector leadership place him in an ideal position to understand the role of employer- and employee-based support for local nonprofits. He heads the UW drive at SOM, and has agreed to personally match donations.

Yale University’s $1 million United Way goal already represents twenty percent of the United Way of Greater New Haven donations.

Nalebuff isn’t the first Yale person to challenge his colleagues to increase their United Way commitment. We credit John Pepper Jr., the former Procter & Gamble (P&G) chairman and former Yale Corporation member for jump-starting a more aggressive United Way campaign on campus, when he was VP of Finance and Adminstration at Yale from 2003 to the end of 2004.

P&G is well known as a major supporter of the United Way. The Cincinnati-based consumer-products giant has helped that region’s United Way chapter achieve a $60 million-plus goal in a metro area of 2.2 million.

Since 2002 Yale’s annual contribution has increased significantly from $400,000 to more than $1 million.

Nalebuff, however, has set the bar much higher, saying Yale could eventually raise as much as $5 million annually. He has invoked comparisons with Quinnipiac and the University of New Haven, which have greater faculty participation though far lower total contributions ($57,000 and $35,000, respectively).

By D. Dowd Muska

B

rutal cold, scant sunlight and dozens of legislatures are — or soon will be — back in session.

It’s January, and the case for despair is strong.

But let’s channel Pollyanna.

Meteorological winter is nearly half over, Daylight Saving Time arrives in eight weeks, and it’s likely that during the next several months, politicians in some

D. Dowd Muska (dowdmuska.com) of Broad Brook writes about government, economics and technology. Follow him on Twitter @dowdmuska.

In 1990, Milwaukee founded the nation’s first voucher program. Cleveland followed, five years later, and Arizona implemented an innovative tax-credit architecture in 1997. Progress elsewhere was slow, and discouraging. Unions spent big bucks to demonize choice.

School-board members cared more about administering their fiefdoms than launching bold experiments.

Press coverage was usually ignorant, and often biased.

But in 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that provided certain conditions are met, vouchers do not violate the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.

The preexisting enemies remained, and state constitutions posed barriers, but options began to blossom nonetheless. Choice plans targeted special-education students. Arizona-style tax

We thank Nalebuff for raising an important issue.

While the greater New Haven community generously supports many non-profits through monetary and volunteer efforts, we agree that the employee community could support the United Way far more significantly.

The culture of community fundraising efforts in large corporations is what allows communities like Cincinnati or Hartford to mount larger UW campaigns.

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In the 2012-13 school year, close to 250,000 kids benefited from choice programs. In addition to Milwaukee, Cleveland and D.C., vouchers are available in Indiana, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi.

In addition to Arizona, at least one type of tax credit is offered by Rhode Island, Iowa, Virginia, Florida, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Alabama, Indiana, Georgia, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and North Carolina.

The Goldwater Institute recently examined the Grand Canyon State’s threeyear-old Empowerment Scholarship Accounts.

“With a savings account,” wrote Jonathan Butcher, the think tank’s education director, “parents can choose from a wide variety of online classes, personal tutors, educational therapies, text-

books and private schools.

In fact, parents do not have to send their children to private school at all. They can use a combination of home school lessons, virtual school classes and individual public school classes.”

Initially, only special-needs children who attended government schools the previous year were granted access to education savings accounts. Eligibility has been expanded, Butcher explained, “to include children from public schools that earned a ‘D’ or ‘F’ on the state report card system, children adopted from Arizona’s foster care system [and] children of parents who are activeduty members of the U.S. military.” More than 20 percent of the state’s pupils can now participate in the program. And in anticipation of a favorable ruling by the Arizona Supreme Court, the Institute is working with State Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Glendale) to permit savings accounts for all lowincome households.

Continued on page 30

Vol XX, No.5 January 2014

Publisher Mitchell Young

Publisher’s Representative

But New Haven’s major “meds and eds” employers are different and do not have the command-and-control structure that can “incent” employees to give at comparable levels. What many see as heavy-handed corporate approaches produce great results for some United Way campaigns, but are not workable or desirable here.

Michael C. Bingham

Gina Gazvoda Robin Ungaro Gordon Weingarth

Art Director

Contributors

What does work in New Haven — and what Nalebuff has begun — is a discussion, education and inspiration to highlight the needs and available resources of greater New Haven.

Senior Publisher’s Representative

We urge the United Way, as well as the leaders of major area employers to see this as an organic opportunity to more vigorously communicate to their employees the importance of structured giving within their organizations. The value realized in building a cohesive community will be even greater than the dollars raised. BNH

credits were allowed for individuals and corporations making donations to scholarship funds. Even the horrid schools in Washington, D.C. were subjected to competition.

Editor

Terry Wells

Advertising Manager Mary W. Beard

Roberta Harris

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CITY GOVERNMENT

RETAIL

Bain Capital Buys Bob’s

Let’s Make a Deal City, 360 State Street meet in middle on property tax NEW HAVEN — After nearly three years of legal wrangling, the city of New Haven and the owners of 360 State Street have come to an agreement on the property tax assessment of the apartment building.

The assessment of 360 State Street at $82 million means that at full taxes and at New Haven’s current mill rate, MEPT will pay approximately $2.3 million in taxes per year. However, because taxes are phased in over five years for all new, large development projects, MEPT will not be paying full taxes on the property immediately.

According to city Corporation Counsel Victor A. Bolden, this settlement reflects “a compromise between a higher valuation desired by the city and a lower valuation desired by” the apartment building’s owner, the Multi-Employee Pension Trust (MEPT).

When it opened in 2010, the 32-story apartment building was the first largescale downtown development in decades.

The original city valuation of 360 State Street was for $186 million and was based on a “cost methodology,” or what it cost to build the project, devised by the city’s assessor at the time, William O’Brien.

MEPT argued that the $186 million valuation was too high and said its investment in the project was based on a $1.4 million annual tax estimate offered by the city when the project was still in the planning stages.

For the current 2014 fiscal year, MEPT will pay $988,449 in taxes. In the next fiscal year that sum will be $1,439,606 and will reach full taxes in fiscal year 2017.

The new agreed upon value is $82 million for tax years 2010 through 2015. Both sides agreed that a fairer approach for assessment of the property would be to calculate 360 State’s actual and potential revenue stream, the income approach, as opposed to the cost methodology and to do so consistently with similar properties in the 2011 citywide property revaluation.

James Perito of Halloran & Sage, LLP, outside counsel for the City, noted that, “the agreed upon valuation and settlement represents the efforts of all parties and removes for both sides the uncertainty of further litigation, while giving greater certainty for budget purposes.”

With 500 residential units, 360 State Street was the first large-scale downtown residential and mixed-use development to be built downtown in decades and resulted in New Haven’s downtown becoming one of the most densely populated downtowns in New England.

MANCHESTER — Bain Capital, cofounded by former Massachusetts governor and 2012 Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney, has signed an agreement to acquire a majority stake in Bob’s Discount Furniture, headquartered in Manchester.

Terms of the deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter, were not disclosed. Bob’s said the investment will help support its continued expansion. The privately held retailer operates 47 stores on the East Coast, including nine in Connecticut.

Bain acquires the stake held by former majority shareholder KarpReilly/ Apax.

Bain principal Tricia Patrick said in a statement that the Bob’s business model and brand “should drive sustainable growth for years to come.”

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TRANSPORTATION

CITY GOVERNMENT

Nemerson To Head Economic Development NEW HAVEN — Former Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce president Matthew Nemerson has been tapped by new Mayor Toni N. Harp to be the city’s new economic development administrator. He succeeds Kelly Murphy, who held the job for eight years in the administration of John DeStefano Jr. New Havener Nemerson most recently was president of the Connecticut Technology Council in East Hartford. Before taking the chamber job he was a founding vice president of the Science Park business incubator.

Nemerson backed Harp’s mayoral bid after ending his own City Hall campaign last June. The Woodbridge native is a graduate of Columbia and the Yale School of Management. He says he plans to make neighborhood development an early priority of the new administration.

Can’t Get There from Here Survey: State economy on roads to ruin Overcrowded highways and roads are the leading transportation concern for Connecticut businesses according to a survey released last month.

The 2013 Connecticut Transportation Survey found that business leaders ranked transportation third, behind economic development and education, for desired state government spending priorities.

More than half (55 percent) of survey respondents identified highway improvements and expansion as providing the most significant benefit to the state’s residents and businesses, followed by improving and expanding rail systems (20 percent).

The survey, the first major study of statewide transportation issues, was sponsored

by UIL Holdings Corp. and performed by the Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA), Stamford Chamber of Commerce, Connecticut Construction Industries Association and Motor Transport Association of Connecticut.

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• 64 percent believe better transportation options would increase their ability to attract and maintain highquality workers.

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“Connecticut’s economy will continue to stagnate unless we invest in improving connectivity both within the state and to the New York City and Boston metropolitan areas,” Torgerson said. “More and better transit options will support economic growth and improve quality of life.”

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“This survey measures the increasingly negative impact of the state’s outdated transportation infrastructure on the state’s residents, businesses and economic vitality,” said CBIA economist Peter Gioia, speaking at the December 12 Connecticut Transportation Summit in Stamford.

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James P. Torgerson, president and chief executive officer of UIL Holdings, called for improvements to the state’s beleaguered transit system.

Other key findings of the survey: • Nearly three-quarters (74 percent) support legislation prohibiting the use of Connecticut’s Special Transportation Fund to cover General Fund shortfalls.

• Almost three-quarters (72 percent) of respondents said recent increases in the state’s gas and diesel taxes impacted their businesses.

• Businesses overwhelmingly (88 percent of respondents) want operational lanes added to I-95.

• 15 have considered relocating their companies because of regional transportation concerns.

Stamford Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Jack Condlin noted that traffic volume on I-95 was more than three times the highway’s capacity of 50,000 daily vehicle trips.

“It’s no wonder that this highway structure is among the state’s — and even the country’s — worst and most unsafe,” Condlin said.

“This is a wakeup call to Connecticut’s political leadership,” said Michael J. Riley, president of the Motor Transport Association of Connecticut. “It’s time to stop postponing expansions and improvements and get this state moving again.”

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CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE

Branford, Guilford Chambers Merge Business groups say marriage a ‘shore’ thing First it was the Quinnipiac chamber merging into its larger Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce cousin.

Now it’s two shoreline chambers that are getting hitched.

Last month the Branford and Guilford chambers jointly announced that their respective boards of directors had approved a merger, to take effect January 1. The new entity will be known as the Shoreline Chamber of Commerce.

The business groups insist that the move is not driven by economic conditions — indeed, officials in both Branford and Guilford said their memberships were growing and both chambers are in “excellent” financial condition, according to a joint statement.

Instead, “This proactive move will allow members to double their audience, double their market and provide enhanced networking opportunities,” the statement said. “Members will be part to be a part of one of the larger non regional chambers in the state, meaning additional ‘voice’ as well as legislative presence.”

According to Branford chamber President Edward F. Lazarus, both offices will remain in their present locations “for about six months,” after which they will consolidate into a central office. He adds that the new group will retain a physical presence in both communities. “We have made a promise to ensure the ‘integrity’ of each community,” he says.

MANUFACTURING

Laticrete Acquires Omaha Chemical Maker \BETHANY — Laticrete International Inc. has acquired Omaha, Neb.-based manufacturer L&M Construction Chemicals Inc. (L&M).

L&M produces concrete construction chemicals including coatings, sealers, construction grouts, patch and repair mortars, as well as color hardeners for polished concrete.

“This combination strengthens Laticrete and the L&M brands alike,” said Laticrete Chairman and CEO David A. Rothberg in a statement. “Through this acquisition,

L&M’s brand portfolio will gain access to Laticrete’s manufacturing capabilities, sales representation, marketing and support services. Laticrete customers in turn will enjoy access to some of the most innovative decorative and restoration products on the market.”

Family-owned Laticrete is a worldwide manufacturer and marketer of residential, commercial and industrial construction products. Over the last two years the company has expanded its restoration and decorative product line through acquisitions, including the 2011 buyout of Drytek

Flooring Solutions, LLC and creation of the Laticrete Supercap, LLC joint venture.

Also family-owned, L&M manufactures and sells concrete construction chemicals. L&M’s product lines will continue to carry the L&M name under the Laticrete corporate brand identity, and the company’s manufacturing and sales functions will remain in Omaha. Completion of the acquisition is expected to take three months. Integration of manufacturing, sales and service functions will continue throughout 2014.

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To help members of both groups get better acquainted, the newly merged Shoreline chamber has scheduled its first joint Business After Hours networking event. It will take place from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. January 28 at Page Hardware & Appliance, 9 Boston Street, Guilford. Admission to the event is $15 for members in advance, $20 for non-members. In order that Branford not feel left out, the business group has scheduled a “Men in Business Program: Charm School for Mavericks” for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

January 22 at Southport Brewing Co., 850 West Main Street, Branford. The session will be led by attorney Kay Wilson, a member of the National Speakers Association. Admission is $15 for members in advance, $20 for non-members.

Call 203-488-5500 for information or to register for either event.

JANUARY 2014

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PHILANTHROPY

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SOM Prof Files Discrimination Suit NEW HAVEN — A Yale School of Management (SOM) professor has filed a lawsuit against Yale University and three SOM faculty members alleging gender and age discrimination.

Constance E. Bagley, a professor in the practice of law and management at SOM, alleges in the suit that she was not reappointed to her professorship in May 2012 because of her gender and age. Bagley also asserts that while co-teaching the course “State and Society” with SOM Professor Douglas W. Rae, she was subjected to repeated acts of discrimination on the part of her male peer.

professorship, during which three separate committees were convened to examine the process through which she was not reappointed.

“I did this as a last resort,” Bagley told the Yale Daily News.

Snyder, Metrick and Rae have all declined to comment on the lawsuit.

The suit filed by Bagley against Yale University, SOM Dean Edward Snyder, SOM Deputy Dean Andrew Metrick and Rae lists 18 counts of discrimination.

The action seeks monetary damages for Bagley and asks the court to enjoin Yale to cease gender and age discrimination.

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“A culture exists within Yale in which strong, assertive and professionally accomplished women who are not stereotypically female in their appearance, behavior and attitudes are viewed negatively because they do not meet certain gender expectations by the dominant male leadership,” the suit alleges.

The suit comes following more than a year and a half of efforts by Bagley to overturn the decision not to renew her

SHUBERT Continued from page 1

Since then CAPA has operated the Shubert on a year-to-year lease, while the city of New Haven maintained financial responsibility for the building’s capital repairs and improvements. For managing and operating the theater the city paid CAPA a $250,000 annual management fee.

However, the last major renovation of the nearly-century-old Shubert took place in the early 1980s, and since then many of the building’s vital systems have become in need of repair, replacement and/or updating. This include the HVAC system, exterior masonry and the exterior fire escape.

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S T A M F O R D

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The agreement relieves the city of financial responsibility to maintain the building — over time. Over ten the city’s annual contribution to the theater will decline until it terminates in 2024. This arrangement is expected to save the city approximately $5.5 million over this span.

Constance Bagley. (Image from SOM Faculty Directory.)

To pick up the slack, the $11 million project is fueled by $4 million from the state, $2.5 million from city coffers and the launch of a $4 million Shubert Centennial Plan by establishing an endowment for continued financial sustainability of the theater.

The Centennial Plan envisions updates and renovations including backstage, back of house, orchestra shell and an additional performance space. City and CAPA officials such improvement could make possible an additional 95 to 180 event days, attracting 35,000 to 50,000 patrons downtown and generating en economic impact in excess of $6 million.

According to a study by Quinnipiac University, the Shubert presently generates close to $5 million in annual ticket revenues and is responsible for some $20 million in economic impact for the city.

“Places like [the Shubert] are important for maintaining a sense of who we are,” DeStefano said. “It’s so much better that this be owned by the community than by city government.”

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ENVIRONMENT

Waste Haven No More Settlement reached over illegal sewage discharges WEST HAVEN — A settlement involving federal and state regulators and the city of West Haven will reduce illegal discharges of raw sewage into the environment from the city’s wastewater collection system.

Announced December 19, the agreement is between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Justice, the state’s Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP), the state Attorney General’s office and the city of West Haven.

Under terms of the settlement, West Haven will reduce illegal raw sewage overflows from its wastewater-collection system, which previously has been discharged to area waterways including New Haven Harbor and Long Island Sound, in violation of the federal Clean Water Act. The city will also pay a fine of $125,000, to be split equally between the federal and state governments.

“By taking strong steps to eliminate raw sewage that is being discharged into rivers and streams that flow into New Haven Harbor and Long Island Sound, we are both cleaning the environment and enhancing the recreation opportunities in these areas,” said Curt Spalding, regional administrator of EPA’s New England office. “It is encouraging that the city agreed to quickly settle this case and move ahead with the important work of remedying the problems in their wastewater collection system that have contributed to these untreated discharges.”

Added U.S. Attorney Deirdre M. Daly: “The agreed-upon remediation measures will in particular benefit minority and low-income neighborhoods where many of the sewage overflows occurred. West Haven’s corrective steps should help to prevent future overflows in these residential areas and make recreation in local waterways safer for residents.”

In addition to reducing illegal raw sewage overflows, West Haven has pledged to implement an “operations and maintenance” program and a long-term preventative maintenance program to ensure the city’s sanitary collection system remains properly functioning. The city must also implement a program to reduce the amount of fats, oils and grease that enter the collection system from restaurants.

EPA investigations found that West Haven reported over 300 discharges of sewage from its collection system between January 2007 and June 2011.

JANUARY 2014

SMALL BUSINESS

SBA Seeks Top Small Businesses Are you a small business owner with an impressive success story to tell? If so, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) wants to know about it.

Nominations are currently being accepted for the 2014 National Small Business Week Awards. The SBA is accepting nominations online at http://nationalsmallbusinessweek.sba.gov/.

For more than 50 years, National Small Business Week has recognized the outstanding achievements of America’s small businesses for their contributions in their local communities, and to the nation’s

economy. Winners will be announced during National Small Business Week May 12-16.

• Federal Procurement Award: Dwight D. Eisenhower Award for Excellence

Award categories include:

• Small Business Development Center Excellence & Innovation

• Small Businessperson of the Year

• 8(a) Graduate of the Year

• Small Business Exporter of the Year

• Veterans Business Outreach Center Excellence in Service Award

• Phoenix Award for Small Business Disaster Recovery

• Women’s Business Center of Excellence Award

• Phoenix Award for Outstanding Contributions to Disaster Recovery

All nominations must be submitted online, postmarked or hand delivered to the SBA no later than 11:59 p.m. EST on January 17.

• Federal Procurement Award… Small Business Prime Contractor of the Year • Federal Procurement Award: Small Business Subcontractor of the Year

To learn more visit nationalsmallbusinessweek.sba.gov/.

& Business New Haven Business & Civic Awards

Businessperson of the Year Corporate Citizen Citizen Innovator Small Businessperson Minority Businessperson Founder Legacy Nominations Still Open Some Sponsorships Still Available

2013-14

February, 2014

for more information, nominations www.conntact.com/awards2014

For more information 203-781-3480 x104

www.conntact.com/awards2014

9

Priced For 2009!

Congratulations Priced For 2009!

8% Cap sale/lease back opportunity 2,000SF on w/ OHD a Lt. Industrial building. $1,375/month + utils.

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Marine Storage 900SF – 7,600SF @ $8.40/SF + utils Call Kristin Geenty, SIOR kris@geentygroup.com

To 2013 New Haven CID Award Foxwoods Revenue Decline BRANFORD HADDAM CLINTON Winners and to All the CID EAST MILFORD Members for Helping to Make Branford for Under All Market Of Us North Branford – 10,000 SF with this A Great Year Lt. Industrial space. heavy20,000 power –SF400amps/ New77,000 HavenSF– of Retail / Shop Space Light 3 phase.

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Only $2.95/SF. Call Kevin C.Geenty, SIOR kevin@geentygroup.com

NEW HAVEN Call Bill Clark bill@geentygroup.com North Branford – 10,000 SF with heavy power – 400amps/ 3 phase. $5.75 /SF Call Kevin C. Geenty, SIOR kevin@geentygroup.com

Milford – 4,000/SF Free standing building with 1 – 14’ x 14’ OHD & 3 – 12’ x 14’ OHD $2,975 + utils.

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MILFORD

EAST HADDAM

Independent-Minded?

Um, No

In a ranking compiled last year by the National Journal, senior U.S. Sen. Richard MASHANTUCKET — A first-ever report Blumenthal tied with Tom Udall (D-N.M.) detailing the finances of Foxwoods Resort atop the list of the Senate’s most liberal Casino illustrates a three-year overall revBRANFORD CLINTON MILFORD members, a list that includes Democratic enue decline at the gambling report.

Sens.

Dick Durbin of Illinois, Franken All spaces have central air, Milford – 4,000/SF FreeAlstanding 14’ ceilings, 3 phase power.

The December 30 report, prepared by of Minnesota and Patty Murray of building withLight 1 – 14’ x 14’ OHD East Haddam Industrial • 4,000SF w/dock & OHD the accounting firm of Deloitte & Touche, Washington. (Junior Sen. Christopher $3,000/month + utils. & 3been –ceilings, 12’ x 14’ OHD 14,000SF w/35’ radiant heat, tracks a decline in Foxwoods revenues Murphy had in the Senate only a Only power $2.95/SF. $5.75 /SF Industrial Building • 2,000SF w/ OHD 3 phase $2,975 + utils. from $1.2 billion in 2011, to $1.14 billion in month when the publication released its 6 oversized DI doors, 800 amps, $1,375/month + utils.

Call Kevin C.Geenty, Call Kevin C.billion Geenty, SIOR2013, which 5,000SF $3,500/month +SIOR utils.

2 OHD, Delivery truckfordock Looking Forward to@A Prosperous 2014 for All, 2012, to $1.04 fiscal study,power, so he was notBill ranked.)

Call Clark • 2,000SFw/ 12’ x 12’ OHD 3 phase clear span, new in 2004!

Branford Investment Opportunity Lt. Assembly / Manufacture kevin@geentygroup.com kevin@geentygroup.com Call Strattonfor Call Kristin Geenty, $1,675/month + utils.

Offer Special Thanks toBarry Our Clients Making ended September 30.SIOR Revenue declined 8% Cap sale/lease backWe opportunity Marine Storage2013 bill@geentygroup.com Notwithstanding contrarian Call Kevin C.a handful Geenty,ofSIOR Haddam Light Industrial on a Lt. Industrial building.

Milford – 4,000/SF Free standing 900SF – 7,600SF @ $8.40/SF +East utils across all lines: gaming, food and beverage barry@geentygroup.com kris@geentygroup.com A Wonderful Succesful Year. / Shop Space 20,000 SFand Light Call Bill Clark der Market votes, Blumenthal and Murphy almost Call Barry Stratton North Branford – 10,000 SF with Call Kristin Geenty, SIOR kevin@geentygroup.com 14,000SF w/35’ ceilings, radiant heat, bill@geentygroup.com sales, hotel stays, retail and entertainment. building with 1 – 14’ x 14’ OHD kris@geentygroup.com always voted with their party.

The analywer Industrial Building ndustrialbarry@geentygroup.com space. heavy power – 400amps/ 3 phase.

Gaming revenue 6 oversized doors, amps,accounted for 81 percent & 3DI – 12’ x 14’800 OHD sis of their 2013 votes shows Blumenthal month 2 OHD, Delivery truck dock 95/SF.+ utils. $5.75 BRANFORD /SF of total new gross CLINTON MILFORD 3 phase power, clear span, inrevenue 2004! in fiscal 2013, which $2,975 + utils.

NEW HAVEN EAST HADDAM voting with fellow Democrats and the CLINTON atton Call SIOR eenty, SIOR is comparable to the previous two years.

CallKristin Kevin Geenty, C. Geenty, SIOR Call KevinCall C. Geenty, SIOR Democratic leadership 99 percent of the Bill Clark Net income for fiscal 2013 was $42.6 miloup.com kris@geentygroup.com group.com kevin@geentygroup.com time, and that Murphy was loyal to his kevin@geentygroup.com All spaces have$50.4 central air,in 2012 and bill@geentygroup.com lion, down from million party in 98 percent of his votes. The aver14’ ceilings, $52.9 million 3 in phase 2011. power. age in the Senate, whose members typically Foxwoods released plan to reorganize show more independence than lawmakers • 4,000SF w/dock & aOHD ORD CLINTON MILFORD its debt last July 1, when it exchanged $2.2 in the House, was 90 percent.

East Haddam Light Industrial $3,000/month + utils.

New Haven – Retail / Shop Space 20,000 SF Light billion in outstanding debt for new instru14,000SF w/35’ ceilings, radiant heat, 3 phase power Industrial Building 6 oversized DI doors, 800 amps, Expect much more… 3 phase ments valued at $1.7 billion.

5,000SF @ $3,500/month + utils.

2 OHD, Delivery truck dock power, clear span, new in 2004!

ORD EN

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The Geenty Gro Once Again Co

The GEENTY GROUP, Realtors

All have Callspaces Kristin Geenty, SIORcentral air, Call Kevin C. Geenty, SIOR kris@geentygroup.com 1-203-488-1005 • www.geentygroup.com 14’ ceilings, 3 phase power. kevin@geentygroup.com

•

Call Barry Stratton barry@geentygroup.com

2,000SF w/ OHD The tribe’s “substantial $1,375/month + utils. indebtedness” could significantly impact Foxwoods

• 4,000SF w/dock & OHD operations 12’ in the faceOHD of greater competiThank our Th military personnel • 2,000SFw/ x 12’ Branford Investment e GEENTY GROUP, RealtorsOpportunity $3,000/month + utils. tion, unfavorable conditions in the gaming for their service to our country, Expect much more… $1,675/month + utils.

8% •Cap sale/lease back opportunity industry, and a down economy, according www.geentygroup.com whenever1-203-488-1005 we see them.

• 2,000SF on w/ OHD to the report. a Lt. Industrial building.

Call Bill Clark $1,375/month + utils.

Call Barry Stratton bill@geentygroup.com barry@geentygroup.com • 2,000SFw/ 12’ x 12’ OHD ent Opportunity Lt. Assembly / Manufacture Settling for Sum They $1,675/month + utils. • CONSTRUCTION DESIGN BUILDERS • GENERAL CONTRACTORS MANAGERS Marine BRANFORD BRANFORD MILFORD back opportunity Storage Can’t Pay+ utils rial building.

900SF – 7,600SF @ $8.40/SF NEW HAVEN Call Bill Clark CLINTON Stratton Call Kristin Geenty, SIOR bill@geentygroup.com group.com kris@geentygroup.com BRANFORD — Three Branford companies

AVEN

Congratul

The GEENTY GROUP, Realtors

Priced For 2009!

Congratulations

2013 New Haven CID Award Winners and to All the CID EAST HADDAM CLINTON Members for Helping to Make this A Great Year for All Of Us

Branford Under Market 77,000 SF of Lt. Industrial space.

Only $2.95/SF. Call Kevin C.Geenty, SIOR kevin@geentygroup.com

BRANFORD

North Branford – 10,000 SF with heavy power – 400amps/ 3 phase. $5.75 /SF Call Kevin C. Geenty, SIOR kevin@geentygroup.com

Milford – 4,000/SF Free standing building with 1 – 14’ x 14’ OHD & 3 – 12’ x 14’ OHD $2,975 + utils.

Call Bill Clark bill@geentygroup.com

MILFORD

CLINTON

All spaces have central air, 14’ ceilings, 3 phase power.

have agreed to a settlement that calls for them to pay nearly $33 million in penalties for alleged deceptive and unfair Internet marketing and sales tactics, state officials announced.

LeanSpa LLC, NutraSlim LLC and NutraSlim UK Ltd. and their owner, Boris Mizhen, of Guilford were accused of using fake news websites and testimonials to 20,000 SFother Light market diet and supplements; promisedIndustrial free trials but charged customers’ Building cards; and failed to provide 2credit OHD, Delivery truck dock promised refunds.

New Haven – Retail / Shop Space 3 phase power Looking •Forward to A Prosperous 2014 for All, 2,000SF w/ OHD @ $3,500/month + utils.

5,000SF $1,375/month + utils.

We Offer Special Thanks to Barry Our Clients for Making 2013 Call Stratton Call Kristin Geenty, SIOR • 2,000SFw/ 12’ x 12’ OHD Branford Investment Opportunity Lt. Assembly / Manufacture East Haddam Light Industrial A Wonderful and Succesful Year.

The companies marketed weight-loss $1,675/month + utils. barry@geentygroup.com kris@geentygroup.com 8% Cap sale/lease back opportunity ail / Shop Space 20,000 SF Light Marine Storage colon-cleanse 14,000SF w/35’and ceilings, radiant products heat, that included on a Lt. Industrial building.

900SF – 7,600SF @ $8.40/SF + utils Call Bill Clark power Industrial Building Call Barry Stratton Call Kristin Geenty, SIOR LeanSpa, NutraSlim, QuickDetox and 6 oversized DI doors, 800 amps, bill@geentygroup.com kris@geentygroup.com meeting the 0/month + barry@geentygroup.com utils.

2 OHD, Delivery truckPDS dockhas been SlimFuel.

3 phase power, clear span, new in 2004! needs of the construction Stratton Call Kristin Geenty, SIOR However, theSIOR judgment will be suspended Call Kevin C. Geenty, NEW HAVEN EAST HADDAM CLINTON group.com kris@geentygroup.com industry since 1965. because the companies and Mizhen don’t kevin@geentygroup.com •

4,000SF w/dock & OHD $3,000/month + utils.

William N

No Place Like Home NEW HAVEN — For the third quarter in Lt. Assembly / Manufacture a row, greater New Haven reported the Marine Storage lowest apartment vacancy rate among 79 900SF – 7,600SF @ $8.40/SF + utils metropolitan areas tracked by the realestate research firm Reis Inc. At the Call Kristin Geenty, SIORend of calendar 2013, New Haven’s apartment kris@geentygroup.com vacancy rate stood at 2.2 percent, down 0.4 percent from 12 months earlier. For the same period, average apartment rent in the market rose 2.5 percent, to $1,154.

EAST HADDAM

For the same three-month period, the average apartment vacancy rate nationwide was 4.1 percent, according to Reis. The U.S. average rent during the same period was $1,083, an increase of 0.8 percent.

City Firms Fined $750K NEW HAVEN — Three New Haven comEast Light Industrial panies andHaddam their operator must pay nearly $750,000 in civil penalties under a recent 14,000SF w/35’ ceilings, radiant heat, court order for violating the state’s hazard6 oversized DI doors, 800 amps, ous waste and air pollution control laws and 3regulations. phase power, clear span, new in 2004!

Call Kevin C. Geenty, SIOR

Suraci Inc., Suraci Metal Finishing, LLC, kevin@geentygroup.com Suraci Paint & Powder Coating, LLC and Bruno F. Suraci Jr. operate metal-finishing businesses at two locations in New Haven, including a facility on River Street adjacent to the Quinnipiac River.

The GEENTY GROUP, Realtors

Our dedicated team of

Hamden, CT Total Project Size: 21,000 Square Feet

The state alleged that the businesses proExpect much more… duced hazardous waste and that the defen1-203-488-1005 • www.geentygroup.com dants failed to comply with laws regulating

design and construction

professionals welcomes The GEENTY GROUP, Realtors the challenge of serving

This project was a 21,000 square foot renovation which includes a new showroom, service bay for 10Haven vehicles, ofces.

New – Retailbathrooms, / Shop Space waiting area and 20,000 SF Light 3 phase power Industrialand Building Construction included new high-end nishes 5,000SF @ $3,500/month + utils.

2 OHD, Delivery extensive mechanical, electrical and plumbing. truck dock

East Haddam Light Industrial Expect much more…

14,000SF ceilings, radiant heat, its past and w/35’ future 6 oversized DI doors, 800 amps, 1-203-488-1005 • www.geentygroup.com 3 phase power, clear span,most new in 2004! customers on their Call Barry Stratton Call Kristin Geenty, SIOR

barry@geentygroup.com

kris@geentygroup.com

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kevin@geentygroup.com demanding projects.

Thank our Th military personnel e GEENTY GROUP, Realtors for their service to our country, Expect much more…

• www.geentygroup.com whenever1-203-488-1005 we see them.

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10

have the ability to pay it, according to Attorney General George Jepsen and state Department of Consumer Protection Commissioner William M. Rubenstein.

Instead, a court-appointed receiver would sell real estate and other assets belonging to Mizhen and his wife, Angelina Strano.

Those liquidations could yield as much as $7 million, which would be used to compensate customers.

that waste, thereby exposing employees, the public and the environment to serious risks. The complaint alleged multiple violations, including improper storage and labeling, lack of proper state and federal permits, failure to conduct inspections, failure to separate incompatible waste materials and lack of proper employee training and certification. It did not allege that companies dumped or spilled any pollutants into the environment.

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11

NEW HAVEN Continued from page 3

because of the wealth, and things going on. But they have the reality of what cities face. It is an advantage to have the diversity we have.

Soto: The dig against New Haven has always been it is a small city with big-city problems. I think that turning that on its head is what we all hope the reality should be — that we’re a small city that fights above our weight class.

Haynes: That’s nice.

Soto: When you compare who we compete against, when Alexion [Pharmaceuticals relocates to] downtown or Higher One decides to stay here, their options are not ­just another regional cities, but you’re talking about Cambridge or San Francisco. You’re talking about moving up to a whole different place, moving to another similar-sized city. That is where New Haven has a lot of potential.

Young: Before we started Business New Haven in 1993 we interviewed 100 CEOs to ask their opinions about what we were trying to do. One of things we heard was that using ‘New Haven’ in the name of the publication was a terrible idea because the city’s brand had been damaged so badly. Jenna’s idea is indeed aspirational.

‘The Greatest Small City in America’ is a big brand. It is important to be able to live up to your brand or you set yourself up for a fall. Can New Haven live up to the Greatest Small City in America?

Clemons: To Bruce’s point it is [valuing] every individual. And I know it because I am the manifestation of it — that everyone has the opportunity to be great in New Haven. That is the charm.

[Several at once]: Yes, absolutely.

Clemons: We all have to believe in the idea we can be better, so how do you articulate that? And how do you create an environment where people actually

believe it? The people we deal with have to own that and they have to trust you.

We have to make a model [in which people believe] that things can work for you if you work for it.

Ditman: Well said. We have an incredibly engaged population in the city who are willing to put their names and their faces on the line for a cause. Look around the room. Not to pat us on the backs, but that is one of the very special things about our city. Couple that with access, you’re never far from the mayor’s office. I don’t have a personal relationship with the mayor [John DeStefano Jr. at the time of this conversation] but I never thought there is no way I can’t get all the way to City Hall. You have people who are willing to make mistakes and take risks, and government that does offer real access.

That is what makes us great. Not that we have achieved greatness. It’s not a list of lowest crime or highest per-capita income. We’re saying we have an environment for success.

Lasater: I think [New Haven has] a sense of authenticity of civic pride and engagement. For me as an entrepreneur I am very proud of the [city’s] history of innovation and Yankee ingenuity.

Bingham: What’s the difference between a brand and a slogan? One of the most famous is ‘Virginia Is for Lovers.’ That’s a slogan, not a brand. It doesn’t mean you can’t live in Virginia unless you’re a lover.

Ditman: You use your slogan to drive your brand. Does [Virginia’s slogan] mean that only lovers can go there, not that it is a vacation destination that’s romantic and beautiful? That’s the brand that they’re going for, that this is a vacation destination. It doesn’t say Virginia is for entrepreneurs, or for biotech — they’re not necessarily mutually exclusive but your slogan will drives your brand. Right now one of [New Haven’s marketing] slogans is ‘Make It Happen Here.’ That’s suggesting that our overall brand is an unfinished product — like,

Lasater: ‘For me as an entrepreneur, I am very proud of the [city’s] history of innovation and Yankee ingenuity.

‘Hey, guys, let’s make it happen here!’

That’s not the message I want to send to New York. To me, that’s not a dynamic message. I looked at Portland, Me. [Its slogan is] ‘Yes — Life’s Easier Here.’

That’s their slogan, but obviously that’s their brand — [that] life will be more pleasurable.

Lasater: Assuming you like snow shovels.

Ditman: That’s exactly the point — assuming you like one month of sunshine a year. It doesn’t say, ‘If you check our data you’ll learn life is in fact easier here.’

It’s a good directional model, but they don’t have what we have.

Haynes: I love Portland, Me., but I wonder if everyone there agrees it’s easier to live there.

Ditman: They certainly don’t.

Haynes: Back to Erik’s point, there has to be a way — I don’t like the word ‘slogan’ per se — that whatever is being messaged is nuanced enough that everyone can own it.

Lasater: I like Connecticut’s new [tourism] slogan: ‘Still Revolutionary.’ It does try to get to the sense we have a real history here, but it’s not done — we’re continuing forward.

Haynes: The ‘revolutionary’ part doesn’t bother me; it’s the ‘still’ part that bothers me. It implies that’s we’re doing the same thing we’ve been doing.

Soto: You can interpret it two different ways — ‘We’re still relevant, please.’

Clemons: ‘We have to understand the stories of folks who have lived in New Haven for decades [but who have] been voiceless while New Haven has moved forward.’

12

Haynes: I’m not the messaging person, but it hits sort of the same dead note that Connecticut tends to do. It almost plays too many themes. I was working with the state when they were in the process of coming out with different ideas [for the ‘Still Revolutionary’ tourism marketing campaign]. [They were] complex talks [about featuring] everything from these little towns to this innovation center of New Haven.

Young: If the TV commercials showed somebody walking into the Whitfield

Wagner: ‘That’s the story that I tell: If you see something that you don’t like [in New Haven], you can change it. If you want to start something, you can start it.’

House in Guilford and walk out of the Connecticut Science Center, or walk into a home in the Northwest Hills and walk out onto Chapel Street, you would have a better sense of what they mean by ‘Still Revolutionary.’ It’s like they were afraid to execute that because of all the criticism that got.

Ditman: So if we were to call this the Greatest Small City in America, what would be the conversation be about?

Clemons: I think we have to understand the stories of folks who have lived in New Haven for decades [but who have] been voiceless while New Haven has moved forward and is being branded as such.

There is a whole group of folks who don’t think that way because of their experiences, so how do we in a unifying way collect their stories and hear from them?

I love New Haven because I believe there are holes in New Haven that filled by people like me. [But] there are a lot of folks from New Haven who don’t believe that because they are from New Haven.

How do we have that conversation?

Haynes: We can have a unified message that says, ‘This Is My City.’ Everybody’s [notion of] city might be slightly different, but everybody feels like they can call it ‘my city.’ It doesn’t have to say this is the best city, although I actually do think it is the best small city in America.

Bingham: What are some examples of a successful ‘place’ brand — whether it’s organic, like Jerusalem as the Holy City, or a tourism brand like ‘Virginia Is for Lovers?’

Lasater: I would say Brooklyn.

Soto: I was going to say Brooklyn.

Ditman: Brooklyn has the best brand in America.

Bingham: And that brand is…?

Soto: Brooklyn­is just on the leading edge, on the forefront, of absolutely every single trend in the United States.

WWW.CONNTACT.COM

can flip it around because we do have a place where people are wiling to pitch in and make it better. We can look at the formation of new non-profits and civic organizations in New Haven and it’s off the charts. I think there are two sides to that coin.

Young: I don’t think talking about restaurants or arts is really big enough. That’s why I do like ‘Greatest Small City In America’ because New Haven needs a big change.

For Ditman, the answer is a piece of cake: ‘The Greatest Small City in America.’

Haynes: Including negative things like gentrification.

Ditman: I think their brand is hip and exciting, and fashionable and historic.

[Another example is] Portland, Ore. They don’t need a slogan at all; everyone wants to be in Portland. From modern city design to bicycle and pedestrian routes and organic foods — they’ve had to do almost nothing but give people the experience.

Haynes: I think that goes back to places that are most successful. They don’t need a slogan but they have a user experience that people can feel and know what it is.

Wagner: But these are all places where we might want to live. They are all the same kinds of places — brands that are similarly young, high-tech, progressive, people who like bikes and are white, who have money.

Young: What is New Haven’ core competency?

Clemons: I think it is at this table. We are very diverse in what we do for a living and who we are, but we can sit at this table as successful people and talk about this incredible city all together and try

Soto: ‘The dig against New Haven has always been it is a small city with bigcity problems. [But] we’re a small city that fights above our weight class.’

JANUARY 2014

to brand it. The idea of bringing together this intellectual capital to talk about this city in our different experiences, that to me is the charm of this city.

Lasater: If you look outside of the city and ask what we’re known for being good at, it’s higher education and architecture and some food categories. Not only pizza.

Ditman: The city will be successful in branding New Haven when we can control what someone says when they hear the words ‘New Haven.’ Whether that person is a banker or a parent or a fiancé from another state. When I travel for work and you say New Haven, people say Yale or they say, ‘Ooh, what’s that like?’

Which is ridiculous. Yes, we have problems, not like you can’t function [with] problems. If we don’t control the conversation someone else will, and that’s what is happening.

Bingham: Speaking of image problems, for a lot of young people in the suburbs the city’s ‘brand’ is ‘Gun-Wavin’ New Haven.’

Lasater: I think that can be embraced for having the challenges of being a city, of having those kinds of problems. We

Haynes: New Haven ‘doesn’t need a bigger brand — it needs a more visible and communicable brand.

Lasater: What we have is historic progress on school reform. You may not agree with all of it, but the fact that the [teachers] union and the Board of Education [came to a sweeping reform agreement in 2009]. I think we can bring to light our ability in solving civic problems. That is unique.

Haynes: Social innovation and civic innovation is something we’ve done from the original town planners in 1638 all the way through now. A lot of people here don’t see it as such a unique asset to be able to communicate that as what an amazing place it is.

Lasater: Bruce, what is the 50-word message of the ‘Greatest Small City in America’?

Ditman: It is a story about innovation, it’s success, inspiration and accountability and access. We need to express that if you want to get something done in New Haven you can do it.

Young: I do think when they created the slogan ‘Make It Happen Here’ that is what they meant it to mean.

Wagner: That’s the story that I tell — that you if you see something that you don’t like you can change it. If you want to start something you can start it. If there aren’t enough fun things to do, you make them. If you don’t like the graffiti on your wall you figure out a way do [something about it]. I think that is something that is attractive to people who want to make a difference. I think that what makes New Haven special is all the people who are willing to get things done. The people I spend most of my time with, most of them haven’t given up yet. It’s using each other and the relationships you have to make the city better, not just for you but for other people as well. Everyone at this table it does that on a daily basis, and I think that is really contagious. It’s what Erik and I do for our jobs — to model for people that they can do that in their neighborhoods as well. It doesn’t have to be in the downtown area, or just with white people, or just with middle-class people.

Clemons: How do we capture the transformative power of that process? That, to me, is where the magic is. How to market that to people who for the most part have no hope and purpose — that’s where my life is.

Ditman: If [the slogan] was ‘New Haven: Dreamers and Doers’ we would still need

relatable stories, not propaganda stories.

We do have them. How does that drive retail? It doesn’t, but it certainly drives the brand by the vibe.

Bingham: Pedro, you speak every day to business people from outside New Haven and Connecticut. What do they tell you?

Soto: Some of it I have to come from the defensive — ‘Why in the world are you here? There is a strip club up the street [on East Street, near the SpaceCraft Manufacturing shop]; there’s old people right there. You guys could be out in the suburbs in a new facility.’ My dad [company founder John Soto] put Space-Craft here for financial reasons in 1993; there is no reason we would be moving any time in the near future. We love it here. A lot of it is because of the relationships — because of the EDC [Economic Development Corp.], being able to call the mayor’s office for something. That level of accessibility. Also, a lot of my [workers] live in New Haven or Bridgeport. They live in urban environments. A lot of what I hear is, ‘How are you as a manufacturer actually manufacturing goods in the city? The taxes must be this…’ — a lot of it is misinformation.

Bingham: So we don’t send a message that this is a place where things are made?

Soto: I think because we used to be one of the global manufacturing centers, along with Bridgeport, and we’ve fallen so far from that perch. There is still an enormous amount of manufacturing happening in the city, but [in the early 20 th century] we were at a stratospheric level with Winchester, Sargent, Olin and others. We [have] gone through a 20-year dry spell with manufacturing being a bad word. Now that things are coming back I think it is time to re-visit just how much product is being [manufactured] in the city. It is pretty impressive.

Bingham: A lot of the words you’re using are intangibles — relationships, accessibility. Should we also be talking about tangible advantages? Nobody’s mentioned the arts, for example. New Haven has two Equity theater companies, amazing museums, restaurants, music. Should we not be touting our tangible competitive advantages over other mid-sized New England cities?

Ditman: When we brand our city properly, we need to be able to [emphasize] manufacturing, and culture, and innovation, and citizenship — it all needs to work. That is the test. We should be talking about it but it should not be in our slogan. We have the second-largest collection of free art [in museums and galleries] in the country, second only to Washington, D.C. No one outside of the city knows that.

Haynes: No one knows that.

Clemons: I didn’t know that.

Ditman: Incredible, but no one knows that. We need to talking about this stuff.

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But we also want to be careful about getting into the stats business.

Lasater: It puts us up there with Dubai and New York.

Clemons: People ask me, ‘Why are you in Science Park?’ For me that was a big issue, for our own branding. [Science Park] is branded as a Yale property and [there is an] issue of infighting with Yale and colonization of Newhallville and Dixwell by Yale. ‘Why are you in a relationship with these people and how are you setting up shop in a place that no black people will come to?’

Ditman: My sense is that Yale is more ready than ever — that feels more New Haven-centric.

Young: I think Science Park was built to tie Yale to the community more and provide jobs in the community.

Haynes: I was actually surprised to not have someone at the table with a direct affiliation with Yale. That’s a problem that we often had at the EDC. They’re such a huge institution [but] they weren’t always choosing to take a leadership role in New Haven.

Young: By way of explanation, we steered completely clear of any institutions or political people in putting together this panel discussion. We were more interested in what we saw as culture builders coming out of the community.

Haynes: People at Yale are part of the messaging, they’re also voices in messaging to the rest of the world about what New Haven is, and not just, ‘What can we do for New Haven?’ But we all live in New Haven and it is important to have that voice in the picture. I’m not saying Yale should drive the boat. It can’t be just that we have Shake Shack now — which is great.

Soto: That’s a big deal.

That was [former Yale president] Rick Levin’s legacy: engagement with the community.

Lasater: And [incoming Yale] President Salovey’s inauguration was open to the public. I don’t know how many community members actually went, but even that is a step forward.

Ditman: What do you think our relationship with New York City is, and how do we manage that?

Clemons: When I lived in Norwalk it was always this direct relationship. Whether explicit or implicit, New York was right there. Here, I see no relationship [with New York]. It hit me how many Red Sox fans are in New Haven. Which [illustrated] how far we are from New York.

Soto: When they won the World Series in 2004 they came down to New Haven and brought the trophy there.

Bingham: But a lot of people will say that the key to New Haven’s success is to establish itself as the eastern terminus of the New York metro area.

Ditman: That deeply offends me. I think we are our own amazing place that need not be the sixth borough. As the Greatest Small City in America we are in arms reach of the greatest city and also Boston, Providence. We have our own identity and we do our own things our own way.

Soto: And we’re not Stamford.

A HAPPY & HEALTHY NEW YEAR! from Everyone at

Colonial Properties

Wagner: We can’t compare to New York; we’re too tiny and too special. I think a lot of the same people who want to live in New York live in New Haven. Because there are so many amazing opportunities in New Haven you forget how small it is.

We sometimes compare ourselves to New York because there are amazing businesses, entrepreneurs and the culture is as rich. And there are challenges like New York. The comparison is a faulty one.

Lasater: On more a practical consideration, if you say we should be able to get into Grand Central in 45 minutes by train, I’m all for that.

Haynes: New Haven has to have its own identity because it has links to both Boston and New York and more and more to other cities in the world. The connectivity of New Haven to the rest of the world is the critical piece.

Bingham: So, is New Haven metro New York, or is it New England?

Haynes: We’re a little schizophrenic that way. The advantage is that we are both.

More and more I think people have to have a foot in both places, and we already have it.

Clemons: If I look at [New Haven] in the context of Greenwich Village, it can have New York grittiness. But at the same time we’re a Toggle coat — preppy and real cool at the same time in a fashion sense.

Ditman: I think we’ll be successful when Stratford tells businesses it’s interested in attracting how close it is New Haven.

Young: In the past eight or ten years we’ve seen thousands of young people

move to New Haven, especially downtown. New Haven’s brand is established for people 20 to 35 years old wanting to live in a hipper place. If you’re a young person who can live anywhere in Connecticut and you’re not New Yorkcentric, you pretty much have one choice, and that is New Haven.

Lasater: It’s interesting that you mention in-migration, because there is an opportunity with this brand, ‘Greatest Small city in America,’ with those who are 20-something living in larger cities: ‘I want to go to somewhere smaller and have a connection and to feel that I haven’t completely left a city.’ I think this is a great opportunity; it’s a trend and I think it matches that brand.

Haynes: And also the return of emptynesters [to New Haven]. It’s already happening with both generations. It’s authentic and I think we can be telling a better story about it.

Lasater: At one point my wife was working outside of New Haven and I told her I would be happy to move to the suburbs so her commute would not be so crazy. She said, ‘No way am I moving outside of the city.’ That fervent feeling is important to some people. It is not always a negative.

Urban isn’t always code for bad.

Ditman: We are a city. We are not the ‘Greatest Small Utopia,’ or folksy small town where nobody locks their door. It’s a city, and we have real challenges. I don’t know a city that doesn’t. But we have tremendous people in this city, whether it is Yankee ingenuity or our history of immigrants coming here to make a better life and staying. And I think we’re the Greatest Small City in America. BNH

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203-795-8060 200 Boston Post Road, Orange, CT 06477

OLYMPIA PROPERTIES, LLC 203-777-0819 Ask for Chris Nicotra www.olympiallc.com WWW.CONNTACT.COM

2013 AIA/CT DESIGN AWARDS

Awesome Architecture Celebrating the accomplishments of Connecticut architects and architectural projects

T

he Connecticut Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA/CT) each year honors the most deserving projects by Connecticut-based architects completed during the calendar year with the AIA Connecticut Design Awards.

The program also recognizes excellent Connecticut architecture from other firms – two of those awarded in the 2013 Design Awards are out-of-state companies. Similarly, ten winning projects by Connecticut architects are located outside the Nutmeg State, with two of those outside the United States (as far away as New Zealand). The awards program considers commercial

and residential projects, with additional categories recognizing “Preservation” and “Architecture: The Encompassing Art.” A number of designs in this year’s group of winners were notable among the jurors for their unusual approaches to what would otherwise be typical structures, keeping context in mind, and a sense of integration of structure with surroundings.

Jurors for the 2013 awards program were: Ann M. Beha, FAIA, of Bostonbased Ann Beha Architects; Rodolfo Machado, Associate AIA, of Machado Silvetti Architects, also of Boston; and Kai-Uwe Bergmann, AIA, of the Bjarke Ingels Group, which has offices in New York City, Beijing, and Copenhagen, Denmark. .

BUILT PROJECTS

Biomass Heating Facility, Hotchkiss School, Lakeville Architect: Centerbrook Architects and Planners, Jeff Riley, FAIA, Centerbrook Jury comments: A great synthesis: an idealized box with one roof, with only one penetration, undisturbed by intrusions. Normally this type of building is not done by an architect; it is a highly pragmatic piece of architecture that demonstrates how the design for these types of buildings should not be relegated to others. We commend the client for allowing the architect to bring poetry to biomass.

Built Project: Honor Award PHOTOGRAPHER: DAVID SUNDBERG/ESTO

Laurel and Oak Halls, University of Connecticut, Storrs Architect: Leers Weinzapfel Associates, Boston, MA

Jury comments: The jury appreciated the material selection, both interior and exterior: there is a harmony between them. The site diagram is strong; the auditorium is well crafted.

The jury also appreciated the way illumination materials were introduced, the relationship between blocks, and the excellent landscaping scheme: the courtyards are inviting and well scaled. This is a building that students can use well.

Built Project: Honor Award PHOTOGRAPHER: ANTON GRASSL / ESTO PHOTOGRAPHICS

JANUARY 2014

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Lancaster History Museum, Lancaster, PA Architect: Centerbrook Architects and Planners, Mark Simon, FAIA, Centerbrook Jury comments: The jury was surprised that the Pennsylvania Historical Museum supported this unexpectedly contemporary and fresh design for this type of institution. The jury appreciated the thoughtfulness and consideration by the architect of context, in terms of material and scale.

Built Project: Honor Award PHOTOGRAPHER: PETER AARON/ESTO

Torre Iberdrola, Bilbao, Spain Architect: Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, New Haven Jury comments: In Europe, there is a comfort level between highand low-rise buildings, viewed in an urban way, that is not the case in America. Bilbao is not afraid to put a high-rise building in an 18th century fabric. There is a confidence in this project — the tower makes moves in an elegant way to reduce the mass of the base.

The jury liked the variety of the base, with its interest and energy, and its relationship with the historic buildings around it and with the sleek, elegant tower.

Built Project: Merit Award PHOTOGRAPHER: JEFF GOLDBERG/ESTO

The Metropolitan Museum of Art – American Wing, New York, NY Architect: Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo & Associates, Hamden Jury comments: This is a very good example of a new museum typology of enclosed glass space. It renews the visitors’ relationship with art and architecture at many scales: the intimate, in the gallery; the scholarly, in the study collection; and the exterior, with the façade. The jury liked the way the design acknowledges wayfinding, visitor needs, and the relationship with the outdoors. This is a long-term labor of love; it made this place and unified and renewed many elements.

Built Project: Merit Award PHOTOGRAPHER: KEVIN ROCHE JOHN DINKELOO AND ASSOCIATES

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Hartford Library – Dwight Branch, Hartford Architect: Tai Soo Kim Partners, LLC, Hartford Jury comments: This project shows how a tired building can be given a fresh lease on life by the grafting on of a reading room that is complimentary and also something entirely special. It bursts out into the city, takes its activities out and shows them to passersby, and thus extends the life of the institution.

Built Project: Merit Award PHOTOGRAPHER: ROBERT BENSON PHOTOGRAPHY

Interlink, T.F. Green Airport, Warwick, RI Architect: Northeast Collaborative Architects, Middletown Jury comments: The architect has taken a necessary thing and made it something svelte. This is an extremely well done public project, and the jury appreciated all the attention to details, especially to the acoustics.

PHOTOGRAPHER: BRIAN MCDONALD

Sullivan Office Building, New York, NY Architect: Joeb Moore + Partners LLC, Greenwich Jury comments: This is an award for the interior design for a building through which the Manhattan High Line extends. It is fresh and inventive and takes its clues from the High Line itself. The lighting and ventilation system is simple, smart and fresh. The design is intelligent and well integrated.

Built Project: Honorable Mention PHOTOGRAPHER: TIMOTHY SCHENCK

JANUARY 2014

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Hemlock Hill Residence, New Canaan Architect: Joeb Moore + Partners LLC, Greenwich

SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENCE

Jury comments: This project is an amazingly reconceived makeover: a very creative transformation invests formal thinking in it. Material decisions help to establish contrast and depth; there is an integrated sense of materiality, both inside and out. lt left the jury “gob-smacked!”

Residential Project: Honor Award PHOTOGRAPHER: DURSTON SAYLO

Bay House, Southhampton, NY Architect: Roger Ferris + Partners, Westport

Jury comments: Simple and restrained, the house is a very clear plan type. There is a very good connection between the building pavilion and the pool. The jury liked the direct view of the ocean when one is entering the house. It is well done with clarity and a high level of craft.

Residential Project: Honor Award PHOTOGRAPHER: ARCHPHOTO – PAUL RIVERA

Stonington Residence, Stonington Architect: Joeb Moore + Partners LLC, Greenwich Jury comments: This is a very good, solid project with one effective gesture. Part preservation, part intervention, it creates a new, refreshed composition in a clean, legible, bold way.

Residential Project: Merit Award PHOTOGRAPHER: DAVID SUNDBERG / ESTO

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Cube House VI, Guilford Architect: Wilfred J. O. Armster, Architect AIA, Guilford

Jury comments: In this tight building on a tight budget that has grand ambitions there is effective use of space. This is not only a stacking of volumes, but also a composition of space and planes. The jury appreciates the fact that the building stays with its cabin precedents and its modesty.

Residential Project: Merit Award PHOTOGRAPHER: CURT CLAYTON

House on Sunset Ridge, Norfolk Architect: Resolution: 4 Architecture, New York, NY Jury comments: This residential project demonstrated the fact that pre-fabrication can result in great architecture. This residence sits very comfortably on its site.

Residential Project: Merit Award PHOTOGRAPHER: PAUL WARCHOL

PRESERVATION Church of Saint Gregory the Great, Portsmouth, RI Architect: Northeast Collaborative Architects, Middletown

Jury comments: The jury appreciated the care that was taken in the renovation of the early 60s chapel. It was lovingly restored with new interventions that were well considered, effective, legible and well executed. The jury appreciated the level of research into and treatment of materials in this nice merger of craft and architecture. Kudos to the lighting designer, as the lighting allows us to experience architecture.

Preservation Project: Honor Award PHOTOGRAPHER: AARON USHER

JANUARY 2014

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UNBUILT

Office Building of the Future, Seattle, WA Architect: Pickard Chilton, New Haven

Jury comments: This strong, risk-taking tower is adventuresome for Seattle. It raises the bar in ambition for an area of Seattle, the Denny Regrade. The jury really hopes that this kind of thinking will be implemented to create a new species of skyscraper over the city. The tower has lots of energy and movement and is dynamic.

Unbuilt Project: Honor Award

Ben Ohau Lodge, Twizel, New Zealand Architect: Lindsay Suter Architects, North Branford

Jury comments: Through a simple set of well-detailed buildings in a stunning landscape, the architect has created a place. Nothing is extravagant; everything has a reason and becomes part of the landscape.

Unbuilt Project: Merit Award

ARCHITECTURE: THE ENCOMPASSING ART Surf Shack, Bridgehampton NY Architect: Roger Ferris + Partners, Westpor Jury comments: The jury unanimously agreed to change this brilliant assemblage of objects in a landscape to the Art: the Encompassing Architecture category. It is an assemblage that demonstrates an artistic expression.

The pool has become an object, not a void. The assemblage takes three functions: swimming, visiting and living, and disperses them in a landscape. It is a collage, an attitude that epitomizes Americana and represents many metaphors: the Air Stream, the green lawn, the white pool (standing in for the white picket fence). And it has an element of fun!

Architecture: The Encompassing Art: Honor Award PHOTOGRAPHER: ARCHPHOTO – PAUL RIVERA

Greeley Memorial Laboratory, Yale University, New Haven Architect: Christopher Williams Architects LLC, New Haven

Jury comments: The foyer helped to revalue the building. The jury appreciated the whole composition, the lining and the furniture, that are well related and that make a whole. This is a very elegant, tasteful addition with an organic feel to a forceful design.

Architecture: The Encompassing Art: Merit Award PHOTOGRAPHER: JOHN GIAMMATTEO

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HEALTHCARE tips, exercise programs and events to help people attain their individual goals.

Study: 50 Years of Smoking Controls Saved EMPLOYMENT New Haven is marked by wide disparities in health, according 8 Million Lives to public-health officials, who say that large numbers of residents live in underserved neighborhoods where high rates of obesity, tobacco use and other factors contribute to a range of potentially preventable chronic diseases.

TECHNOLOGY A Yale study estimates that eight million lives have been saved in the United States as a result of anti-smoking measures that began 50 years ago with the pathbreaking report from the Surgeon General outlining the deadly consequences of tobacco use.

The Yale School of Public Health-led analysis was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The total number of saved lives translates into an estimated 157 million years of life, a mean of 19.6 years for each beneficiary, report the researchers.

REALESTATE “An estimated 31 percent of premature deaths were avoided by this effort, but even more encouraging is the steady progress that was achieved over the past half-century, beginning with a modest 11 percent in the first decade to 48 percent of the estimate what we would have seen from 2004 to 2012 in the absence of tobacco control,” said Holford. “Today, a 40-year-old man can expect on average to live 7.8 years longer than he would have in 1964, and 30 percent of that improvement can be attributed to tobacco control. The gains for women have been slightly less, 5.4 years, but tobacco control accounts for 29 percent of that benefit.”

“Prevention is critical. Small lifestyle changes in diet and

W At the Heart of the Matter DERBY — The Griffin Hospital Cardiac Rehabilitation Department and Eunice Lisk, MS of Stratford will be honored with the Caring Heart Award at the ninth annual “Women and Heart Disease” program February 6 at Grassy Hill Lodge in Derby. The award recognizes individuals and groups that foster initiatives to promote and improve the general health and well-being of all. This is the sixth year that the award will conferred.

The event is hosted by Griffin Hospital’s Women and Heart Disease Committee, which consists of health-care professionals, heart patients and women from throughout the Valley communities. According to the American Heart Association, heart disease kills nearly twice as many women in the United States as all types of cancer.

MARKETING&MEDIA The study used mathematical models to calculate the long-term effect of the seminal report, and subsequent anti-smoking measures, over the past half-century. These cumulative efforts have significantly reshaped public attitudes and behaviors concerning cigarettes and other forms of tobacco, the researchers say.

HEALTHCARE First author Theodore R. Holford, professor of biostatistics and member of Yale Cancer Center, and six other researchers who are part of the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Modeling Network, found that while some 17.6 million Americans have died since 1964 due to smoking-related causes, eight million lives have been saved as a result of increasingly stringent tobacco-control measures that commenced with the report’s 1964 release.

Of the lives saved, approximately 5.3 million were men and 2.7 million were women.

Fighting Fat City NEW HAVEN — New Haven is going on a diet. As part of an initiative to create a healthier Elm City, health professionals, city government and Yale University are challenging city residents to collectively shed 375,000 pounds. That translates into just under three pounds for each of the city’s some 130,000 residents.

JANUARY 2014

Using data collected by the National Center for Health Statistics from 1965 to 2009, the team recreated smoking life history summaries for groups born each year starting in 1890. These were used along with national mortality statistics and studies that followed large populations to calculate mortality rates by smoking status. This allowed them to estimate the impact of alternative scenarios for what might have occurred had the era of tobacco control never happened.

The Get Healthy CT weight-loss challenge is a joint initiative of the city, Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center, Yale School of Public Health and Yale-New Haven Hospital.

The weight target coincides (sort of) with New Haven’s 375th anniversary last year.

A weight-loss calculator on the Get Healthy CT website (GetHealthyCT.org) will track progress. The website offers

Ickovics:Small changes, big impact

exercise can have a big impact on your health,” said Jeannette Ickovics, professor of public health at Yale and director of the Community Alliance for Research and Engagement (CARE), a partner in the Get Healthy CT initiative.

Ickovics noted that shedding just five percent of body weight — ten pounds for a 200-pound person — can prevent or delay the onset of diabetes.

MidState Doctors Honored MERIDEN — Last month three MidState Medical Center physicians earned Physician Recognition Awards. Hospitalist Mark Schaner, MD earned the Joseph Goodman Clinical Collaboration and Teamwork Award. Pathologist Mark Ludwig, MD was named recipient of the Daniel Kahn Clinical Quality Award. Also. radiologist Gary Dee, MD was recognized with the David Park Leadership Award.

Nominations for the awards came from the MidState community including colleagues, staff, patients and patients’ family members.

To make a reservation or learn more, call 203-732-7584 or 203-732-1137.

Genetic Cause of Tourette’s NEW HAVEN — A rare genetic mutation that disrupts production of histamine in the brain is a cause of the tics and other abnormalities of Tourette syndrome, according to new findings by Yale School of Medicine researchers.

The findings, reported January 8 in the journal Neuron, suggest that existing drugs that target

histamine receptors in the brain might be useful in treating the disorder. Tourette syndrome afflicts up to one percent of children, as well as a smaller percentage of adults.

in the brain in people with Tourette.” said Christopher Pittenger, associate professor in the psychiatry and psychology departments and in the Yale Child Study Center, and senior author of the paper.

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Histamine is commonly associated with allergy, but it also plays an important role as a signaling molecule in the brain.

Interactions with this brain system explain why some allergy medications cause people to feel sleepy.

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Drug companies have developed medications that target brain-specific histamine receptors in an effort to treat schizophrenia and ADHD. While not approved for general use yet, those drugs or others that target histamine receptors should be tested to see whether they can treat symptoms of Tourette syndrome, Pittenger said.

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CID Launches Web Page W A new state Web page is intended to streamline resources to help families with insurance coverage and reimbursement for behavioral health and substance-abuse treatment.

The state Department of Insurance’s “Mental Health Parity” Web page is a compilation of free resources, publications and tools that consumers can access through the Insurance Department’s Web site.

The new site includes the Insurance Department’s Behavioral Health Took Kit, a step-by-step plain-language template that families and providers can use to submit to insurance companies for preauthorization of medically necessary behavioral health services.

The Tool Kit was launched in October, the same time the state announced it was dedicating $9 million in federal funds to address the needs of children in schools.

For more information on the new Web page visit the CID Web site, ct.gov/cid.

“These findings give us a new window into what’s going on 21

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE

Let’s Make a Deal

Commercial Realtors celebrate top deals of 2013

By Mitchell Young

On December 11, the

Realtor presented its annual

Outgoing chairman Mark

help of incoming chairman,

Commercial Investment

awards for top deals of the

Glassman of Arnold Peck

John Wareck of Real Living

Division (CID) of the Greater

year at a dinner hosted by

Commercial World pre-

Wareck D’Ostilio.

New Haven Association of

Eli’s on Whitney in Hamden.

sented the awards with the

Lou Proto of the Proto Group had the largest land lease and the most transaction in 2013..

Rich Lee represented the tenant in the Largest Office Lease. Kevin Geenty of the geenty Group represented the owner Mill Rock Leasing.

Incoming CID chair, John Wareck, prinicpal of the Wareck Group took honors for Largest Mixed Use Building Sale.

DeForest Smith (accepted for Carl Russel,) along with Eileen Russell (no relation) the award for Largest Retail Lease.

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Franj Hird of O,R&L and Frank D’Ostilio of Real Living Wareck D’Ostilio were awarded Largest Apartment Sale.

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Largest Office Sale — 322 East Main Street, Branford sold for $4.5 million. The 50,000-square-fot, Class A office building built in 1990 is the former headquarters for biotech company Curagen Corp., which itself was acquired in 2009. Completely vacant until 2012, the building was 40-percent occupied when sold by the Canavan family to a Stamfordbased private investment group affiliated with SWC Office a corporate office-furniture company. Durata Therapeutics, a biotech firm that went public last year, occupies 18,000 square feet in the building.

Largest Office Lease — 141 Mill Road, Old Saybrook Business Park, Old Saybrook. Fortis Business Media, LLC of Nashville, Tenn. leased 25,000 square feet at the property for an initial lease term of seven years for just under $2 million. Fortis purchased the Old Saybrook-headquartered Business & Legal Reports in 2011.

The company operates its merged business-information operation under the BLR name. The landlord, Mill Rock Leasing, LLC, was represented by Kevin C. Geenty SIOR of the Geenty Group, Realtors of Branford. The tenant was represented

by Richard Lee of OR&L Commercial, also in Branford.

Largest Land Sale — 520 Washington Avenue, North Haven was sold by the D’Addio family to Steve Inglese of the New Haven Group for $2,650,000 after approvals by the town of North Haven for construction of an apartment complex housing 125 residential units.

The New Haven Group handled the purchase of the property and Inglese is the developer of the property. Al Scafati of Press/Cuozzo was the listing broker.

Largest Land Lease — A 1.16acre ground lease was signed by McDonald’s corporation for 19511957 Norwich-New London Turnpike in Montville for the development of a 3,900-square-foot McDonald’s restaurant. Surrounding the site is a 250,000-square-foot shopping center that is home to both a Stop & Shop supermarket and a Home Depot store.

Broker was Lou Proto of the Proto Group, New haven.

Largest Industrial Sale: $1,753,000 was the sale price for 1 Brewery Street in New Haven, which sits in the food terminal area behind Ikea.

Purchase was made by the state’s Department of Transportation (DOT) for an ancillary building for its 300,000-square-foot, multi-floor component change-out shop for Metro North at the railyard on Long Wharf. The DOT reportedly vied for purchase of the site — which houses a 117,549-square-foot freezer/ refrigerated building and 4.5 acre site — with a local manufacturing company. The seller was Maritime International Inc. of New Bedford, Mass. Kevin Geenty, SIOR and Kristin Geenty, SIOR of the Geenty Group, Realtors were sole agents in the transaction.

Largest Industrial Lease — A ten-year lease with a total value of approximately $4.5 million at 297 State Street, North Haven. The tenant is Red Thread Spaces, LLC, which leased 104,425 square feet in the multi-tenant industrial building.

Red Thread is owned by Steelcase, which acquired BKM Total Office, a Connecticut-based office furniture company, in 2011. Matt O’Hare of CB Richard represented the landlord, a joint venture between Marcus Partners and Mountain Developer

Chris Nolan, DeForest Smith, Rich Guralnick and John Bergin of H. Pearce/George S. Smth collaborated for the Largest Retail Lease.

JANUARY 2014

Corp. In addition, 1-800 Pack Rat, a portable storage container and moving company also rented significant space (53,761 square feet) in the facility in late 2013.

Largest Apartment Sale — A nineunit apartment building in Westville at 200 Alden Avenue (near the Yale Bowl) sold for $800,000. The buyer was Fountainville, LLC, a Woodbridge investment group.

Frank D’Ostilio of Real Living Wareck D’Ostilio represented the buyer.

Frank Hird and Richard Gold of OR&L Commercial represented the seller, Nipote, LLC. This trust included members of the family that originally built the complex in the 1940s.

Largest Business Sale — The restaurant Tomato & Basil that operates at 1876 Black Rock Turnpike in Fairfield was sold for $380,000 ( business only; no real estate). The listing and selling agent was Shawn Reilly of Levey Miller Maretz of Woodbrige.

Largest Retail Sale — A 9,120-square-foot building at 307 Racebrook Road, Orange sold for $625,000. The property is currently leased to Ferguson’s Center Ice Sports, which sells hockey and figure skating equipment and team uniforms and accessories, as well as Merle’s Record Rack. Celebrating its golden anniversary, Merle’s carries a large (100,000-plus) selection of 45s, LPs, CDs and rare vinyl record albums.

A new tenant in the space (opening in February), ASD Fitness Center will offer families and children a location for exercise and athletic training for those with special needs. The buyer, RTJ Properties, LLC, was represented

by Eileen M. Russell of Pearce/George J. Smith Commercial Real Estate. The seller, RCF, LLC, was represented by

Carl G. Russell, also of Pearce/George J. Smith.

Largest Retail Lease — A 59,045-square-foot multiyear lease at Foxhaven Plaza on Route 80 in East Haven for just over $11 million to the Wakefern Corp. of Keasbey, N.J. for a Shop Rite supermarket (former site of an A&P and Big Y).

Richard Guralnick and Chris Nolan represented Pyramid Construction Group of Ramsey, N.J., owners of Foxhaven Plaza. John Bergin and DeForest Smith represented Wakefern.

As part of a larger arrangement between the owner, tenant and the Town of East Haven, Pyramid has upgraded the building façade, redesigned surface parking configuration and installed new energy-efficient lighting.

Largest Mixed-Use Sale: 204 Crown Street, New Haven sold for $895,000. The mixed-use building houses three rental apartments on the upper floors and Stella Blues, a bar and music nightclub on the ground floor. The seller was Missy, LLC, and the Buyer 204 Crown, LLC. John Wareck of Real Living Wareck D’Ostilio was sole broker in the transaction.

Most Transactions: Lou Proto, principal of the Proto Group, earned top honors for the deals closed in 2013 — 26.

Shawn O’Reilly was awarded Largest Business Sale and was congratulated by outgoing CID Chairman Mark glassman.

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MANUFACTURING

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TECHNOLOGY New Fuel Cell Park for Bridgeport

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BRIDGEPORT — The Park City is now a bit cleaner and greener as a 15-megawatt fuel cell park — the largest in North America and second largest in the world — comes online.

renewable energy credits may reduce the price by about half), and United Illuminating will distribute it.

REALESTATE Sited on 1.5 acres of a remediated brownfield, the $65 million Dominion Bridgeport Fuel Cell Power Park houses five fuel cells providing 14.9 megawatts of renewable energy – enough to power about 15,000 average homes.

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The fuel-cell plant has been six years in the making, having been stalled along the way largely due to financing difficulties during the recession; it ultimately was owned and financed by Virginiabased power company Dominion and with a $5.8 million loan from the state’s Clean Energy Financing & Investment Authority.

MARKETING&MEDIA The plant is was built and will be operated by Danbury-based Fuel Cell Energy, (NASDAQ:FCEL) which also owns the world’s largest such park, a 59-megawatt installation in Hwasung City, South Korea. Dominon (NYSE: D) is the projects owner. Fuel Cell Energy engineered and built, and now operates and maintains the Bridgeport park under a 15-year agreement. Connecticut Light & Power purchases the power for $89 per megawatt hour (though

The fuel cells themselves use natural gas as a source of hydrogen, electrochemically combining it with oxygen in a process that yields heat and electricity with small amounts of carbon-dioxide emissions produced as a result. Steam created in the process is channeled and used to turn a turbine that generates more power.

HEALTHCARE

EMPLOYMENT King Holds Court in Brass City

The fuel cells are considered environmentally sound since they are not

Learn ‘Lean’ Principles

TECHNOLOGY WATERBURY — An industrial chemical manufacturer is expanding into the Brass City.

Norwalk-based King Industries is building a $50 million, 80,000-square-foot manufacturing center to meet what the company calls increasing demand.

It’s never too late to learn the basics of Lean manufacturing; and the Connecticut State Technology Extension Program’s Continuous Improvement Champion Certification (CCIC) program is starting up again this spring to help small businesses increase productivity, efficiency and customerfocused strategies.

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known to produce such pollutants as nitrogen oxide or other particulate matter, and occupy a relatively small footprint.

mental efforts, improve public transportation and create a plan for open space use and development.

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— John Mordecai

The Dominion park is a major component of Bridgeport’s “BGreen 2020” initiative to upgrade city infrastructure, increase energy efficiency and environ-

The systems engineering center will focus on educating future engineers on components and subsystems integral to the functions of aircraft, buildings and other highly engineered structures.

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REALESTATE King will erect several buildings on 11 acres in the Waterbury Industrial Commons on Thomaston Avenue, occupying just over a third of the 30-acre complex. The Commons itself is located on a former brownfields site the city cleaned up with the help of a $550,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2012. The site was formerly home to a brass rolling mill, a ball-bearing factory and a casting shop.

The program, which provides training with on-site, real-life projects, will take place over ten sessions running 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Tuesdays from March 4 to May 20 at the Connecticut Society of CPAs in Rocky Hill. More than 100 Connecticut companies have taken part in the program thus far.

Modern Woodcrafts 172 Northwest Dr, Plainville, CT 06062

UTC Gives $7.5M for HEALTHCARE UConn Engineering King Industries is fourth-generation family-owned company that has been in Norwalk since 1932, currently employing 200 workers. It sells chemicals to the aerospace, automotive and electronics industries.

Construction on the complex this year is expected to generate 180 construction jobs, and it’s estimated that more than 50 permanent manufacturing jobs will be created when the facility becomes operational. The King Industries center will also bring $1.4 million per year in property taxes to Waterbury.

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Center

STORRS — The University of Connecticut’s School of Engineering has partnered with United Technologies Corp. (UTC) to launch the UTC Institute for Advanced Systems Engineering at UConn’s Storrs campus.

The institute is launched with a $7.5 million contribution from UTC — one of the largest corporate donations the school has ever received.

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President: Lisa Pelletier-Fekete (860) 677-7371 modernwoodcrafts.com

MARKETING&MEDIA More information and registration can be found on connstep.org.

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In business for more than 50 years Modern Woodcrafts provides architectural woodwork and retail store fixtures for commercial, education and hotel interiors as well as high end retail stores across the United States. Companies like Tiffany & Co., Bloomingdale’s, Coach, and Neiman Marcus regularly turn to Modern Woodcaft to design and build their luxurious interiors. Recent clients inlcude several complex retail flagship stores on Madison Avenue such as Milly, tory Burch, David Yurman and Mikli Eyewear.

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“CONNSTEP worked with Modern Woodcraft to help it achieve world class manufacturing status by implementing Lean Manufacturing on an Enterprise wide basis.

Modern Woodcraft has developed a unique methodology for creating “flow” in business where each job is different. They are a great advocate of the continuous improvement philosophy and have hosted tours to showcase the benefits of a sustained Lean Strategy.”

– John McCarroll, Business Growth Advisor, CONNSTEP The Made in CT Program is a dedicated feature on the CONNSTEP website, creating a directory for the state’s manufacturers to showcase products and services, and to feature companies that contribute to the growth of the economy, are involved in continuous improvement, strive to create jobs, and to grow their businesses.

www.made-in-ct.com “Featured manufacturers are chosen from CONNSTEP’s Made in CT Program, found at www.made-in-ct.com” WWW.CONNTACT.COM

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Pratt & Whitney also recently secured a $231 million contract with the U.S. Air Force to repair and maintain the F119 engines it uses in its F-22 stealth fighters.

The contract will continue through 2014.

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The aerospace giant, a division of United Technologies Corp. (UTC), also opened an expanded 105,000-square-foot F100

Cheshire – 1154 Highland Avenue. Office suites from 770 sf to 4,370 sf. Easy access on Route 10 with ample parking. Landlord offering full tenant build out.

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The plant employs 100 people in the Hudson Valley town, and operations are scheduled to commence in 18 months.

The state of New York’s economic development agency gave the company a $900,000 capital grant and up to $1.6 million in tax credits (for job creation and investment commitments) to expand there.

Georgia induced the company to expand there with a $250,000 grant in return for a pledge by PW to spend $19 million on expansions and to add 177 jobs to the existing 179 at the facility.

New Haven – 10,000 ± sf of office/studio/medical space from 300 sf and up. 11,000 ± sf warehouse space. Building is completely renovated – new roof, new mechanicals, parking lot, etc.

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The repair work done at the new facility was once performed at PW’s Cheshire plant, which closed in 2011, cutting 500 jobs in the process. Work was also moved to the Georgia facility from another PW facility in San Antonio, Tex. last April.

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HARTFORD — Jet engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney is expanding its reach recently, having recently announced plans to expand a plant in New York State, and having opened a newly expanded facility in Georgia that conducts work formerly done in Cheshire.

Open Doors. Close Deals.

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TECHNOLOGY

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Yale Team’s App REALESTATE Wins Prize

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NEW HAVEN — Some clever Yale entrepreneurs want to help doctors bust you for skipping appointments. And they’re a step closer to making it happen.

MARKETING&MEDIA NoShowFix was the name of the team and potential software platform that won a $500 first prize for best business plan at the Connecticut Business Plan Competition last month. The competition was sponsored by the Fairfield-based Entrepreneurship Foundation at Gateway Community College.

Held twice annually, the event has student teams from Connecticut colleges and universities pitching business plans for retail/service or tech startup companies to a panel of investors and entrepreneurs. The most recent event saw four of the 12 teams walk away with $500 awards.

HEALTHCARE

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Central Connecticut State University student Ryan Piraneo won the Best Oral Presentation award for the pitch for his plan to develop a hockey-themed sporting goods store in his school’s New Britain home.

Several other “in-kind” awards were conferred as well, including from a Housatonic Community College team developing an automated robotic lawn mower that stores grass clippings as it mows; a U.S. Coast Guard Academy team developing a rubber golf club; and a Manchester Community College team developing garden designs consisting of medicinal plants, herbs and vegetables.

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care practitioners keep track of patients who skip appointments.

EMPLOYMENT The winning student team came from the Yale University School of Management, led by Suzanne Lagarde of Hamden. Once developed and deployed, NoShowFix would help doctors and other health-

MusicVault, a cloud-based music storage system that accepts downloaded music from platforms like iTunes and Spotify, won an award for the best written business plan submitted online. The team hailed from Quinnipiac University; its leader, Nicholas Hakim, won third place at Startup Weekend New Haven in 2012 with “MusiciansVault,” which was developed as an online platform for virtual collaboration among musicians.

Second prize went to a University of Bridgeport School of Engineering team for its pitch of a signlanguage app for mobile phones that converts sign language signals into text messages to help the hearing-impaired communicate with those who don’t know American Sign Language.

TECHNOLOGY $2.6M for School Tech Upgrades NEW HAVEN — New Haven is among 126 Connecticut municipalities that will split a $24 million state grant to introduce more computers into publicschool classrooms and improve Internet connectivity.

which will be given on computers, hence the need many school systems discerned for more hardware and better Internet. The CMT and CAPT tests will still be used to test science.

REALESTATE The grant was announced by Gov. Dannel Malloy and the state Department of Education to help schools transition to the Common Core standards and administer computerbased assessment tests.

State BioScience Fund Rolls Out

The ten-year, $200 million Connecticut BioScience Innovation Fund (CBIF) was created last fall, and now as its 13-member leadership board is in place, it’s looking for a few good ideas.

demonstrate a quantifiable return on investment.

The fund is managed by Connecticut Innovations Inc. (CII), the state’s quasipublic technology investment arm.

Preliminary applications should be sent to cbifapplications@ctinnovations.com; the most promising candidates will be invited to submit full applications. More information may be found at ctinnovations.com/CBIF.

MARKETING&MEDIA New Haven will receive the largest single share of the grant (which totaled $24,401,841) with $2.6 million; the next highest sum ($899,797) was awarded to Bridgeport. As for other area school systems: Hamden was awarded $674,278, East Haven received $603,875, West Haven got $446,969, and Milford received $230,474.

The fund was signed into law last September to provide financial assistance to startups, early-stage businesses, non-profits, and accredited colleges and universities statewide. It’s seeking projects in development that will lead to commercial products or services that will improve health-care quality, coordination or efficiency, reduce costs or stimulate job growth.

HEALTHCARE Proposals were sent to the state in July and the total value exceeded the originally allocated $10 million. The Common Core Standards were adopted by the state Board of Education in 2010 to re-align expectations of what students should know by a certain grade.

For the 2014-15 school year, schools in the state will do away with the paperand-pencil Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT) and the Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT) for the math and English subjects in favor of the Smarter Balanced Assessment System,

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An open period for applications began January 2, and there is no deadline date at present. Applicants must be based in Connecticut and operating in fields including bioscience, biomedical engineering, health-information management, medical care, medical devices, medical diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, personalized medicine or related disciplines.

Applications may be for projects of no more than three years’ duration, should not exceed $500,000 and must

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The next Business Plan Competition will take place in late April.

Thirteen individuals were named to the Bioscience Innovation Advisory Committee last month to administer and supervise the money. The panel is chaired by CII CEO Claire Leonardi, and includes state Department of Public Health Commissioner Jewel Mullen, and Department of Economic & Community Development Commissioner Catherine Smith, the latter two serving as exofficio voting members.

The 10 appointed members of the committee make up a who’s who in Connecticut’s medical and bioscience sector, venture capital groups, and even the gaming sector. They include Peter Farina of venture capital firm Canaan Partners; Steven Hanks of Hartford HealthCare; Joseph Kaliko, CEO of Gaming Innovations International; Marc Lalande, Health Net professor, chair of the Genetics and Developmental Biology department and executive director Genomics and Personalized Medicine at the University of Connecticut; William LaRochelle of Roche 454 Sequencing

— John Mordecai

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Solutions International; Charles Lee of the Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine; Alan Mendelson of Axiom Venture Partners; Edmund Pezalla, medical director for pharmaceutical policy at Aetna; Carolyn Slayman, deputy dean and professor of genetics, cellular and molecular physiology at the Yale School of Medicine; and Novatract Surgical device startup founder Eleanor Tandler.

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W Online QU Course Makes the Grade HAMDEN — If you ever considered taking a graduate program in business without leaving your computer, Quinnipiac University seems like a good place to do it.

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The university was ranked in the top ten — No. 9, to be exact — for the Best Online Graduate Business Programs in the United States for 2014 by U.S. News & World Report. The ranking was based on factors including student engagement, admissions selectivity, peer reputation, faculty credentials and training, student services and technology.

The QU School of Business employs the same faculty online as in the classroom, and offers online graduate programs for master’s degrees in business administration and master of science degrees in information technology and organizational leadership. A new master of science in business analytics will be introduced in the autumn 2014 semester.

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EMPLOYMENT For Entrepreneurs, No Place Like Home

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to be no typical emerging home-based business-owner, many seek to fill a void in which everyday needs are not met.

Linares says he sees “many seniors opening up consulting businesses — real estate agents, financial consultants.”

“There’s one that’s a concierge business, doing errands and doing shopping,” Sullivan notes. “There are all different kinds [of home-based businesses].”

While community business incubators that have been emerging over the past several years attract home-based business-owners with the lure of off-site office space for a modest fee, that concept is not what the Old Saybrook chamber is exploring, Linares explains.

TECHNOLOGY OLD SAYBROOK — The Old Saybrook Chamber of Commerce will explore the needs of the town’s home-based business community in a January 28 panel discussion. Panelists will include several successful home-based business-owners.

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The idea is to create a group through which home-based owners can forge connections for goods and services that can help fuel their companies’ growth.

REALESTATE “Some of our [members] said we really need a group focused on home-based businesses,” explains Judy Sullivan, executive director of the Old Saybrook chamber. “Some have been working out of their homes for years.”

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Among vigorous supporters of the concept of establishing a group for homebased businesses is Westbrook State Sen. Art Linares (R-33), who cofounded his own business at age 19 while a student in college.

MARKETING&MEDIA While no statistics have been formally compiled, Sullivan says anecdotal evidence points to a local increase in such operations.

“There’s a tremendous amount of homebased businesses in our area and in Connecticut,” says Linares, “so what we want to do is organize them and build a home-based business [group] at the Chamber of Commerce. Currently there’s not a home-based division of the chamber, so we’re looking to start that.

HEALTHCARE “From my discussions there are more [home-based companies], because people are changing careers,” she says.

Sullivan adds that while there seems

No Place Like Home

A majority of employees who expected their usual end-of-year bonus for 2013 were not disappointed, according to a Robert Half survey. A staffing firm based in Menlo Park, Calif., Robert Half developed the survey in which more than 700 CFOs from companies based in more than 20 of the largest U.S. markets participated. An independent research firm queried those administrators. Fully twothirds (67 percent) said they expected no changes in bonuses between 2012 and 2013. Seventeen percent said they expected bonuses to increase, and seven percent said they anticipated decreases.

“Bonuses can be a valuable way to acknowledge employees’ work and help retain valued staff members, many of whom have seen their roles expand in recent years without a commensurate spike in salary,” observed Robert Half Senior Executive Director Paul McDonald. “Firms that don’t offer JANUARY 2014

“More U.S. businesses are based out of [the entrepreneur’s] own home, so I think it’s a popular idea and we need to be encouraging it,” Linares adds.

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The January 28 panel will feature Carol Dahike, principal of Ashlawn Farm Coffee, Rich Bachand of Tarlov Financial, and Anne Garland of Anne Garland Enterprises. It will take place from 8:30 to 10 a.m. at the Pavilion at Saybrook Point, 150 College Street.

There is no charge for admission, but RSVPs are requested. To learn more contact info@oldsaybrookchamber.com.

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– Felicia Hunter bonuses, or plan to scale them back, may find other ways to reward their teams, such as training opportunities or staff celebrations. These non-monetary perks show staff members they’re valued and their contributions are appreciated by the organization.”

Year-End Bonuses Remain Stable

Sen. Art Linares (R-33),: Hoping to be a “vigourous suporter” of home based business.

“I think incubators are great,” he says. “I don’t want to compete with them. This [the chamber group] is for people who don’t have the resources to use an incubator. Even renting an office costs money.”

NORWALK — HomeServe USA Corp. is relocating its corporate headquarters to Norwalk, bringing 130 jobs, the company announced last month. The move comes as a result of expansion that leaves the home emergency-repair business having outgrown its Stamford site. The new headquarters is located in the Merritt 7 Corporate Office Park. In addition to the new jobs, HomeServe will retain 109 positions.

“Our business has seen tremendous growth over the past decade as American homeowners have come to understand the value our service plans provide, and we’ve increased our employee numbers to meet that demand,” said HomeServe CEO Tom Rusin in a statement. “We’ve outgrown our Stamford office, which is the best kind of problem to have. This larger facility in Norwalk will better accommodate our expansion needs and position us for continued growth into the future.” The state is providing the company with financial incentives that include a $1 million grant to assist with expansion needs.

What Goes Up Construction employment in Connecticut increased by 11 percent during the 12-month period ended November 2013, according to the Associated General Contractors of America (AGCA), which analyzed federal employment data to assess construction job activity in states nationwide. According to AGCA, the industry had 52,600 jobs in November 2012 and 58,400 positions the following year — a net gain of 5,800 jobs. The analysis also ranked 339 metropolitan areas throughout the country for level of construction activity. With a 1,900-job gain over the year, the Hartford/West Hartford/East Hartford region ranked No. 30 nationally. The New Haven area, which had a net loss of ten jobs, according to AGCA analysis, ranked No. 273.

Overall, construction employment in the U.S. rose in 211 metropolitan areas, decreased in 67 and remained “stagnant” in 61 over the year, AGCA noted.

Everything into Account NORWALK — Continuing professional education providers specializing in commercial accounting will be able to enhance skills needed for accounting and reporting courses through a technical forum offered January 30 by the Financial Accounting Standards Board. The forum will take place 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the FASB office, 401 Merritt 7 in Norwalk. It will afford an opportunity for who provide continuing professional education within their organizations to discuss final and proposed accounting standards with FASB members. Attendees may participate either in person or via a simultaneous audio webcast. For more information, phone 203-956-3459.

November Job Figures WETHERSFIELD — Nonfarm jobs in Connecticut grew by 4,000 for the month of November, according to the state Department of Labor Office of Research. In its monthly Labor Market Information report, the office noted that private sector jobs grew by 4,200.

Conversely, government jobs in the state dropped by 200 from October to November, according to the report. The unemployment rate dipped slightly to 7.6 percent, continuing a modest threemonth trend. “A third straight month of unemployment rate declines is certainly good news,” said Office of Research Director Andy Condon.

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Savage Webster Financial Corp., parent of Webster Bank, has promoted Joseph J. Savage to president of the holding company and the bank and appointed him to the bank’s board of directors. Savage, who joined Webster in 2002, was previously executive vice president and head of commercial banking. A graduate of Manhattan College, he earned an MBA at Seton Hall University.

Webster also announced the promotion of John Ciulla, executive vice president and head of middle-market banking, to lead commercial banking.

Before joining Webster in 2004, Ciulla was managing director of Bank of New York. The Williams graduate holds an MBA from Columbia and a JD from the Fordham School of Law. James P. Torgerson, president and CEO of UIL

Holdings Corp. in New Haven, has been elected chair of the Connecticut Business & Industry Association’s board of directors. Torgerson succeeds Donald R. Droppo Jr., president and CEO of Curtis Packaging in Sandy Hook. CBIA is the state’s largest business organization, supporting policies that promote economic growth, a fiscally responsible state government and a dynamic business climate.

Torgerson had been vicechair of the CBIA board since December 2012.

Guilford Savings Bank has hired Lyle Fulton as vice president, commercial loan officer. Fulton comes to GSB from Berkshire Bank where he served as senior vice president, commercial lending officer. Before Berkshire Bank’s acquisition of Connecticut Bank & Trust in 2012, he was executive vice president, chief lending officer for CBT.

Fulton

Torgerson.

Old Lyme audio specialist Sennheiser has named Mark Posgay vice president of sales and marketing, reporting to Sennheiser USA President Greg Beebe.

Before joining Sennheiser, the University of Florida graduate held senior sales positions at Harman Professional, Monster Cable and Mars Music.Â

Troy Damboise has been named first vice president, general auditor at Liberty Bank in Middletown. Damboise previously worked at ING where he was vice president and division audit director. Before that he worked for Citigroup and General Electric.

Damboise is a graduate of Merrimack College and earned an MBA in finance from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Kevin Walker has joined the Press/Cuozzo Realtors

Commercial Services team. Walker previously worked in the golf industry.

His career includes head professional positions at Doral Resort in Miami, Fla. and Nantucket (Mass.)

Golf Club. As a golf pro he was named one of Golf Magazine’s Top 100 Instructors in America list for 12 consecutive years.

DESPP Commissioner Ruben Bradford, who has announced his intention to retire on February 1. Schriro holds a JD from St. Louis University, an Ed.D. from Columbia, a MS from UMass/Boston, and a BA from Northeastern University.Â

Shelby J. Brown has been named executive administrator of the state’s Office of Governmental Accountability (OGA).

Brown previously was associate director of employee relations and chief learning officer with the Connecticut Board of Regents for Higher Education. Before that she was director of HR management systems and training with the state’s higher education system. Brown holds a BA from Trinity College and an M.Ed. from Harvard.

Webster Financial Corp. has named Charles (Chad) Wilkins executive vice president of Webster and Webster Bank, as well as head of HSA Bank, a Webster subsidiary and provider of consumerdirected health savings accounts. The 52-year-old Wilkins previously was general manager and CEO of OptumHealth Financial Services, a division of UnitedHealth Group in Minnesota. He holds a bachelor’s in political science from Lehigh University

Newtown Savings Bank has promoted Margaret A. Powers to executive vice president, second in rank only to NSB President and CEO John Trentacosta. Powers is the first officer to hold the EVP position in almost a decade and comes just 14 months after her promotion to chief lending officer. Powers joined Newtown Savings in 1985.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has appointed Dora B. Schriro commissioner of the state’s Department of Emergency Services & Public Protection (DESPP).

She currently serves as commissioner of the New York City Department of Correction, a position to which she was appointed in 2009 by then-Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.

Schriro will succeed

Carmody.

Connecticut Innovations Inc., the state’s quasi-public technology-investment arm, has named Lauren Carmody executive-inresidence, responsible for evaluating and mentoring CII portfolio companies in marketing and public relations. Carmody was previously director of public relations for Adams & Knight in Avon. She holds BA and MBA degrees from Quinnipiac University.

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CALENDAR CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE The Greater Meriden Chamber of Commerce presents Business After Hours, replete with networking, refreshments, CrossFit demonstrations and door prizes. 5-7 p.m. January 15 at CrossFit of Meriden, 88 State St., Meriden. Free. 203-2357901, info@meridenchamber.com.

Each third Friday the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce (GNHCC) hosts Discover the Chamber, an informational and networking session for new and prospective members. Free pizza, even! Noon January 17 at GNHCC, 900 Chapel St. (10th Fl.), New Haven. Free. 203-787-6735, gnhcc.com.

The Greater Meriden Chamber of Commerce presents its January Breakfast Club Series event. Guest speaker U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal.

7:30-9 a.m. January 24 at Sheraton, 275 Research Pkwy., Meriden. $20 advance, $25 at door members; $30 non-members. 203-235-7901, info@ meridenchamber.com.

The Greater Meriden Chamber of Commerce presents its Business After Hours networking event.

5-7 p.m. January 30 at Wireless Zone of Meriden, 893 E. Main St., Meriden. Free. 203-235-7901, info@meridenchamber.com.

The Quinnipiac Chamber of Commerce hosts Mayor William D. Dickinson’s 2014 State-ofthe-Town Address. Noon-2 p.m. January 31 at Masonicare at Ashlar Village, Cheshire Rd., Wallingford. Free. Reservations. 203-269-9891, maribel@quinncham.com.

EDUCATION Communications Fred Pryor presents a workshop, How To Deliver Exceptional Customer Service.

Designed for professional responsible for communicating with customers, the day-long session will teach attendees how to turn customers into allies, out-service competitors and minimize negative situations. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. January 22 at Omni New Haven Hotel, 155 Temple St., New Haven. $199.

800-556-3009, events.careertrack.com.

Information Technology Fred Pryor presents Advanced Microsoft Excel.

Learn how to unleash the power of Excel’s most complex capabilities and take the fear out of macros, PivotTables and more. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. January 21 at Omni New Haven Hotel, 155 Temple St., New Haven. $149. 800-556-3009, events. careertrack.com.

Legal The New Haven County Bar Association’s Ask a Lawyer program offers free ten- to 15-minute consultations with an NHCBA attorney to all comers (no pre-registration necessary) each third Wednesday. 5-7 p.m. January 15 at Hagaman Memorial Library, 227 Main St., East Haven. Free.

203-468-3890, hagamanlibrary.info.

$15 NHMA members, $20 others. 203-387-5121, newhavenmanufacturers.com.

The New Haven Manufacturers Association meets to review Environmental-Compliance and Regulatory Issues for Manufacturers.

Guest speaker is Jamie Barr, vice president of Langan Engineering & Environmental Services. Noon1:30 p.m. January 23 at Graduate Club, 153 Elm St., New Haven. $15 NHMA members, $20 nonmembers. 203-387-5121, newhavenmanufacturers. com.

Sales/Marketing The Greater Meriden Chamber of Commerce hosts a “how-to” workshop on Best Practices for Showcasing Your Business. Attendees will learn how to put their company’s best foot forward at trade shows, expositions, career fairs, etc., including creating a booth that stops visitors in their tracks and irresistible giveaways. 5-7 p.m.

February 10 at 3 Colony St. (Suite 301), Meriden. $10 (free to 2014 Business Expo exhibitors). Reservations. 203-235-7901, meridenchamber.com.

Small Business The New Haven chapter of the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) holds a Pre-Business Workshop. Attendees will learn essential business information on how to write a business plan, insurance needs of a business, financing/ bookkeeping, Connecticut tax information and marketing tips. 8:30 a.m.-noon January 8 in Rm. S105, Gateway Community College, 20 Church St., New Haven. Free. 203-865-7645, newhavenscore. org.

The Greater Meriden Chamber of Commerce in partnership with SCORE offers free and confidential Mentoring to entrepreneurs and small-business owners the second Thursday of each month.

Call for appointment. 9, 10 & 11 a.m. January 9 at 3 Colony St., Suite 301, Meriden. 203-2357901, meridenchamber.com.

Under the auspices of the Quinnipiac Chamber of Commerce, SCORE volunteers offer free and confidential Mentoring to entrepreneurs and small-business owners the third Wednesday of each month. Counselors have experience in such areas as marketing, management, business-plan preparation and more. Call for appointment. 9, 10 & 11 a.m. January 15 at Quinnipiac Chamber of Commerce, 100 S. Turnpike Rd., Wallingford. Free.

Reservations. 203-269-9891, maribel@quinncham. com.

The Greater Meriden Chamber of Commerce in partnership with SCORE offer a four-session small-business workshop series called Kick-Up or Jump-Start Your Business in 2014. The subject of this inaugural session: “Startup and Growing Business Basics.” 6-9 p.m. January 22 at My City Kitchen, 384 Pratt St., Meriden. $10. 203235-7901, meridenchamber.com.

The Greater Meriden Chamber of Commerce in partnership with SCORE offer a small-business workshop series called Kick-Up or Jump-Start Your Business in 2014. The subject of this second session: “Writing a Winning Business Plan.”

6-9 p.m. January 29 at My City Kitchen, 384 Pratt St., Meriden. $10. 203-235-7901, meridenchamber.com.

Management Presented by CareerTrack, the New Haven Management Conference will focus on helping managers lead, build morale, encourage teamwork and create enthusiasm through eight workshops. The event will begin with an opening presentation, “Management in the 21st Century: Best Practices of the Past, Present and Future.” 9 a.m.-4 p.m. January 31 at Omni New Haven Hotel, 155 Temple St., New Haven. $199. Registration.

800-556-3009, pryor.com.

Manufacturing The New Haven Manufacturers Association meets to examine the state Department of Economic & Community Development’s (DECD) Manufacturing Priorities. Guest speaker is DECD Commissioner Catherine Smith. Noon-1:30 p.m. January 23 at Graduate Club, 153 Elm St., New Haven.

JANUARY 2014

LEADS/ NETWORKING GROUPS

Enter Your Events on www.ctcalendar.com

The Professional Networking Group of Waterbury (PrefNet) meets Thursdays. 7 a.m.

January 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 at Waterbury Regional Chamber, 83 Bank St., Waterbury. 203-575-101, ProfNetWaterbury.com.

The Quinnipiac Chamber of Commerce’s QNet Group meets the second and fourth Wednesdays.

8-9 a.m. January 8, 22 at 100 S. Turnpike Rd., Wallingford. Free. 203-234-0332, 203-269-9891, quinncham.com.

The Hamden Chamber of Commerce’s Chamber Business Network IV meets first and third Thursdays. 8 a.m. January 2, 16 at chamber office, 2969 Whitney Ave., Hamden. Free.

203-985-1200.

The Greater New Haven chapter of Toastmasters meets second and fourth Wednesdays. 6:30 p.m. January 8, 22 at New Haven City Hall, 165 Church St., New Haven. 203-871-3065.

The Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Alliance Leads Group meets first and third Thursdays. 8-9 a.m. January 2, 16 at GVCC, 10 Progress Dr. (2nd Fl.), Shelton. 203-925-4981, nancie@greatervalleychamber.com.

The Milford chapter of Business Network International meets Fridays. 7-8:30 a.m. January 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 at Hilton Garden Inn, 291 Old Gate La., Milford. Free. 203-214-6336, greatermilfordbni.com.

The Sound chapter of Business Network International meets Fridays. 8-9:30 a.m. January 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 at Parthenon Diner, 374 E. Main St., Branford. Free. 203-208-1042.

Milford Chamber of Commerce’s Friday Morning Leads Group meets. 11 a.m.-noon January 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 at Milford Chamber of Commerce, 5 Broad St., Milford. Free. 203-878-0681, chamber@milfordct.com.

The Fairfield I chapter of Business Network International meets Tuesdays. 7-8:30 a.m. January 7, 14, 21, 28 at First Congregational Church, 148 Beach Rd., Fairfield. Free. 203-430-4494.

The Waterbury chapter of Business Network International meets Tuesdays. 7-8:30 a.m.

January 7, 14, 21, 28 at the Village at East Farms, 180 Scott Rd., Waterbury. 203-755-5548, waterburybni.com.

The Shoreline chapter of Business Network International meets Tuesdays. 7:15-8:30 a.m.

January 7, 14, 21, 28 at Parthenon Diner, 809 Boston Post Rd., Old Saybrook. 203-245-0332.

The Hamden chapter of Business Network International meets Tuesdays. 7:15-8:45 a.m.

January 7, 14, 21, 28 at Knights of Columbus, 2630 Whitney Ave., Hamden. Free. 203-294-1505, hamdenbni.com.

The Milford Chamber of Commerce’s Tuesday Morning Leads Group meets. 8:30 a.m. January 7, 14, 21, 28 at Milford Chamber of Commerce, 5 Broad St., Milford. Free. 203-878-0681, chamber@milfordct.com.

Connecticut Business Connections meets first and third Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m. January 7, 21 at Tuscany Grill, 120 College St., Middletown. 860343-1579, connecticutbusinessconnection.org.

The Trumbull Business Network (formerly Bottom-Line Business Club) meets Wednesdays.

7:30-8:30 a.m. January 8, 15, 22, 29 at Helen Plumb Building, 571 Church Hill Rd., Trumbull.

Members free (annual dues $50). Reservations.

203-452-8383, trumbullbn.com/contactus.htm.

The New Haven chapter of Business Network International meets Wednesdays. 8-9:30 a.m.

January 8, 15, 22, 29 at the Bourse, 839 Chapel St., New Haven. $100 registration; $365 annual fee. 203-789-2364, boursenewhaven.com.

Milford Chamber of Commerce’s Wednesday Morning Leads Group meets 8:30-9:30 a.m.

January 8, 15, 22, 29 at Milford Chamber of Commerce, 5 Broad St., Milford. Free. 203-8780681, chamber@milfordct.com.

The Connecticut Alliance for Business Opportunities (CABO), which describes itself as the state’s LGBT chamber of commerce, meets first Thursday mornings. 8-9:30 a.m. January 2, February 6 at the Pond House in Elizabeth Park, 1555 Asylum Ave., West Hartford. $15 members, $25 others. 203-903-8525, thecabo.org.

The Greater New Haven Business & Professional Association, an association of predominantly African-American business people, holds networking sessions Wednesdays. 11 a.m.noon January 8, 15, 22, 29 at 192 Dixwell Ave., New Haven. Free. 203-562-2193.

The Entrepreneur Business Forum (EBF) meets Thursdays. 7 a.m. January 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 at Hamden Healthcare Center, 1270 Sherman La., Hamden. Free. 860-877-3880.

The Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce’s (GVCC) Seeds-to-Leads Group meets second and fourth Wednesdays. 8 a.m. January 8, 22 at GVCC, 10 Progress Dr. (2nd Fl.), Shelton. Free. 203925-4981, laura@greatervalleychamber.com.

Connecticut Business Connections meets second Thursdays. 7:30 a.m. January 9 at the Greek Olive, 402 Sargent Dr., New Haven. 860-3431579, connecticutbusinessconnection.org.

The West Haven Chamber of Commerce’s Leads Plus A.M. Group meets second Thursdays. 8:30 a.m. January 9 at 140 Capt. Thomas Blvd., West Haven. 203-933-1500.

Middlesex County Toastmasters meets second and fourth Thursdays. 7 p.m. January 9, 23 at Middlesex Community College, 100 Training Hill Rd., Middletown. 860-301-9402, middlesex.freetoasthost.com.

The Hamden Chamber of Commerce’s Chamber Business Network III (formerly Leads Group III) meets second and fourth Mondays. 5 p.m.

January 13, 27 at SBC Restaurant & Brewery, 950 Dixwell Ave., Hamden. Free. 203-288-6831.

The Hamden Chamber of Commerce’s Chamber Business Network I (formerly Leads Group I) meets second and fourth Tuesdays. 8 a.m. January 14, 28 at 2969 Whitney Ave., Hamden. Free.

203-281-1233.

The Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce’s (GVCC) Women in Networking Leads Group meets second and fourth Tuesdays. 8:4510 a.m. January 14, 28 at GVCC, 10 Progress Dr. (2nd Fl.)., Shelton. Free. 203-925-4981.

The Hamden Chamber of Commerce’s Chamber Business Network II (formerly Leads Group II) meets second and fourth Tuesdays. Noon January 14, 28 at Lifetime Solutions Community VNA, 2 Broadway, North Haven. Free. 203-288-7305.

The Jewish Business League meets third Wednesdays for networking and information-sharing. January’s guest speaker is Rena Cheskis-Gold, who will discuss “Data-Driven Decision-Making.”

7:30-9:15 a.m. January 15 at Tower One/Tower East, 18 Tower La., New Haven. $8 advance, $10 at door. tinyurl.com/8-alnnuz.

The Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce’s (GVCC) Valley Business Network meets first and third Wednesdays. 8-9:15 a.m. January 15 at GVCC, 10 Progress Dr. (2nd Fl.), Shelton. Free. 203925-4981, laura@greatervalleychamber.com.

The Connecticut Business Hall of Fame hosts a statewide networking event the third Friday each month. 7:30-9 a.m. January 16 at Connecticut Laborers Council, 475 Ledyard St., Hartford. $5.

860-523-7500, ctbhof.com.

The West Haven Chamber of Commerce’s Leads Plus P.M. Group meets fourth Thursdays. Noon January 23 at 140 Captain Thomas Blvd., West Haven. 203-933-1500.

The West Haven Chamber’s Women in Business meets the fourth Monday of each month.

11:45 a.m. January 27 at American Steakhouse, 3354 Sawmill Rd., West Haven. 203-933-1500.

Editor’s note: Fraternal meeting listings can be found on our website (ctcalendar.com) along with additional events taking place statewide.

Send CALENDAR listings to Business New Haven, 20 Grand Ave., New Haven 06513, or e-mail to news@conntact.com.

29

NewCo First-Time Entrepreneur ‘Gets’ IT WALLINGFORD — As a technical expert working for major corporations, Joe Barone observed how various departments would outsource computer-based projects to overseas contractors. He thought it might be a good idea to keep those jobs at home. Even better, he reasoned, the outsourced work could possibly go to his own company.

“I worked with insurance companies, working mainly in their technology sector. These large companies would outsource business to smaller companies and abroad,” says Barone. He has worked at New York Life Insurance Co., Travelers and the Hartford Financial Services Group. He served as senior service manager at the latter for six years before launching his own business, PcTronics-Solutions LLC, 14 months ago.

“I decided to take on the endeavor,” says Barone, who serves as his company’s chief technology officer. PcTronics is located at 186 Center Street in Wallingford. It is Barone’s first business.

PcTronics offers ongoing computerbased technical support for commercial and residential clients over a fixed time period for a one-time fee. The service is renewable at the end of the prearranged time block. There are several packages available, based on whether a company

MUSKA Continued from page 4

School choice improves student performance and lightens taxpayers’ burdens.

But in time, its greatest contribution may be the doubt it sows.

For over a century, Americans have thought of K-12 education as a government function. They’ve let politicians (i.e., school-board members) oversee bureaucracies (i.e., school districts) funded by public subsidies (i.e., tax revenue) to direct the learning process. The results, a gutsy state legislator from Utah noted last year, have been calamitous: “Some parents act as if the responsibility to educate, and even care for their child, is primarily the responsibility of the public school system.

As a result, our teachers and schools have been forced to become surrogate parents, expected to do everything from behavioral counseling, to providing adequate nutrition, to teaching sex education, as well as ensuring full college and career readiness.”

Dereliction and dependency don’t come cheap. At a price of just under $600 billion in 2011 — credible analysts think that estimate is far too low — government-run 30

has a relatively simple or a more complex data network.

The technical support eliminates the need for companies to maintain in-house IT departments, Barone explains.

“Basically, we deal mostly with small- and medium-sized businesses,” he says.

Those companies arguably could benefit most from his services, saving the cost of additional technical staff.

PcTronics services include computer repair, hosting, backup and storage, special projects, voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), and smartphone and tablet repair, monitoring and support, and more. Cloud computing is a large part of the business.

“Cloud computing is a broad term. We think of cloud for the Internet and e-mail,” notes Barone. But, he says, there are any number of applications conducive to cloud, and PcTronics specializes in servicing them.

Forging into the “new terrain” of cloud can put a company at an advantage, notes Barone. Benefits include less time spent installing software and a simpler procedure for enhancing a company’s capabilities.

Barone has always been good with electronics. The Brooklyn native earned an associate’s degree in computer and infor-

We’re Gonna Make Your Day...

L-R: Mayor William Dickinson;, Paul Mayer, chairman of the Board Quinnipiac Chamber of Commerce; Sandra Gleifert, IT and sales manager, PcTronics; Joe Barone, owner and chief technology officer, PcTronics; and Cindy Semrau, former VP, Quinnipiac Chamber of Commerce, at the grand opening in late 2012.

mation science and support services from the College of Staten Island.

Barone says he sees his mission as helping customers have a competitive upper hand through the technical services his company provides.

The company already is looking to expand.

Additionally, the company soon will become multinational, says Barone, the son of Italian immigrants.

“We’re making plans to open up in Italy,” he notes.

For more information about PcTronics, visit the company website at pctronicssolutions.com.

“We’re branching out to New York City this year,” he notes.

— Felicia Hunter

primary and secondary schools consume an alarmingly large, always-growing share of America’s wealth.

Choice, in all its forms, reverses that trend.

It doesn’t get politicians and bureaucrats out of education, but it relinquishes a fair degree of control. Choice prompts parents to consider whether the school assigned to their child offers the best match. Maybe there are better alternatives, and perhaps — this might sound crazy, but go with it — government does not know what’s best.

Legislatures, abetted by governors, will do oodles of damage this year. They’ll impose tax hikes, threaten civil liberties, reward public-employee unions, embrace junk-science regulations and continue to implement ObamaCare. And they’ll surely perpetuate disastrous education policies,Post Your Events. from “universal preschool” to boosting All For Free. spending.

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We’re Gonna Make Your Day...

But in some states, choice measures willLink advance — and every education-freedom victory draws the nation closer to the im-your perative separation of school and state.

D. Dowd Muska (dowdmuska.com) of Broad Brook writes about government, economics and technology. Follow him on Twitter @dowdmuska.

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