Fairfield County Business Journal: 101419

PRINT JOURNALISM: BECAUSE IT STILL MATTERS. OCTOBER 14, 2019 VOL. 55, No. 41

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Start your engine, pay more taxes GAS TAXES IN THE AREA ARE AMONG THE HIGHEST IN THE U.S.

INSIDE PAGE

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AINSLIE SQUARE OPENS

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DALIO BLASTS TRUMP

BY PETER KATZ pkatz@westfairinc.com

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ne of the elements that has blended into the background for many people when they stop at the gas pump is the matter of taxes.

Nothing more explicit than the phrase “including all taxes” may appear on price signs. A breakdown of what’s collected and for whom may require some digging.

According to data from the American Petroleum Institute, New York state ranks seventh in the nation

when it comes to gas taxes collected at the pump, with 64.36 cents per gallon being added to the cost of the fuel.

Connecticut is ranked in ninth place at 60.51 cents per gallon. The highest gas tax is in California at 79.6 cents per gallon. Alaska has the lowest gas tax at 33.06 cents. Included in the numbers is 18.4 cents per gallon in federal tax. Not all of the money winds up being spent on asphalt.

In New York, 38.5% went to pay for state operations, 24.6% for state debt service and 14.1% for local debt service on average from 2012 to 2019, according to state

data. Only 22.7% was spent on capital projects.

“We think that state and local sales taxes should be dedicated to transportation, to road and bridge repair and construction,” said Robert Sinclair Jr., the manager of media relations for AAA Northeast.

“Currently, that is not the case.”

Sinclair added that AAA is in favor of a modest increase in the federal gasoline tax.

“That money is 100% dedicated in a locked box to transportation and road and bridge construction and repair,” he said.

Christopher Hart, former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), told the Business Journal that he foresees a day when the federal and state governments will have to find other sources of revenue to replace » GAS

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PRICE CUTS DRIVE SALES GAINS IN LUXURY REAL ESTATE DARIEN PRODUCED A ‘SWEET SPOT’

BY PETER KATZ pkatz@westfairinc.com

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he bottom line of the most recent Houlihan Lawrence report on luxury home sales in Westchester and Fairfield counties is that realistic pricing is the key to sales.

Anthony Cutugno, senior vice president and the director of private brokerage for Rye Brook-based Houlihan Lawrence, said “Luxury sales increased because prices have fallen and buyers are transacting on compelling value propositions.”

In some cases, prices are down dramatically

compared with what they were when the houses were first listed.

“In Westchester, the $3 million-to-$4 million price range accounted for most of the gains in third-quarter sales,” Cutugno said.

“Nearly all closed properties in this price range were reduced from their original price – some had up to five reductions – and sold nearly 30% to 50% less than the original list price.”

He said something similar was happening to properties priced at $5 million and up. They were being listed at prices that were unrealistically high and sold substantially below » REAL ESTATE

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Lehman optimistic about getting Connecticut ‘back in shape’

BY KEVIN ZIMMERMAN kzimmerman@westfairinc.com

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fter a little over seven months on the job, Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner David Lehman is finding himself working long hours, traveling all over the state and working feverishly to right Connecticut’s fiscal ship.

It’s a considerable change from working in the private sector. Before taking his first-ever government job, Lehman spent his career on Wall Street, the last 15 years at Goldman Sachs, where most recently he was the global head of real estate finance and investment banking.

But, he said, he has no regrets.

“I love it,” the 41-year-old told the Business Journal.

“It’s an amazing challenge.

I’m a big believer in (Gov. Ned Lamont’s) approach to the state’s economy, and I’m certain that we can get the state of Connecticut back in the shape it needs.”

Not that winning the job was simple. Lehman’s tenure at Goldman, which coincided with the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis, was the subject of much debate among members of the state Senate. During his confirmation hearing, Lehman denied that he knowingly sold intentionally inflated products to customers.

BRUISING PROCESS

Despite that somewhat bruising process — he was confirmed by a 28-8 vote in late March after being nominated by Lamont in early February — the Greenwich resident said he welcomed the process.

“In government, just like the private sector, you need a lot of collaboration,” he said. “I met with probably over 90% of the Senate on a one-on-one basis. There were a lot of questions

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MAIN OFFICE TELEPHONE 914-694-3600 OFFICE FAX 914-694-3699 EDITORIAL EMAIL bobr@westfairinc.com WRITE TO 701 Westchester Avenue, Suite 100 J White Plains, N.Y. 10604

Publisher Dee DelBello Managing Editor/Print Glenn J. Kalinoski Managing Editor/Digital Bob Rozycki Associate Publisher Anne Jordan Group Associate Publisher Dan Viteri NEWS Bureau Chief • Kevin Zimmerman Senior Enterprise Editor • Phil Hall Copy and Video Editor • Peter Katz Senior Reporter • Bill Heltzel, Reporters • Georgette Gouveia, Mary Shustack Research Coordinator • Luis Flores ART & PRODUCTION Creative Director Dan Viteri Art Director Sebastián Flores, Kelsie Mania, Fatime Muriqi DECD Commissioner David Lehman visits Cherry Street Lofts in Bridgeport on March 25.

asked on both sides to make sure we were comfortable with each other.

“They wanted to make sure that I would be effective in the role and I was pleased and happy to answer those questions.”

Lehman said he had never met Lamont before hearing the new governor’s Jan. 9 speech to the General Assembly, but was suitably inspired by the governor’s call to public service to “reach out and say, ‘I could be useful to you and your administration, and I’m happy to offer my services.’”

Following a number of meetings with Lamont and members of his administration, “I quit my day job and started a new day job,” Lehman laughed.

Lehman — who is also Lamont’s senior economic adviser — said he is hard at work implementing aspects of the governor’s “debt diet” while working to attract

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But, following Lamont’s lead, Lehman said the days of front-loading agreements with money on the condition of job creation may be over.

Instead, the state plans to require companies to create jobs first to receive a percentage of a “net new income tax.”

new companies and jobs to the state, as well as retaining those already here.

“We are focusing on what money is going out and what we are getting in return,” he said. “Ultimately, it’s about the cost to the taxpayer, and I am certainly one of those. We hope to spend less money per job created” than had been the case in the past.

COMPARE AND CONTRAST

Lamont’s predecessor Dannel Malloy — and Lehman’s DECD predecessor Catherine Smith — made waves (positive and negative) for doling out millions of dollars of incentives to attract companies to Connecticut. According to a DECD report in January, Malloy’s “First Five Plus” initiative involved 19 companies receiving $360.6 million in direct state assistance, with another $120 million in tax credits,

resulting in 30,164 jobs retained and 13,015 new jobs — which DECD calculated as costing $8,722 per job.

While the loans and grants were contingent upon recipient companies hitting specified job targets, that did not always occur. In moving its corporate headquarters from Philadelphia to Bloomfield in 2011, Cigna agreed to a deal that would allow it to earn up to $71 million in state grants, tax credits and loans. When the insurer failed to create the promised 600 new jobs, the state forgave $10 million of the $15 million loan in the incentives package. Cigna repaid the remaining $5 million in 2017.

Even with the state’s dangling of a financial carrot, some companies have given Connecticut

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the stick. Alexion Pharmaceuticals’ First Five agreement involved up to $51 million in state incentives, but it still chose to relocate its headquarters from New Haven to Boston in 2018.

Alexion paid back a $20 million loan, plus interest, a $6 million grant and penalties — with the state making $2.13 million on the deal, according to the DECD — and announced last month that it expects to spend about $10 million to expand its R&D facility, which remains in New Haven.

Still, the exit of Alexion and, more locally, General Electric’s move from Fairfield to Boston — along with Cigna and Aetna threatening to leave, the latter staying only after CVS acquired it and New York City pulled its own incentive package — have left nagging doubts in many corners about where the state is heading.

Lamont has frequently invoked his talks with GE after its move was a done deal — regularly noting how the company was essentially fed up with the state’s inability to “get our fiscal house in order” — and this month Kiplinger named Connecticut the nation’s second-least business-friendly state, giving further credence to a longstanding perception.

MILLIONS OF DOLLARS

The state has doled out tens of millions of dollars to Electric Boat for its expanding submarine-manufacturing operations, as well as $8.4 million to Charter Communications and $4 million to Cigna for headquarters expansions and/or improvements.

But, following Lamont’s lead, Lehman said the days of front-loading agreements with money on the condition of job creation may be over. Instead, the state plans to require companies to create jobs first to receive a percentage of a “net new income tax.”

The percentage that businesses get back by creating a job will be greater in the state’s 72 Opportunity Zones, as designated as part of the 2017 Tax Cuts

In the spirit of Independence: Two entrepreneurs reveal what it takes A WOMEN’S BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL SUCCESS STORY

DECD Commissioner David Lehman visits Bridgeport’s Steelpointe Harbor on March 25.

and Jobs Act. “It’s absolutely a shift,” Lehman said.

“We’ve already given out substantially less (this year) than the preceding four years.

We want to let the private sector take the lead. They’re the experts.”

The state has bonded about $1.22 billion for capital projects year to date, compared with the $1.97 billion borrowed last year.

Lehman noted that an Oct. 30 event in New Haven, “Opportunity Zones — Choose Connecticut,” was designed to “show off and showcase the Opportunity Zones we have, with representatives from municipalities, developers and others attending. We want to make sure we don’t lose those ... opportunities, for lack of a better word.”

Lehman said the state is also refocusing its efforts at drawing companies from the past scattershot approach to one targeted at those business sectors where Connecticut has an advantage, including tech, financial services, manufacturing, including aerospace and defense (“very, very unique to Connecticut”), life sciences and health care.

“We can’t focus on every type of business and industry,” he declared. “We need to be thoughtful and deliberate on where we focus our resources.”

He echoed the governor’s determination to fix the state’s transportation infrastructure.

THE NEW HAVEN LINE

“The New Haven Line is such an asset to the state,” he said. “The growth we want and need is depen-

dent on figuring out our highways and building our rail and even bus service in places like Stamford and Norwalk. And we need more transit-oriented development.”

Lehman’s efforts are receiving solid reviews from business leaders.

“He’s off to a really good beginning,” Joe McGee, vice president, public policy and programs at The Business Council of Fairfield County, said. “He’s very clearly reaching out to different groups, meeting a lot of people. He’s very focused on the practical side, how you grow business, and he has a relationship with the governor that’s very strong, which is very important.”

McGee also praised the administration’s approach to transportation and capitalizing on the state’s workforce, as well as the shift in how incentives are positioned.

“So far, I’ve been impressed,” said Joe Brennan, president and CEO of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association.

“It doesn’t always work out if you’re going from the private sector into government, but his background in finance and real estate make him perfect for the DECD role.

“Other states are very aggressive” in poaching business from each other, Brennan continued. “He realizes that there needs to be a new focus on the quality of life, the quality of the workforce and the overall cost of doing business here.

Those are the things that will really create a long-lasting environment.”

Four years ago Louise Joseph opened Dough Girls Pizza. From a specially outfitted food truck, Dough Girls creates wood fired gourmet pizzas. They make the sauce and the dough themselves and source the freshest local ingredients. You can find her truck all over lower Fairfield County at local events, fairs, festivals, and farmers markets. Joseph will even bring her pizza truck to you as they cater both private and corporate events.

As a woman owned business, particularly in the food industry, Joseph has found there are many challenges. “It is a very male dominated field here in the United States,” she points out. “Even though it’s 2019 people still aren’t used to women cooking and especially women making pizza.”

To help with these challenges Joseph found the WBDC to be an indispensable part of growing her business. After a friend suggested she give the organization a try, she met with them and soon found that there was much to be learned from the classes and the network of other women entrepreneurs. “I wish I knew about it before I started my business but you know, better late than never. I scream it from the rooftops, I tell everyone about the WBDC!” Sasha Beatty and her company, Restore Me IV, just celebrated their one year anniversary. At their office on 67 Mason Street in Greenwich, Beatty’s company provides IV solutions that will revive your nutrient levels, hydrate your body, improve performance, strengthen your immune system, enhance dull and tired skin, decrease depression and anxiety, bolster energy or simply cure a hangover. As a board certified Family Nurse Practitioner, Beatty enjoys having her own business.

“Being an entrepreneur allows me the freedom to be creative, implement and incorporate all my ideas as I see fit, scheduling flexibility and not feeling like I’m not just another employee punching a clock. As a small business owner I am able to interact with clients on a more personal level, which allows for better personalized service to help achieve and maintain goals.”

Beatty has also found the WBDC incredibly helpful in running and growing her business. She started with the GPS class which she says, “Helped me to organize my thoughts, forecast and envision my future.” Since then they have helped her with marketing, implementing a social media strategy and tips and programs to use to help keep track of profit and expenses. “I was connected with many other great women that volunteered their time to answer many questions to help me push forward.”

Both Beatty and Joseph know that the guidance of the WBDC and their network of professional women will help them continue to grow and succeed as entrepreneurs.

Both women will be honored at the Annual Gala Luncheon on November 1, 2019.

The Women’s Business Development Council is a non-profit providing training, education and borrowing power necessary for women to launch and grow their businesses. For more information, visit ctwbdc.org or call 203-353-1750.

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OCTOBER 14, 2019

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Stamford’s Ainslie Square ‘71% sold’

BY KEVIN ZIMMERMAN kzimmerman@westfairinc.com

W

ith new apartment complexes seemingly rising every day in Fairfield County, how hungry are people to buy — rather than rent — dwellings within a new enclave?

If Ainslie Square, consisting of 37 townhouses and 25 single-family detached houses on 4.5 acres at 159 Colonial Road in Stamford, is any indication, they’re practically ravenous.

“We’ve sold 71% already,” developer Randy Salvatore, founder and CEO of Stamford’s RMS Cos., said at an Oct. 2 ribbon-cutting ceremony. “Forty-four of the 62 homes are either sold and occupied or contracted for. It’s been very gratifying to see.”

Salvatore said he was taking something of a gamble in December 2017 when he purchased the property — formerly home to a long-derelict school building and several baseball fields owned by Congregation Agudath Sholom next door — for $6.2 million. While there’s been no shortage of rental buildings going up in Stamford — BLT’s Harbor Point being a prime example — offering up houses for sale in what RMS is touting as “a neighborhood within a neighborhood” is unusual.

“I’ve been looking to do something similar around the county,” Salvatore said, “but I haven’t been able to find the right property.”

That Ainslie Square is within walking distance of many of Stamford’s downtown attractions — including its Glenbrook train station — has helped draw a crowd made up largely, but

not entirely, of millennials, according to the property’s sales manager Donna McNamara.

“Millennials are buying,” she affirmed. “Some of them are getting tired of renting studios for exorbitant prices in Manhattan, when they can commute to work from Stamford and own something where they can start a family.”

Designer Sheila Bajaj, founder of New Canaan’s SMB Interiors, said Ainslie Square was her first commercial project.

“It went really quickly,” a little more than a year, she said of completing the project. “It was a great team to work with. There were never any sour moments, though, of course, there was some stress.

“There are a lot of young professionals interested in what we’ve done here,” she added. “Some are

Stamford Mayor David Martin (holding scissors) and RMS Cos. Founder and CEO Randy Salvatore at the Oct. 2 Ainslie Square ribbon-cutting ceremony. Designer Sheila Bajaj is second from left.

looking for starter homes.

Sometimes it feels like ‘Melrose Place!’ ” There are plenty of “downsizers and empty nesters” as well, McNamara said.

Three-bedroom townhomes, measuring 1,864 to 1,908 square feet, start at $569,000. Detached 3-bedroom, 2,496-square-foot

‘Ownership is getting harder to come by’

BY KEVIN ZIMMERMAN kzimmerman@westfairinc.com

A

s the Congress and President Donald Trump continue to bat charges of treason back and forth in the midst of an official impeachment inquiry, fears continue to rise that the day-to-day costs of doing business will be lost in the shuffle.

Such is the case with the potential impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 on housing, particularly in high-tax states like Connecticut.

Ry a n R avei s , co-president of Sheltonheadquartered William Raveis Real Estate, Mortgage & Insurance, recently took a trip to Washington, D.C., to discuss the situation with members of the U.S. Treasury Department, including

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Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury for Tax Policy David Kautter.

“We have to make sure that the housing market stays liquid,” Raveis told the Business Journal. “Our concern is whether the government is keeping an eye on the importance of migratory patterns in and out of Connecticut and the rest of the Northeast, which typically are among the highest-tax states.”

An April report by analysts at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York examined the drop in home-sales activity between the fourth quarter of 2017 and the third quarter of 2018. With figures in the respective quarters adjusted for seasonal factors impacting the housing market at those times of the year, the report found that new home sales decreased 7.6% nationwide — with the Northeast and West regions sustaining the most substan-

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William Raveis Co-president Ryan Raveis (left) with Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury for Tax Policy David Kautter.

tial drops in sales activity.

During the period, the top marginal income-tax rate dropped from 39.6% to 37%, reducing the potential savings from itemizing one’s deductions by 2.6 percentage points. With property tax deductions capped at $10,000 under the new law, effectively ending the full deductibility of state and local taxes, and the halving of the mortgage interest deduction, the cost of buying a home has increased between 1% and 5% for homeowners affected by the

tax code changes.

The report found that the Northeast was by far the hardest hit during the period, with a 28.2% drop in new home prices. The second-most impacted region, the West, recorded a 12.1% decrease.

“We have to make sure that Connecticut and the Northeast region stay competitive,” Raveis said.

One by-product of the tax code change, he said, was that, “There’s now less incentive to get a larger mortgage because you can’t

houses start at $749,999, with 4-bedrooms — in 2,997-square-foot and 3,090-square-foot options — starting at $819,999.

McNamara said a number of options — including types of materials used for kitchen counters, cabinetry and the like, as well as finished basements — are available.

Amenities include a 20-by-40-foot pool, fitness studio, firepit and children’s playground.

Salvatore said the development’s success proves that “despite what we keep hearing about the state and the economy, this is a really strong environment when it comes to real estate.”

deduct it. And that has a real effect. For younger generations particularly, who are typically loaded down with student debt and are living at home, home ownership of their own — which has always been seen as a way of building equity — is getting harder to come by.”

There’s also a knock-on effect on local businesses, Raveis said. “Plumbers, roofers, landscapers and the like have fewer opportunities when there’s not that reinvestment into the community,” he said. “Keeping the neighborhood looking nice becomes less of a priority if you’re just renting.”

There is also the issue of the administration’s plan to re-privatize the mortgage groups Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, announced in September. That plan — aimed at reducing risk while preserving homebuyers’ access to 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages — would make the companies privately owned, but government-sponsored, with profits no longer going to the Treasury but used to build up the lenders’ capital bases as a shield against pos-

sible future losses.

But not everyone is convinced the strategy is sound, with concerns voiced from several quarters that the new capital requirements for Fannie and Freddie could result in increased fees for guaranteeing mortgages, thus possibly raising borrowing costs for homebuyers.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, of the Senate Banking Committee, called the proposal “another industry giveaway that would destabilize the economy ... and limit access to mortgages for working people across the country. (It) will make mortgages more expensive and harder to get.”

National Association of Realtors (NAR) President John Smaby, who visited Kautter with Raveis, has spoken in favor of the plan.

But Raveis echoed Brown’s sentiments, saying that if the privatization goes through, Fannie and Freddie would be replaced by banks and a secondary market for mortgages, which would result in interest rates going up and crippling the state further.

Dalio: Trump’s proposed block on China investments would backfire dramatically

BY PHIL HALL phall@westfairinc.com

Dalio warned that if the U.S.-China trade feud were to deteriorate further, the global community would not be siding with the U.S. for economic alliances.

“Countries are increasingly having to choose whether they are aligned with the U.S. or China,” he stated.

B

ridgewater Associates founder and co-chairman Ray Dalio is speculating that President Donald Trump is taking an idea from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s playbook in dealing with an adversary across the Pacific, but cautioned that such a strategy would have acute repercussions.

President Donald J. Trump

community would not be siding with the U.S. for economic alliances.

“Countries are increasingly having to choose whether they are aligned with the U.S. or China,” he stated. “When presented with this choice, they typically answer it based on both economic and military calculations.

Almost without exception, they say that the economics favors being aligned with China because China is more important to them economically (because China is bigger in trade and bigger in capital inflows) and that the military support favors the U.S. if the U.S. is willing to use it to support them, which is highly doubtful. At the same time, China’s own military capabilities (including cyber) are rising relative to the U.S.’, especially in Asia. As a result, China is for the most part quietly winning the geopolitical war, particular in Asia.”

Ray Dalio. Photo by Harry Murphy/ Web Summit via Sportsfile.

In a blog post on LinkedIn, Dalio noted Trump’s raising the notion of blocking U.S. investments in China and recalled how Roosevelt used special emergency powers to freeze Japanese assets and place an embargo on oil sales to Japan in the years prior to the U.S. entry into World War II. “Regarding the capital and currency wars, the ability of the U.S. president to unilaterally cut off capital flows to China and also freeze payments on the debts owed to China and also use sanctions to inhibit non-American financial transactions with China must be considered as possibilities,” Dalio wrote. “That’s why the proposed step of limiting American portfolio investments in China makes me both think about the implications of this step and wonder if it is inching toward bigger moves.”

The Westport-based hedge fund executive added that if Trump were to go forward with such a move, it could have negative consequences for the U.S. economy.

“Just the realization that these moves can be used has important implications for capital flows,” he wrote. “For example, how would you feel if you were an adversarial foreign investor holding U.S. bonds given this situation, given where U.S. bond interest rates are and the impending deficits and monetizations of them? Of course, China dumping U.S. bonds would have its own terrible consequences, too. In any case, from not having to worry about such things in the past, now all market participants need to worry about them.”

Dalio warned that if the U.S.-China trade feud were to deteriorate further, the global

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Gas — From page 1

gas taxes. He was in the area for a speech at Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology in Queens.

Hart, who served on the board from 1990 to 1993 and 2009 to 2017, operates the transportation consulting company, Hart Solutions.

“With the electric car there’s going to be less (petroleum-based) fuel, so that’s going to reduce the tax revenue,” he said. “One of the things that I think is going to happen as cars become autonomous is that more will become electric, so that’s going to mean we’re going to have to find another source of revenue to replace that former revenue from gasoline sales.”

Without that, and other

sources providing adequate revenue, money to pay for road and bridge maintenance and improvements will be increasingly hard to find. According to a report released in September by the nonprofit TRIP, 13% of the 2,551 locally and state-maintained bridges in the Hudson Valley are rated poor/structurally deficient.

They carry approximately 2.6 million vehicles each day.

For Connecticut, a 2018 study by TRIP showed that the state had 308 bridges classified as structurally deficient, representing 7.2% of the 4,270 bridges in the state.

Hart believes the annual death toll on the nation’s highways, approximately 40,000, amounts to what he called a “public health disaster.”

He recalled that at the NTSB, “What we saw was consistent with the sort of general learning that the infrastructure is long overdue for some serious maintenance.”

He suggested the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration could show leadership in pressing for comprehensive work on highway infrastructure, but “I’m not seeing much political will to do that at this point in time.”

The NTSB, being responsible for investigating all forms of transportation accidents, has investigated its share of highway wrecks and bridge collapses, such as the Aug. 1, 2007, collapse of the eight-lane highway bridge that carried Interstate 35W across the Mississippi River in Minneapolis in which 13

Hype and fear unfounded as gas prices stable after attack against Saudi oil production

BY GLENN J. KALINOSKI gkalinoski@westfairinc.com

J

ust a few weeks ago headlines flashed across our smartphones and TV screens about the devastating attack against oil production in Saudi Arabia.

Almost immediately the media’s hype machine was running at full speed with clicks and pageviews at stake.

It wasn’t long before American consumers heard predictions of pump prices increasing 15 to 30 cents a gallon as repairs were undertaken on the other side of the planet.

On Sept. 15, NBC Nightly News reported that “the attack will likely drive up U.S. gas prices.” One analyst told NBC News, “by as much as 25 cents a gallon.”

During the week prior to the attack, the price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell from $57.85 a barrel to $54.85 on Sept. 13. The attack saw the price spike on Sept.

16 to $62.90.

Bloomberg News cited Jeanette Casselano, a spokesperson with auto club AAA,

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as saying in a Sept. 16 story that U.S. crude oil at $70 would likely lead to $3 per gallon gas prices.

So, what happened?

Essentially, nothing happened.

Looking to preempt higher prices for consumers about 14 months before he stands for re-election, President Donald Trump authorized the release of oil from the U.S. strategic reserve.

Then, the price began to move down beyond pre-attack levels. It was at $52.28 on Oct. 8.

“The predictions were not borne out,” said John Corlett, director of public and government affairs for AAA Northeast. “Prices started to stabilize once the reports came out that the facilities should be fully operational by the end of September.”

He also noted that in the Northeast there is a switch to the winter blend fuel that is cheaper to refine than summer blends.

“That blunted the impact,” he said. “Some people were predicting 25-cent hikes, which didn’t bear out

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in the Northeast or nationally, and 25 cents would have been a big spike for a lot of people. It’s tough to say if (Trump’s announcement) had an impact.”

An examination of AAA price data from suburban markets north of New York City revealed that consumers were spared the pain that was predicted.

In lower Fairfield County, Connecticut, the average price for a gallon of regular gas was $2.729 on Oct. 8 and $2.768 on Sept. 26, which was unchanged from Sept. 19. The price had been $2.821 on Aug. 26. One year ago it was $3.097.

In Bridgeport, Connecticut, the average was $2.754 on Oct. 8, $2.779 on Sept. 26 and $2.783 on Sept. 19. On Aug. 26 it was $2.838 and one year ago it cost $3.112.

Across the border in White Plains, New York, the average was $2.85 on Oct. 8, $2.877 on Sept. 26 and on Sept. 19 it was $2.882. The cost on Aug. 26 was $2.934 and one year ago it was at $3.135.

The lesson is simple: Predictions from so-called experts always need to be questioned and knee-jerk reactions should be avoided.

were killed and 145 injured.

He suggested that the auto industry could learn a lot about adopting automation from the aviation industry.

“There’s a lot to be gained by eliminating driver input because experts say that 95 or 96 percent of highway crashes are due to human error,” he said.

“When I was at the NTSB, I remember we investigated a people mover accident at the Miami airport and the people mover was driverless and yet it crashed.

When we dug deeper, we found out that the reason it crashed was because of a maintenance error, so even if you eliminate all the drivers you’re not going to eliminate all of the fatalities, but you can bring that number way, way down.”

WE’RE PAINTING THE TOWN PINK! If you’re a woman over 40, getting an annual mammogram is the best way to detect breast cancer early – long before a lump is felt in your breast. And, finding breast cancer earlier results in less aggressive treatment.

Real Estate — From page 1

the original listing price.

The report said the strongest performer in the luxury market segment in the third quarter was Darien. It was the only geographic segment covered in the report to show a gain in luxury sales for the yearto-date period. For luxury home sales $2 million and higher, Darien showed a 2.1% increase, with 48 houses sold by the end of the 2019 third quarter compared with 47 sold at the end of the same period a year ago. Sales for the third quarter numbered 22 compared with 16 in the third quarter last year, a 37.5% increase. The median sale price for the quarter was down 3.7% compared with the third quarter of 2018.

The report said Darien had a “sweet spot” in the $2 million-to-$2.99 million range where sales increased in both the third quarter and year-to-date periods, 60% and 25%, respectively.

Darien’s numbers received a boost from closings on two waterfront properties priced at more than $10 million each during the third quarter of this year.

In Westchester, the $2 million and higher price category had 119 homes change hands in the third quarter of this year compared with 113 in the third quarter of 2018, an increase

of 5.3%. The median sale price was $2,700,000, up 1.9% from $2,650,000 in 2018. The number of luxury houses sold for the year stood at 235, a drop of 12.6% from the 269 luxury home sales through the third quarter of 2018.

In Putnam and Dutchess, where the luxury market begins at $1 million, there were eight luxury homes sold in the third quarter of 2019 compared with six in the same period of 2018.

There was a 7.5% increase in home sales in Greenwich for the third quarter of 2019 as compared with last year’s third quarter. There were 43 units sold in this year’s third quarter and 40 sold in the third quarter of 2018. The median sale price went up by 3% from $4,125,000 to $4,250,000. Year-to-date, however, there was a 15.7% drop in the number of houses sold from 121 through the third quarter of 2018 to 102 through the same period this year.

A dramatic 45.5% drop was seen in the number of houses sold in the $2 million and higher luxury category in New Canaan. In the third quarter of this year, 12 houses were sold as compared with 22 in the third quarter of 2018. However, the median sale price increased by 9.8% from $2,425,000 to $2,662,500.

Cutugno said there is evidence that sellers are listening to the market and pric-

ing realistically. “Inventory levels remain high. When sales slowed down the past several quarters, new listings came to market at a steady pace and inventory accumulated. The imbalance of supply and demand continues to put pressure on pricing,” he said.

Gay Prizio, director of luxury marketing for the Houlihan Lawrence private brokerage, told the Business Journal that buyers are identifying value in softer luxury housing prices. She said SALT, the limit imposed on deducting state and local taxes when filing federal income tax returns, is being absorbed into the market as a fact of life.

Prizio said the softening of high-end real estate prices in New York City has had an impact. “New York City is a very important feeder market for both Westchester and lower Fairfield County so, if there are sellers in Manhattan who are unable to sell their condos or co-ops or townhomes, they, in turn, cannot become buyers north of New York City,” she said.

“So, what that’s doing is shrinking the buyer pool.”

Prizio said sellers need to price their homes properly.

“That’s probably the single-most important message for sellers because we’re in a very, very price-driven market, and for buyers we say there are great, great opportunities out there right now.”

Stamford Health’s Breast Center provides three-dimensional mammography, which means better detection and fewer callbacks.

Our day, evening and weekend appointments, walk-in availability, and commitment to provide same-day results whenever possible means we’re here for you when you need us.

We all know someone whose life has been touched by breast cancer, and that’s why initiatives in October like Stamford Health’s Paint The Town Pink are so important — not to mention the care that the Breast Center and Bennett Cancer Center offer right in our own backyard. To view the calendar of Paint the Town Pink events, visit support.stamfordhospitalfoundation.org/pttpcalendar.

To schedule a mammogram, call (203) 276.PINK (7465) or visit support.stamfordhospitalfoundation.org/mammogram

FCBJ

OCTOBER 14, 2019

7

IN BRIEF 9 W. Broad St. in Stamford sells for $47.75 million

STAMFORD ATTORNEY ARRESTED ON WITNESS TAMPERING CHARGES

9 W. Broad St. in Stamford

Newmark Knight Frank has completed its sale of 9 W. Broad St., a 9-story, 189,240-square-foot office building in Stamford, for $47.75 million.

Newmark Knight Frank repre-

sented the seller, a joint venture between certain funds managed

by Westport Capital Partners LLC and Forstone Capital, and procured the buyer, who was not identified.

The property is 94% leased and

recently underwent a large-scale capital improvement program that included renovations to its lobby and common areas, façade improvements and energy efficiency upgrades.

ON 5TH TRY, DEVELOPER WINS APPROVAL FOR SANDY HOOK APARTMENT COMPLEX

in a single phase, as opposed to the multiple phases involved in Burton’s four previous proposals.

Those proposals involved a mix of rentals and condominiums and ran into opposition over wetlands preservation, overdevelopment and traffic concerns.

That phase of construction is expected to be completed by late November.

The first phase of improvements was completed in June 2019 and included the addition of the right-turn lane from Whitney Avenue to Main Street.

Additional improvements in later phases will include a traffic light at Whitney Avenue and Main Street, additional sidewalks, crosswalks and improvements along the Long Hill Green on Main Street and Whitney Avenue. Those projects are all in the design process and will be implemented sequentially as the Department of Transportation completes its review of the design documents. Construction is being organized to minimize disruption to residents and businesses.

The fifth time appears to be the charm for a Newtown developer’s plans to build an apartment complex in Sandy Hook Village.

Newtown’s Planning & Zoning Commission approved Michael Burton Sr.’s proposal for the construction of The Riverwalk at Sandy Hook Village, a 74-unit rental complex on an 11.8-acre site.

Four of the buildings will be two stories and a fifth will consist of three stories. They will each contain between 12 and 18 units, with 50 being two-bedroom and the remaining 24 being one-bedroom.

Of Riverwalk’s 167 parking spaces, 10 will be handicapped-accessible.

The project falls under Incentive Housing-10 (IH-10) zoning regulations, which require 20% of the dwellings (15 apartments) to be designated as affordable housing units. The complex will be built

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OCTOBER 14, 2019

ended Sept. 30 — an 8% increase over the previous fiscal year.

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, 776 loans were approved, including: 661 guaranteed loans; 64 “504” loans, designed to provide below-market-rate financing for the purchase of fixed assets like real estate and machinery; and 51 microloans, in which the SBA loans money to intermediary nonprofit lenders who then provide business loans of up to $50,000 to startups and small businesses.

The top five SBA Guaranteed lenders in Connecticut for the year were Webster Bank, People’s United Bank, TD Bank, Liberty Bank and Manufacturers & Traders Trust Co. New England Certified Development Corp. ranked No. 1 in the SBA’s 504 loan program. Community Economic Development Fund was the top microlender.

FCBJ

SECOND PHASE OF FIXES TO TRUMBULL’S LONG HILL GREEN VILLAGE DISTRICT UNDERWAY

The second phase of improvements to Trumbull’s Long Hill Green Village District is getting underway, according to First Selectman Vicki Tesoro.

The green infrastructure project will include the installation of a patio made with permeable pavers in front of Franco Gianni’s and Mici Asian Bistro at 8 and 10 Broadway, respectively. Construction will also relocate the existing parking directly across the street, and the pavement at the end of Broadway Road that was closed several years ago will be replaced with grass.

SBA LENDING UP 8% IN CONNECTICUT

Connecticut small businesses received $314 million in federal borrowing assistance in the fiscal year

Darnell D. Crosland

The Connecticut State Division of Criminal Justice announced the arrest of Darnell D. Crosland, a Stamford-based criminal defense attorney, on charges of witness tampering.

Crosland was taken into custody by Connecticut State Police on a warrant issued in conjunction with the Statewide Prosecution Bureau of the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney. He is charged with one count of bribery of a witness, one count of tampering with a witness and one count of conspiracy to commit witness tampering. All three offenses are class C felonies punishable by prison sentences ranging from one to 10 years and a fine of up to $10,000 on each count.

Crosland’s most recent high-profile client is Brandon Wagshol, a Norwalk resident who received national attention after

being arrested in August for possessing large-capacity weapon magazines and using Facebook postings to declare his interest in mass shootings.

The arrest announcement did not state the specifics of the case against Crosland, except to note that the “investigation is continuing and the arrest warrant has been ordered sealed for 14 days from the date of arrest.”

Crosland, who is also a candidate for an at-large seat on the Norwalk Common Council, was released on $35,000 bond.

Following his release, he took to Twitter to describe his arrest as a “modern day lynching.”

LAMONT FORMS TRANSITORIENTED DEVELOPMENT TASK FORCE IN FAIRFIELD COUNTY

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont has established a group including local and private-sector leaders and state agency representatives to advance transit-oriented development in Fairfield County.

The Governor’s Task Force on Transit-Oriented Development in Fairfield County will be co-chaired

by Norwalk Chief of Economic and Community Development Jessica Casey and Robert Wienner of JDA Development Company and Trout Brook Realty Advisers.

Lisa Tepper Bates, Lamont’s senior coordinator for housing and transit-oriented development, will coordinate the work of the task force. Christie Stewart, director of the Fairfield County Center for Housing Opportunity, will provide additional support.

The group will be administered within the governor’s office.

HARTFORD HEALTHCARE COMPLETES ACQUISITION OF BRIDGEPORT’S ST. VINCENT’S MEDICAL CENTER

Hartford HealthCare has completed the acquisition of substantially all of the assets of St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport, and its related operations, from Ascension.

First announced a year ago, the acquisition includes more than 3,500 associates, a 473-bed community teaching hospital, a 76-bed inpatient psychiatric facility in Westport, a large multispecialty provider group and St. Vincent’s special needs services for adults and children.

It is the first hospital in Fairfield County to be integrated into the

IN BRIEF Hartford HealthCare network, and is now the system’s second-largest hospital. Founded by the Daughters of Charity in 1903, St. Vincent’s was part of Ascension since its founding in 1999. As part of Hartford HealthCare, it will continue to operate as a not-for-profit Catholic hospital.

Hartford HealthCare has more than 24,000 employees at more than 350 sites statewide.

The Hartford group’s other recent moves include partnering with Soundview Medical Associates, a medical practice with offices in Norwalk and Darien, and affiliating with Bridgeportbased Visiting Nurse Services of Connecticut, which provides home and hospice care in Fairfield, New Haven and Litchfield counties.

The building was previously occupied by several tenants including a chiropractor, a dental practice and book publisher. Fritz G. Chery, a lead salesperson at WEB Realty Co., represented the buyers, Vinny LaRocca and Imtiaz Allie.

$97.5M SECURED FOR STAMFORD’S ATLANTIC STATION

Stamford real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle has arranged $97.5 million in financing

for the development of the second phase of Atlantic Station, a luxury mixed-use residential and retail property in the city’s downtown.

The loan was made to RXR Realty for Atlantic Station II, comprising 325 units and 48,000 square feet of retail at 405 Atlantic St. The second phase follows the completion of Atlantic Station Phase I at 335 Atlantic, consisting of 325 luxury condo-like rental units, which was completed in 2018.

The retail component for the second phase is 100% pre-leased to three tenants: daycare center The Learning Experience; coworking company Work Well Win; and canine care company Dogtopia.

GREENWICH RESIDENT CAPLAN GETS JAIL TIME IN COLLEGE ADMISSIONS SCANDAL

Greenwich resident Gordon Caplan, the one-time, high-powered attorney who admitted to

STAMFORD COMMERCIAL PROPERTY SELLS FOR $2.15M

WEB Realty Co. has announced the completion of the sale of 5 Hillandale Ave., a 12,000-squarefoot office building in Stamford, for $2.15 million.

The 2-story property, which was built in 1979, will become the headquarters for Innovative Network Solutions, an IT consulting firm.

A rendering of Atlantic Station II. Coutesy: RXR Realty.

paying $75,000 to get a test supervisor to correct the answers on his daughter’s ACT college entrance exam, has been sentenced to one month in jail.

A federal judge in Boston also ordered Caplan to pay a $50,000 fine and perform 250 hours of community service. Prosecutors had been seeking a sentence of eight months and a $40,000 fine. He is expected to surrender to authorities on Nov. 6 and will be on probation for one year after his release.

“This was not a victimless crime,” Caplan said in court during the Oct. 3 hearing. “The real victims of this crime are the kids and parents who played by the rules of the college admissions process.”

The former co-chairman of Manhattan law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher pleaded guilty in May to one count of fraud and conspiracy. His case is part of the national college admissions cheating scandal that also ensnared celebrities Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin.

Huffman was sentenced last month to serve two weeks in prison, along with a $30,000 fine, a year of supervised release and 250 hours of community service. She is due to surrender to authorities on Oct. 25.

Loughlin’s case is still pending.

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FCBJ

OCTOBER 14, 2019

9

019 2 L A I N N E L #MIL

CELEBRATING A GENERATION By 2020, millennials will represent half of the workforce in the world. The awards celebrate this new era in the workforce and recognize some individuals who are leaving their footprints in the technology and business communities of Westchester and Fairfield.

POP-UP SHOPS • FOOD AND DRINKS • MAKE CONNECTIONS MUSIC PERFORMANCES • MEET OTHER BUSINESSES • NETWORK

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21 • 5:30 - 7:30 PM

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For sponsorships, contact: Marcia Pflug at mpflug@wfpromote.com or 203-733-4545.

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INNOVATORS:

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COMMUNITY LEADER:

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MENTOR:

MEET THE HONOREES Pakeeza Alam Urongynecologist CareMount Medical

Laura Donovan Founder Sonder Financial

Chelsea Merola Creative Director Grande Cosmetics

Ina Gjoni Allkanjari Operations Manager Avanti Systems USA

Lauren Enea Associate Enea, Scanlan & Sirignano LLP

Krystina Murawski Owner & Founder Noomi

Kelly Andersen Marketing Director Wealth Continuum Group

Rachel Gould Accounting Manager Aquarion Water Company

Amanda Ayala Singer

Rebecca Graziano Associate Director of Marketing Westmed Medical Group

Tugba Pal Assistant Director of Physician Relations Services Columbia Medical CenterWestchester Columbia Doctors

Theresa Baker Director, Health Care Sponsor Finance Webster Bank Tom Burbank Vice president of Service Operations Atlantic Westchester Nate Checketts Co-Founder & CEO Rhone Michelle Eva Marie Colacion Senior Manager Deloitte Consulting Alexandra Cooley COO & Co-Founder Greenworks Lending Nicole Cuglietto Attorney at Law Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP Amanda DiPreta Art Director Catalyst Marketing Communications

David Jones

CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER ™

The SKG Team at Barnum Financial Group Adam Kirshner Manager of Media and Metadata Operations WWE Brendan Klein Youth Advocacy and Engagement Coordinator Westchester Institute for Human Development Loni Lymus CEO & President Service After Service Manette Macias Research Chemist Hampford Research Jillian McDonnell Sales Associate + Jeweler D’Errico Jewelry

Victoria McGruder Private Wealth Relationship Manager Merrill Private Wealth

Nitin Sekhri Medical Director of Pain Management and Co-Founder of WMC Headache Specialists Westchester Medical Center Stelios Stavrianos Founder/CEO Cylinder Vodka Nicole Thomas Vice president, Middle Market Relationship Manager Wells Fargo Bank Ken Tuccio Founder/CEO Best Trivia Ever John Varamo Program Manager City of Stamford Cassandra Vogel Counsel Yankwitt LLP Adam C. Weiss Associate Attorney Lever & Ecker PLLC

FCBJ

OCTOBER 14, 2019

11

SUITE TALK

O

Architect Peggy Rubens-Duhl looks to inspire young women

ne of the busiest architects in the region is Peggy Rubens-Duhl, whose work has covered the residential and commercial real estate markets. She has been a registered architect in Connecticut since 1991 and maintains offices in Westport and Woodbridge. Her most prominent projects involved the Jewish High School of Connecticut in Stamford, Aflac’s Connecticut headquarters and training center in Trumbull and the Casey Family Services headquarters and the new SGI-USA Buddhist Center, both in New Haven.

Rubens-Duhl has served on the board of directors and as secretary of the Connecticut Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and on the board of the Connecticut Architecture Foundation, where she also served as an officer, secretary, treasurer and the chairwoman of the foundation’s scholarship committee.

In this edition of Suite Talk, Business Journal Senior Enterprise Editor Phil Hall speaks with Rubens-Duhl about her career and approach to her work.

When did you begin your own practice with Fresh Architect and why did you start it?

“I started in 2005. I had always wanted to be an architect since ninth grade. I went to architecture school and got my bachelor’s and master’s in architecture from Tulane University. In school, I said that I always wanted my own firm.”

Why did that career enchant you?

“I always enjoyed science, math and art. My dad used to build models, which was of interest to me, and I did an internship in an architecture firm when I was in high school.

I applied to architecture school to combine all of those talents.”

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OCTOBER 14, 2019

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How do you get your clients?

“It has mostly been referrals. I’ve done a very, very small amount of advertising, and only very recently.”

challenging because you are dealing with existing conditions. My approach is when I am renovating a building, especially an old building, I like to do selective demolition with a contractor. Typically, the beginning of my work is to see what conditions are, so I try to do investigative work to learn what is behind there.

“For example, I am working on the renovation of a house and we thought that there may be no insulation. And, sure enough, there is no insulation in the house. But we thought about that in advance and now we have to add it.”

What percentage of your work is divided between commercial and residential projects?

“It definitely changes with the market. It could be 50-50, or 60 residential and 40 commercial. I do both, so I need to know all of the codes and the requirements to both.”

Which of the pursuits is more challenging?

“Residential. The commercial side is usually very streamlined, very focused and very definite about what they want.

The process is very organized.

The residential client is making a huge investment, typically and usually they take their time, so it takes longer to make decisions and come up with final plans.”

What have been among your most notable Fair�ield County projects?

“I’ve done a lot of residential projects in Fairfield County, and I’ve also done medical offices and the Jewish high school for renovation in Stamford. I think the most interesting has been a residential project that I did in Westport. The client found me through an article in The Wall Street Journal that was focusing on aging in place as well as coastal designs, and they were looking for someone to design a house that would enable aging in place as well as FEMA compliance. I’ve done quite a few of those type of projects.”

What goes into the incorporating of aging in place needs within your designs?

“It depends on the client.

In commercial design, there are very specific codes. I’ve designed medical offices, any kind of public accommodations. I am also the architect

Peggy Rubens-Duhl. Photo by Phil Hall.

for the Children’s Museum in New Haven, so that involves the Americans with Disabilities Act for children.

“I’ve had clients with very specific disabilities, and I’ve also had clients that want to design for the future because their parents might want to move in with them or because they’ve had health issues. My designs include textured flooring, lower counter heights, handles that are easy to grab, lighter doors, wider clearances.

I also include a lot of electronic communications in the home because sometimes they cannot open a window with their hands, so that can be done electronically.”

Is it safe to assume that FEMA compliance has become more stringent since Superstorm Sandy?

“FEMA is definitely very challenging. As an architect, you’ve got to know the coast design codes. There are flood zones: AE Zones and VE Zones, and as of last October there are Coastal A and V Zones. For me, it is about designing structures

that will withstand wind and water.”

Do you include sustainable materials in your designs?

“Yes, I do. I have found that most vendors offer sustainable products, so it has made it very easy to include those.

Every company wants to be sustainable, so you don’t have to look that hard to find these products.”

Do you feature renewable energy technologies in your work?

“I’ve not had much of that.

I’ve had very few clients that were interested in solar. I work very hard to site the building so it takes full advantage of the sunlight and the windows I use are very efficient. I did one house that had geothermal energy. On something like that, I work very collaboratively with a mechanical contractor and an electrical engineer.”

What type of projects can be more challenging: new construction or renovation?

“Renovation can be more

Who inspires you as an architect?

“I tend to be inspired by artists and architects who are working a little bit toward the edge. The Sydney Opera House is one of my favorite buildings and the Yale Whale by Eero Saarinen. The Guggenheim Museum by Frank Lloyd Wright is sensational. All of his work is very inspiring, but that project is very special to me. I also do work as an artist and I like Kandinsky and Gaudi — that’s architecture and art.”

Is your artwork displayed for exhibition?

“Hopefully it will be. It is on my Instagram account and all over my home. I’m working toward that. But I am very busy in my architecture career and very passionate about that.”

What advice do you give to young and aspiring architects?

“One of my main goals is to mentor young people. I’ve been doing that for many years in elementary, middle and high schools. And I believe it is very important to get girls and young women interested in architecture and engineering.

I do presentations and career fairs to enlighten them. I want young people to see it, feel it, touch and understand buildings when they work by them.”

CONTRIBUTING WRITER | By Andrew Rawson

I

NY, CT institute sexual harassment training requirements

n the two years since the Harvey Weinstein sexual misconduct story ignited the #MeToo movement, New York and Connecticut passed stronger sexual harassment prevention laws and training requirements. For New York businesses that didn’t meet the state’s Oct. 9 training deadline, here’s what you need to know and do to comply.

All New York employers must provide annual, interactive training to all employees — part-time, temporary and seasonal workers, regardless of their immigration status.

The training must: • Explain sexual harassment, consistent with guidance from the New York State Department of Labor and Division of Human Rights.

• Include examples of unlawful sexual harassment conduct.

• Include information on state and federal laws concerning sexual harassment and remedies available to sexual harassment targets.

• Include information addressing conduct by supervisors and the additional responsibilities of managers and supervisors.

• Include information about employees’ rights of redress and all available forums for adjudicating complaints.

• Be available in the language spoken by employees.

Another important law that New York employers should keep on their radar is an amendment to the New York State Human Rights Law that removes the legal standard that sexual harassment must be “severe or pervasive” for proving workplace harassment occurred. Effective Oct. 11, the law underscores the need to update and enforce anti-harassment policies, procedures and training, and regularly communicate these significant changes throughout the organization.

THE CONNECTICUT LAW

For Connecticut employers, Oct. 1 marked the start of the Time’s Up Act, a new law that requires employers with three or more employees to provide two hours of sexual harassment training to all employees, not just supervisors, by Oct. 1, 2020. Previously, the law only applied to organizations with 50 or more employees and required businesses to train only supervisors.

Meeting the new sexual harassment training requirements is a good start, but it’s not enough. Training needs to go beyond the check-box approach and provide relevant information and practical steps that help individuals recognize different forms of misconduct and take the right actions to address and stop it. The EEOC’s task force on workplace harassment and other HR and workplace experts agree that

effective training should focus on changing behaviors and attitudes, and incorporate topics such as bystander intervention, unconscious bias and diversity and inclusion that can further raise awareness of the effects of harassment and discrimination on individuals and organizations.

October is the start of a new era for New York and Connecticut employers to reinforce their commitment to preventing sexual harassment and fostering a workplace culture of respect, civility and inclusion. As part of a holistic approach to addressing this pervasive problem, training is a positive step

in moving the conversation from awareness to action to prevention.

Andrew Rawson is the chief learning officer and co-founder of Traliant, a provider of sexual harassment training serving organizations throughout the U.S. Rawson can be reached at andrew.rawson@traliant.com

PRINT JOURNALISM: BECAUSE IT STILL MATTERS. westfaironline.com

FCBJ

OCTOBER 14, 2019

13

ASK ANDI Getting ready to sell my small business Getting my small business ready for sale.

Makes me feel on edge and unsure. After 23 years of running this business, I have to stop following my long-practiced habits and focus on what’s next. How do I do that?

THOUGHTS OF THE DAY: Transitioning from small business owner to something else is a process that many people find challenging. Design your future. Make sure you’ve secured the finances you’ll need. Learn about all the ways that business owners sell their businesses when they’re ready to let go.

Decide what you want your legacy to be.

It’s normal to feel anxious or unsettled when facing the uncertainty that accompanies change. It’s a big deal to go from the role of business owner to something else. There will likely be feelings of loss. But this can also be an opportunity

to explore new possibilities, which is something successful business owners are good at.

Fight the temptation to avoid dealing with the unknowns. It’s normal when feeling stress to retreat to familiar day-to-day activities. The better solution is to do what successful business owners always do: get on with tackling the unknown.

Create a picture of the next phase of your life that is rich and joyful and put yourself center stage.

Think about this: • What things did you put aside as you faced the demands of building and running your business?

• Who would you like to meet? Or get to know better?

• What constitutes fun for you?

Do a financial reality check.

• How much money do you have set aside? How much will you need?

• What’s the gap between money you’ve set aside and your goal for retirement? How can monetizing the business close that gap?

• What’s the business worth? (hint: most business owners don’t know the correct answer to this question.)

• What do you know about successfully monetizing a business?

Build a list of things you need to learn and get to work tackling that list.

Give yourself plenty

of time to think about and adjust to the future. Get expert advice along the way. Ideally, allow five to 10 years to prepare a business for optimum sale. If you’re under the gun and have to do this transition more quickly, surround yourself with advisers who can help you do the things you’re not experienced at doing.

Build a picture of what a successful transition for the business looks like.

Consider these questions: • What will happen to your employees when you’re done?

• What role will family members play in the future? Do they want it?

What do they have to do to prepare?

• You and your business are intertwined right now, based on being together day after day for 23 years. Your iden-

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OCTOBER 14, 2019

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tity and the business’ identity are almost one.

What do you want for the business when you turn over the reins?

• What do you care most about inside the business? Who will care for that after you retire from the field?

• What happens to the great customers? Who will take care of them in the future?

• What about loyal vendors who’ve been there to help you and who rely on your company for work? What happens to them?

• What happens to the positive reputation you’ve worked so hard to build? Does it disappear or continue?

Build a picture of a positive transition that takes into account all of the great things you imagine.

Then get to work building that reality. Write out your vision. Take action each week to build toward that future.

BOOK RECOMMENDATION: “The Breakaway: The Inside Story of the Wirtz Family Business and the Chicago Blackhawks,” by Bryan Smith.

Andi Gray is president of Strategy Leaders Inc., StrategyLeaders.com, a business-consulting firm that teaches companies how to double revenue and triple profits in repetitive growth cycles. Have a question for AskAndi? Wondering how Strategy Leaders can help your business thrive? Call or email for a free consultation and diagnostics at 877-238-3535 or AskAndi@ Strateg yLeade rs .com .

Check out our library of business advice articles at AskAndi.com.

Kiplinger: CT, NY among worst states for taxes

BY KEVIN ZIMMERMAN

the exemption won’t be available and the entire estate will be subject to the New York estate tax.

New York’s cellphone wireless service tax is the fifth highest in the country, and its gasoline taxes stand at 45.96 cents per gallon — considerably higher than the national average of 31.7 cents per gallon.

The state gas taxes do not include the federal gas tax of 18.4 cents per gallon.

Following Illinois, Connecticut and New York on the least-tax-friendly list are Wisconsin, New Jersey, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa and Kansas.

Kiplinger rated Wyoming as the most tax-friendly state in the nation. It was followed by Nevada, Tennessee, Florida, Alaska, Washington, South Dakota, North Dakota, Arizona and New Hampshire.

kzimmerman@westfairinc.com

C

onnecticut and New York are respectively the second- and thirdleast-tax-friendly states in the nation, according to the latest annual ranking by personal finance magazine Kiplinger.

The publication ranks states according to the sum of income, sales, property and gas taxes paid by a hypothetical married couple with two children, an earned income of $150,000 and qualified dividends of $10,000.

Illinois was judged the least-tax-friendly state in the country.

Connecticut’s property taxes are the fourth highest in the U.S., with the statewide average for a $400,000 home being $8,456 per year. However, residents in such high-income areas as Fairfield County typically pay more than $10,000 in property taxes each year, Kiplinger noted. As mandated by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, such residents’ federal tax deductions for state and local taxes have been curtailed.

The Constitution State also has the ninth-highest state and local gas taxes in the U.S. at 42.11 cents a gallon, and taxes estates

Connecticut’s property taxes are the fourth highest in the U.S., with the statewide average for a $400,000 home being $8,456 per year. worth more than $3.6 million for anyone who dies in 2019. Connecticut is the only state with a gift tax on assets that are bequeathed before dying.

However, Kiplinger noted, with no local sales taxes, residents pay the statewide rate of 6.35% (slightly below average) on most of their purchases. Going unmentioned were the new taxes instituted on Oct. 1 for such items as prepared foods and digital services.

New York “has a hefty income tax bite,” the publication said, noting that both New York City and Yonkers impose their own income taxes, while self-employed people working in the New York City metro area pay a commuter tax.

The average property tax on a $400,000 home in New York is about $7,246 — but again, in some high-cost parts of the state like Westchester County, homeowners pay more than twice that amount.

The Empire State also has an estate tax, which generally is only imposed on that portion of an estate over the $5.74 million (for 2019) exemption. But if the value of the estate is more than 105% of the exemption amount,

PRESENTED BY:

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Expansion or contraction for your business?

Pondering the economic forecasts for next year?

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WHEN:

November 20 5 to 8 p.m.

$20 admission (light hors d’oeuvres included)

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westfaironline.com/events For information, contact Olivia D’Amelio at odamelio@westfairinc.com.

For sponsorships, contact Barbara Hanlon at bhanlon@westfairinc.com or 914-358-0766.

FCBJ

OCTOBER 14, 2019

15

Bed Bath & Beyond stores face potential closings

BY PHIL HALL

Nominations sought for Best Companies in Fairfield County competition

phall@westfairinc.com

B

ed Bath & Beyond stores in the area are facing an uncertain future as the home goods retailer announced plans to close 60 stores before the end of its fiscal year.

In April, the company announced plans to close 40 stores. The addition of 20 more stores to be closed was announced by interim CEO Mary Winston during the company’s quarterly earnings call to discuss its 7.3% decline in total sales during the second quarter.

Forty of the stores to be closed will be the Bed Bath & Beyond outlets and 20 will be among the company’s other brands, including Buybuy Baby, Harmon Face Values and World Market.

No locations have been identified for closing and the company’s fiscal year ends

in March 2020.

Within Fairfield County, the company’s Bed Bath & Beyond stores are in Brookfield, Danbury, Fairfield, Norwalk, Shelton and Stamford. The county is also home to a single Buybuy location in Stamford and a single Harmon Face Values in Norwalk.

Across the border, the combined WestchesterHudson Valley region has

Bed Bath & Beyond stores in Elmsford, Middletown, Mohegan Lake, Mount Vernon, Newburgh, Poughkeepsie, Port Chester, Spring Valley, West Nyack and Yonkers. This area is also home to Buybuy Baby stores in Port Chester and Scarsdale and Harmon Face Values stores in Hartsdale, Nanuet, New Rochelle and Yonkers. There are no World Market stores in this region.

Holiday Parties~ Corporate Meetings Call for January and February Specials www.TheAmberRoom.net ~ 203-748-3800

16

OCTOBER 14, 2019

FCBJ

BY PHIL HALL phall@westfairinc.com

A

new decade is roughly two-anda-half months away, and with the arrival of the 2020s is an inaugural competition and awards program celebrating the region’s most innovative and insightful companies.

The Fairfield County Business Journal (FCBJ) has announced its Best Companies in Fairfield County event, which invites the local business community to pay tribute to its boldest, finest and most holistic leaders. From now through April 2020, the Best Companies in Fairfield County will seek the input of local business professionals in gathering nominations and judging the crème of the corporate crop.

Companies of any size and in any industry that have a physical location in Fairfield County may be nominated in this competition. However, both the nominator and the nominated companies must be members of a Fairfield County-based professional business organization and the nominators must be members of FCBJ readership. The partnering organizations in this event are the Bridgeport Regional Business Council, The Business Council of Fairfield County, Darien Chamber of Commerce, Fairfield Chamber of Commerce,

Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce, Greater Norwalk Chamber of Commerce, Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce, Stamford Chamber of Commerce and WestportWeston Chamber of Commerce.

The deadline for submissions is Oct. 18. Companies may be nominated in one to three of the event’s seven categories that include: • Most Entrepreneurial Company.

• Most Family-Friendly Company.

• Greenest Company.

• Most Pet-Friendly Company.

• Most Promising Company for Upcoming Generations.

• Most Socially Conscious Company.

• Most Visionary Company.

At the end of October, a panel of judges will review

the nominations and create a semifinalist class known as the “Thriving Thirty.”

Fairfield County Business Journal readers will be introduced to the Thriving Thirty in a booklet to be included in the publication’s Dec. 23 issue.

The booklet will also be available as a digital flipbook on the WestfairOnline. com website beginning Dec. 24.

The readers of the Fairfield County Business Journal will be able to review the booklet of Thriving Thirty companies and vote for their top picks in the competition’s seven categories. The voting period runs from Dec. 24 through Feb. 17.

The winners of the competition will be heralded as the “Best of the Best” in a special booklet that will be published in the April 27 edition of the Fairfield County Business Journal. The Best of the Best winners and the companies cited in the Thriving Thirty will be honored at an awards event during the week of April 27. The date and location of this happening will be announced in the coming weeks.

For additional information, contact Olivia D’Amelio, digital contact director at the Fairfield County Business Journal, at odamelio@westfairinc. com. For inquiries on sponsorship opportunities, contact Barbara Hanlon, metro sales director, at bhanlon@ westfairinc.com or (914) 358-0766.

FOCUS ON

HOSPITALITY FAIRFIELD COUNTY BUSINESS JOURNAL

CONTRIBUTING WRITER | By Reese Mitchell

A $4 billion pay raise?

E

HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY WORKERS MAY BENEFIT FROM NEW OVERTIME RULE

mployers beware of new overtime rules.

You may want to cut your overtime expenses and save money by hiring new full-time workers.

That may seem counterintuitive, except for new rules that will become effective in 2020.

More workers will be eligible for overtime pay in 2020 under a new Trump administration policy. This is the result of the U.S. Department of Labor’s federal overtime exemption rule under the Fair Labor Standards Act for salaried “white-collared” workers.

The Department of Labor estimates at least 1.3 million American employees will be eligible for overtime pay under the new

rule. The rule raises the salary threshold for overtime exemption to $35,568 per year, or $684 per week. If you earn less than that, you get overtime pay. More than $35,568, no such pay.

The threshold is currently $23,660 per year, or $455 per week.

The change will require businesses to pay overtime wages to many more employees if those employees work more than 40 hours a week.

While this is good news for those 1.3 million workers, it’s a loss for 2.8 million workers who would have received overtime under the rule proposed by the Obama administration.

This has been a closely monitored issue since 2014 when the Obama admin-

istration attempted to increase the salary threshold to $47,476. Also, unlike the Obama proposal, future alterations to the threshold will not be connected to inflation.

The Labor Department said the new rule will transfer about $400 million from U.S. employers to their workers each year for the next 10 years.

Employers will either have to raise these employees’ pay to the new salary threshold, so they can remain exempt from overtime pay, or convert the employees to non-exempt hourly status and start tracking their hours to pay them overtime.

Some employers may find that it may be less costly

to hire additional full-time workers to completely avoid the need to have anyone work overtime.

Employers also will have to conduct employee training for newly non-exempt managers and begin tracking their hours. In addition, employers will need to consider whether to use bonuses, commissions or other incentive compensation as credit to the new salary threshold. Employers should also think about whether they understand what kinds of compensation will have to be included in the “regular rate of pay” for overtime purposes.

The new rule will benefit retail, fast-food and home health care workers as well as other lower-paid workers, such as those who work for

nonprofits or political campaigns. Many who work in those industries have been paid just above the $23,660 threshold that has existed since 2004. They have been required to work overtime without extra pay.

Under the new regulation, qualifying employees would receive pay equal to one-and-a-half times their normal pay rate for any additional time beyond the standard 40-hour workweek.

The Department of Labor is allowing employers to use non-discretionary bonuses and incentive payments, including commissions, that employers pay at a minimum annually to satisfy up to 10 percent of the standard salary level.

Until now, only blue-col-

FCBJ

lar workers and professionals who earn less than $23,000 a year can earn overtime pay under federal law, with some exceptions.

The new rules are only the second time the threshold has been updated since 1975, after the 2004 change.

Waiting until the day the regulations are effective is probably not a good idea.

Planning should begin right away.

Attorney Reese Mitchell is an associate at Stratfordbased Mitchell & Sheahan PC He is involved in handling all types of employment matters, including through all stages of the litigation process. He can be reached at ReeseMitchell@ mitchellandsheahan.com or 203-873-0240.

OCTOBER 14, 2019

17

CONTRIBUTING WRITER | By Mary Gendron

Transforming hospitality brands into solid friendships

W

hat resources do travelers consider when planning

a trip?

They include friends, website search results, family members, social media, travel advisers, online reviews, advertising, travel media and social media influencers.

Nielsen’s Global Trust in Advertising survey reports much of the most influential information comes from family and friends. Yet almost 70% of consumers will trust the opinion of a total stranger through an online review.

How do hotels reach consumers in what can be a confusing — even overwhelming — purchase journey? And can they make connections with guests that hold the potential to form more lasting bonds?

Can they develop friendships with their guests that are akin to personal friendships — loyal and lasting?

Mower commissioned the University of Buffalo to

conduct a study that did a deep dive into the topic of friendship. The results revealed nine drivers of friendship that we organized into a philosophy we called Brand as Friend. It guides our daily thinking and is a useful framework for the hospitality segment, a service business that thrives on developing a loyal clientele.

The nine drivers ladder up to three primary tenets that are characteristic of the relationship that exists among true friends, including: • A friend is caring, will listen and will sometimes surprise their friends. These three tenets add up to affection.

• A friend will typically have an interesting story, a certain kind of style and an ability to connect with those closest to them. This gives relationships relevance.

• A friend is honest, willing to give advice and loyal. These attributes add up to trust.

Smart hospitality mar-

keters can use this knowledge to create a distinctive roadmap for fostering guest connections that are genuine and sustainable. Granted, no hotel will manifest all nine drivers, and not all drivers equally. The key is to identify the friendship drivers that match the hotel’s personality and communicate those in outreach to potential guests.

AFFECTION

To be a true friend to hotel guests, listening is a vital part of the conversation.

When Marriott and Starwood came together, there was consternation among longtime guests over what would happen with each brand’s strong loyalty program. Thoughtful consideration, research and conversation produced Bonvoy, the new loyalty program that aims to take the best of each legacy platform to create something fresh and new. Marriott listened.

Guests now benefit. Bonds are formed, or, in this case,

re-formed as the new company and program emerge out of legacy brands.

RELEVANCE

In assessing relevance, many travelers are looking for more than a comfortable place to stay. They want to align with the values of the brand. This is where a hotel’s story, style and ability to connect are key. Some travelers will identify with an historic hotel that has a unique story — such as The Castle at Tarrytown or Tarrytown House — and others are more likely to gravitate to an established national brand, like Hilton. Being able to attract the right traveler through on-point messaging sets the foundation for forming a lasting friendship.

N

estled in the gateway to New England in Western Connecticut, stands Danbury’s Landmark Boutique Hotel.

Since 1974, the Ethan Allen Hotel has honored guests with the unique blend of warm hospitality, elegance and the legendary style of Ethan Allen Home Interiors. The combination of 193 spacious guestrooms furnished with Ethan Allen furniture, supreme comfort bedding, Gilchrist & Soames bath amenities, flat screen TV’s and coffee makers in each room help create a soothing ambiance and a relaxing escape.

Our beautifully appointed ballroom is the perfect backdrop for weddings or any social gathering. For business meetings our Executive Boardroom fits the bill with teleconferencing capabilities and complimentary Wi-Fi. A culinary dining experience awaits you in our newly renovated award-winning 21 Lake Restaurant or for a more casual fare and weekend entertainment enjoy 21 Lake Bar. We have added live jazz to our popular Sunday Brunch which has been a long time favorite in the local community.

Ethan Allen Hotel offers modern amenities and services of a full service hotel, while delivering intimate luxury & comfort of a home-like atmosphere – a genuine departure from the ordinary.

For more information please call 800-742-1776 or visit our web site www. ethanallenhotel.com. You can also read our five star reviews on www.weddingwire.com. & www.theknot.com.

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OCTOBER 14, 2019

FCBJ

TRUST

Consider how airlines and cruise lines have handled unplanned situations, including: airline disasters linked to faulty software and training; treatment of passen-

gers on flights; and various cruise mishaps. Response has either created trust or broken it. Authenticity, accountability and action have produced the best outcomes in these situations.

When guests provide less-than-positive comments on social media, it is an opening to connect. Responding — and taking the issue offline for resolution — is an opportunity to create a lasting, positive relationship.

THE MANY WAYS TO MAKE FRIENDS

Consider these additional examples regarding the importance of creating friendships: Friends give advice: TripAdvisor is influential and awards programs like Forbes Five-Star and AAA Five Diamond are followed by legions of travelers. How responsive are their constituents to what they have to say? Very.

Friends care: British

Airways gives personality and human traits to aircraft by painting mustaches on the noses of aircraft to mark “No Shave November.” Empathy is contagious.

Friends surprise: Those chocolate chip cookies that meet DoubleTree by Hilton guests. They surprise and delight.

Friends connect: Hotels that provide workout gear, in-room exercise equipment and themed rooms for spa or fitness are connecting with guests who want to look after their well-being while on the road.

Nurturing lasting friendships with guests creates satisfied, repeat customers who become ad hoc brand ambassadors. It’s a total win-win.

Mary Gendron heads the New York City office of Mower, an independent marketing, advertising and public relations firm. Gendron can be reached at 212-980-9065 or mgendron@mower.com.

THE

ethan allen

HOTEL

Traditional elegance, exceptional service & award winning cuisine

MEETINGS | CELEBRATIONS | RESTAURANT 21 Lake Avenue Extension, Danbury, CT 203 • 744 • 1776 www.ethanallenhotel.com

We Cater On and Off Premise • Book Your Party Today Lunch & Dinner • Monday – Sunday

SUNDAY BRUNCH

FCBJ

OCTOBER 14, 2019

19

GOOD THINGS GOING NATIVE

Tarek Sobh

Jane Elaine Ballerini

PROFESSOR BRINGS GLOBAL RECOGNITION TO UB THROUGH HIS AWARD

ATTORNEY INDUCTED AS FELLOW OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF MORTGAGE ATTORNEYS

Dr. Tarek Sobh, University of Bridgeport (UB) executive vice president for research and economic development and dean of the College of Engineering, Business and Education, was recently honored with the Northeast U.S. Technology Innovation Award by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) “for his eminent contributions to the fields of robotics and automation, manipulator and electromechanical systems design and applications and engineering education.”

Sobh, a Shelton resident, is the founding director of the Interdisciplinary Robotics, Intelligence Sensing and Control Laboratory at the University of Bridgeport; founding director of the high-tech business incubator at UB, known as the CTech IncUBbator; and a distinguished professor of engineering and computer science.

His research interests include, but are not limited to, the fields of robotics and automation, computer science and engineering, control theory, manufacturing, artificial intelligence, computer vision and signal processing.

Jane Elaine Ballerini, principal with the firm of Neubert, Pepe & Monteith PC with offices in New Haven, Fairfield, and White Plains, New York, has been elected as a Fellow of the American College of Mortgage Attorneys (ACMA).

She joins a group of attorneys who have distinguished themselves as practitioners in the field of real estate mortgages, bar association activities, lecturing, authoring articles and program materials, participation in the legislative process and writing briefs and/or arguing cases that are significant to mortgage transactions.

Ballerini is one of a few practicing U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) designated attorneys in the state. Her subspecialty is representing traditional lenders and certified development companies in transactions involving government-guaranteed loans, including loans made under the SBA’s CDC/504 and 7(a) loan programs.

From left: Tony McDowell, Earthplace executive director; Melissa Kane, Westport Board of Selectmen; Matthew Mandell, Earthplace board member and president of the Westport Chamber of Commerce; Jim Marpe, Westport first selectman; Jay Petrow of Petrow Garden; Bill Kraekel, Aspetuck Land Trust president; David Brant, Aspetuck Land Trust executive director; Mary Ellen Lemay, Aspetuck Land Trust landowner engagement director; Christina McVaney, Westport Woman’s Club president; Nancy Saipe and Jeannette Tewey, Westport Woman’s Club Ruegg Grants committee; and Susan Hricik, Westport Woman’s Club community services chair.

On Sept. 13, Aspetuck Land Trust celebrated the installation of a native plant demonstration garden at Earthplace.

The garden will be used to teach homeowners how to incorporate native plants into their home landscapes and is part of Aspetuck Land Trust’s Green Corridor Initiative. The garden was made possible by a $10,000 Ruegg grant from the Westport Woman’s Club.

For more information on the Green Corridor and upcoming native plant events at Earthplace, visit aspetucklandtrust.org.

NEW NAME AND BRAND FOR RVNA

STAMFORD LAWYERS NAMED TO BEST LAWYERS LIST Five attorneys at Wofsey, Rosen, Kweskin & Kuriansky LLP in Stamford have been listed in the 2020 edition of Best Lawyers in America.

Best Lawyers is one of the oldest peer-review publications in the legal profession and a listing is widely regarded as an honor, conferred on a lawyer by his or her peers.

The lawyers include David M. Cohen, Steven M. Frederick, Eric M. Higgins and Daniel M. Young, all of Stamford, and Stephen Finn of New Canaan.

Best Lawyers also named Frederick Lawyer of the Year for 2020 in the category for Employment Law – Management in Stamford.

20

OCTOBER 14, 2019

FCBJ

The annual Gingerbread House Competition returns to the Simsbury Free Library Nov. 24.

GINGERBREAD HOUSE COMPETITION AT SIMSBURY FREE LIBRARY The annual Gingerbread House Competition returns to the Simsbury Free Library on Sunday, Nov. 24, at 3 p.m. when students, community members, regional artisans and bakers design culinary creations for the town-wide holiday celebration.

Other events hosted by the Simsbury Free Library include Drop In Genealogy and the monthly Drop In Book Club Nov. 9 and Nov. 12; and a narrated slide presentation by Robert Joseph Belletzkie, who will answer questions about local railroad history on Nov. 14.

For more information, visit simsburyfreelibrary.org or call 860-408-1336.

CONTEMPORARY CHINESE BRUSHWORK The Bruce Museum in Greenwich recently opened “Contemporary Artists/Traditional Forms: Chinese Brushwork,” a new exhibition running through Dec. 8, on view in the Bantle Lecture Gallery, featuring the U.S. debut of 15 pieces of contemporary Chinese brushwork gifted to the town of Greenwich as part of the 2019 U.S.-China Art and Culture Exchange.

The exhibition introduces visitors to the basic tools and concepts that inform these works of art and presents these pieces in their historical and present- day contexts.

Also known as water painting, brushwork has a long and illustrious history in China developed from the practice of calligraphy sometime during the Han Dynasty (220-589 AD). Traditionally, brushwork was not practiced by professional artists but by amateurs known as scholar artists, who prided themselves on their mastery of calligraphy and incorporated painting into their poems.

For more information, call 203-869-0376 or visit brucemuseum.org.

The Ridgefield Visiting Nurse Association (RVNA) has changed its name to RVNAhealth reflecting the organization’s breadth of services and regional reach, both of which have expanded significantly in recent decades.

RVNAhealth serves 28 towns in Connecticut and offers care and wellness services for all ages, stages and levels of health. The name change is the culmination of a strategic rebranding initiative that was launched in 2014.

Founded in 1914 as the District Nursing Association with a single nurse traveling by foot to serve Ridgefield families in their homes, RVNAhealth over the decades added community wellness services as well as public health services for the town of Ridgefield.

Information for these features has been submitted by the subjects or their delegates.

SANJAY GUPTA HONORED AT AMERICARES AIRLIFT

Slated to open in the fall of 2020, the new 22,000-square-foot Steers Center will be the epicenter of student life and innovative interdisciplinary learning at Canterbury School. Photo © S/L/A/M Collaborative Inc.

CANTERBURY SCHOOL BREAKS GROUND ON NEW STEERS CENTER Canterbury School in New Milford officially broke ground on a new construction project that has been years in the making – the Steers Center —named for supporters and trustees Lauren and Bob Steers.

Situated in the middle of the 150-acre campus, the 22,000-square-foot building will open in the fall of 2020 and be the epicenter of student life and innovative interdisciplinary learning. The Steers Center will house the D’Amour Center for Faith, Service and Justice, an innovation lab, a digital analytics lab, flexible classrooms, group study and breakout spaces, a student center and cafe and the school store.

Pullman & Comley’s James Stewart operates a carnival game at the Wakeman Boys & Girls Club Day for Kids celebration at Smilow-Burroughs Clubhouse in Bridgeport.

PULLMAN & COMLEY AND SAFETY MARKING WORK AS VOLUNTEERS

From left: Erica Hill; Dr. Sanjay Gupta; Michael J. Nyenhuis; and Tony Goldwyn attend the 2019 Americares Airlift Benefit at the Westchester County Airport on Oct. 5. Photo: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Americares.

CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta was honored for his dedication to humanitarian causes at the Americares Airlift Benefit on Oct. 5.

Dr. Gupta was the recipient of the Bob and Leila Macauley Humanitarian Spirit Award, which honors outstanding individuals who exemplify extraordinary courage and commitment to humanitarian endeavors and use their talents, influence and inventiveness to make a difference.

The event raised more than $2.8 million for the health-focused relief organization. More than 800 guests attended the fundraiser at the Westchester County Airport.

Attorneys and staff from the law firm of Pullman & Comley in Bridgeport continued their 100th anniversary Year of Service by teaming with client Safety Marking to volunteer at the Bridgeport Wakeman Boys and Girls Club’s nationwide Day for Kids celebration on Sept. 20.

Hundreds of children and their family members participated in the event, which featured carnival games, face painting, a basketball clinic and arts and crafts projects.

ABILITY BEYOND’S FAMILIES ROCK FUNDRAISING EVENT The seventh annual Families Rock fundraising event to benefit Ability Beyond will be hosted at Molly Darcy’s Irish Pub and Restaurant at 39 Mill Road in Danbury on Friday, Oct. 25, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.

This annual event was created by Ability Beyond’s Family Committee, a group of family members with loved ones being supported by the organization. Two popular bands are lending their musical tal-

ents to the event: acoustic guitar group the Willie Portera Trio from Newtown; and ’60s/’70s rock and roll band The Tyger Dynasty. Both bands include fathers of children who receive services from Ability Beyond.

For more information, contact Cathie Petrosky at Catherine.

Petrosky@abilitybeyond.org or call 203-826-3019.

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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2019 AT 11:00AM HYATT REGENCY GREENWICH 1800 East Putnam Avenue • Old Greenwich, CT

TITL E S P ON S OR

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Aspire 4 Nurses at Work LLC

Elizabeth T. Hirsch

Pastore & Dailey LLC

Alex Brown

The Human Resource Consulting Group, LLC

People’s United Bank

Connecticut Community Bank, N.A. / Mitchell & Sheahan, P.C.

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PWC-Private Company Services

Impact Personnel, Inc.

The Siegfried Group, LLC

Cynthia Byrnes Contemporary Art

JPMorgan Chase

Sound Mark Partners

Deloitte

Shoshana and Seth Lubin

Stamford Health

Fairfield County Bank

Mastercard

Brenda Thickett

Fieldpoint Private

McCarter & English, LLP

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As of October 8, 2019

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Greater Jamaica Development Corporation

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For information on sponsorships and tickets visit www.ctwbdc.org or email akalish@ctwbdc.org

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OCTOBER 14, 2019

FCBJ

Facts & Figures BUILDING PERMITS Commercial 166 Glover Avenue LLC, Norwalk, contractor for 166 Glover Avenue LLC. Connecting bridge between 200 and 150 Glover Ave. at 166 Glover Ave., Norwalk. Estimated cost: $407,000. Filed April 2.

A Papa John Co., Norwalk, contractor for Merritt 7 Venture LLC. Future tenant fit-up permits required at 401 Merritt 7, Norwalk. Estimated cost: $250,000. Filed April 9.

A Prefered Construction LLC, Norwalk, contractor for the city of Norwalk. Remove and re-roof 165 Flax Hill Road, Norwalk. Estimated cost: $186,550. Filed April 9.

Affordable Vision Building & Remodeling LLC, Norwalk, contractor for the city of Norwalk. Create library café “Blue Teapot LLC” at 1 Belden Ave., Norwalk. Estimated cost: $5,000. Filed April 10.

Avalon Properties Inc., Stamford, contractor for Avalon Properties Inc. Remove and replace windows at 60 Glenbrook Road, Stamford.

Estimated cost: $80,000.

Filed May 9.

BLT Management LLC, Stamford, contractor for Waterfront Office Building LTD. Perform replacements and alterations at 62 Southfield Ave., Stamford. Estimated cost: $60,000. Filed May 10.

Items appearing in the Fairfield County Business Journal’s On The Record section are compiled from various sources, including public records made available to the media by federal, state and municipal agencies and the court system. While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of this information, no liability is assumed for errors or omissions. In the case of legal action, the records cited are open to public scrutiny and should be inspected before any action is taken.

Questions and comments regarding this section should be directed to: Bob Rozycki c/o Westfair Communications Inc. 701 Westchester Ave, Suite 100 J White Plains, N.Y. 10604-3407 Phone: 694-3600 • Fax: 694-3699

Carpentry Unlimited Inc, Stamford, contractor for Iacovo Gwen. Build storage space at 130 Lenox Ave., Unit 1, Stamford. Estimated cost: $8,000. Filed May 3.

Complete Dismantilling Services LLC, Stamford, contractor for HRC 201 LLC. Prepare for demolition at 201 Highridge Road, Stamford.

Estimated cost: $250,000.

Filed May 2.

Conte Company LLC. Norwalk, contractor for South Norwalk Boat Club Inc. Construct raised stone patio at 17 Mack St., Norwalk. Estimated cost: $80,000. Filed April 1.

Crystal LLC, Norwalk, contractor for Crystal LLC. Build commercial kitchen for baking only at 314 Wilson Ave., Norwalk. Estimated cost: $1,000. Filed April 10.

D&A Construction MGMT/ General Inc., Norwalk, contractor for Williard FDSPIN LLC. Replace antennas for T-Mobile on tower at 10 Williard Road, Norwalk.

Estimated cost: $15,000. Filed April 16.

Great view LLC, Stamford, contractor for Great View LLC. Construct six condominiums at 22 Highland Road, Stamford. Estimated cost: $2,817,180. Filed May 1.

Hyde Park Association, Stamford, contractor for Hyde Park Association. Repair garage at 2727 North Hill St., Stamford. Estimated cost: $120,000. ` Filed May 13.

JCS Design Build LLC, Stamford, contractor for Uriel Failla. Remove bath and enlarge master bedroom at 85 Franklin St., Unit 9, Stamford.

Estimated cost: $35,000. Filed April 30.

Merritt Station Norwalk LLC, Norwalk, contractor for Merritt Station Norwalk LLC. Build Pop Up Beer Garden for tenant at 87 Glover Ave., Norwalk. Estimated cost: $10,000.

Filed April 17.

ON THE RECORD

Residential 3V Construction LLC, Norwalk, contractor for Alexander Zobler and Amy Toole.

Reconstruct and expand deck and install new vinyl siding at 1 Spicewood Road, Norwalk. Estimated cost: $30,000. Filed April 9.

Alhariri, Omar, et al, Stamford, contractor for Omar Alhariri. Construct front-entrance porch at 94 Akbar Road, Stamford. Estimated cost: $9,000. Filed May 10.

Associates LLC DSA, Norwalk, contractor for Associates LLC DSA. Make unfinished basement at 7 Highwood Ave., Norwalk.

Estimated cost: $175,000.

Filed April 10.

Betteridge, Natalie and Albert, Greenwich, contractor for Natalie and Albert Betteridge. Replace and enlarge windows at 121 Round Hill Road, Greenwich. Estimated cost: $30,000. Filed June 2019.

Brennan Exteriors LLC, Stamford, contractor for Mark T. McEnroe, et al. Remove and re-roof 21 Cresthill Place, Stamford. Estimated cost: $27,000. Filed May 7.

Candito, Alfred A., Stamford, contractor for Alfred A. Candito Jr. Install fiberglass in swimming pool at 83 Deleo Drive, Stamford. Estimated cost: $20,000. Filed June 14.

City of Stamford, contractor for the city of Stamford.

Re-roof 1125 Cove Road, Stamford. Estimated cost: $3,128.

Filed May 8.

Conserved Vinci, Donald A., Norwalk, contractor for Donald A. Conserved Vinci. Build in-ground pool at 12 Live Oak Road, Norwalk.

Estimated cost: $4,200. Filed April 11.

Conte Company LLC, Norwalk, contractor for John J. Greco Jr. Build new single-family residence at 134 Gregory Blvd., Norwalk.

Estimated cost: $600,000.

Filed April 2.

Critchlow, Richard H., Norwalk, contractor for Richard H. Critchlow. Expand first floor, kitchen and master bath at 3 Crooked Lane, Norwalk.

Estimated cost: $142,225.

Filed April 17.

Highland Window Company LLC, Stamford, contractor for Nora Taylor. Remove and replace vinyl siding at 89 Malvern Road, Stamford.

Estimated cost: $25,800. Filed May 1.

del Valle Bueno, Jose Gabriel, Stamford, contractor for Jose Gabriel del Valle Bueno. Remove retaining walls at 70 Boulder Brook Drive, Stamford. Estimated cost: $6,000. Filed May 5.

House Solutions Connecticut, Bridgeport, contractor for Traver and Elizabeth Hutchinson. Replace roof at 40 Park Ave., Greenwich. Estimated cost: $68,000. Filed June 2019.

Donnelly, Michael and Kimberly J. Donnelly. Norwalk, contractor for Michael Donnelly. Add half bath in existing closet at 28 Rampart Road, Norwalk. Estimated cost: $2,000. Filed April 10.

Jelldal, George, et al, Stamford, contractor for George Jelldal. Renovate windows at 59 Fishing Trail, Stamford.

Estimated cost: $10,000. Filed May 6.

Douglas Marshall Cooper Associates LLC, Stamford, contractor for Leonard Gallo.

Remove and re-roof 36 Boulder Brook Drive, Stamford.

Estimated cost: $15,000. Filed May 8.

Dwyer, James R. and Anne Yang Dwyer, Norwalk, contractor for James R. Dwyer and Anne Yang Dwyer. Add bathroom in detached garage at 26 Point Road, Norwalk.

Estimated cost: $5,000. Filed April 8.

Goldblum, Irving S., Stamford, contractor for Irving S. Goldblum. Install generator with propane gas tank at 445 Fairfield Ave., Stamford.

Estimated cost: $20,000.

Filed May 6.

Greenwich Tent Co., Bridgeport, contractor for Janine Behrman. Set for a private party at 18 Sherwood Farm Lane, Greenwich.

Estimated cost: $12,000. Filed June 2019.

Hemingway Construction Corp., Stamford, contractor for Douglas R. Horn, et al. Renovate single-family dwelling at 28 Cedar Circle, Stamford. Estimated cost: $125,000. Filed May 4.

Herz, William and Gwendoline Scheuer, Riverside, contractor for William Herz.

Renovate master bathroom and raise roof over master bedroom at 14 Perkely Lane, Riverside. Estimated cost: $175,000. Filed June 2019.

Lueders, Matthew K., Stamford, contractor for Keith Pensiero. Construct swimming pool and required safety barrier at 31 Eastover Road, Stamford. Estimated cost: $36,800. Filed May 1.

Mayen-Mayen, Manuel de Jesus, et al, Stamford, contractor for Manuel de Jesus Mayen. Finish basement at 78 Lenox Ave., Stamford.

Estimated cost: $10,000. Filed June 12.

Miller, Brian, et al, Stamford, contractor for Brian Miller. Construct patio with basketball hoop at 99 Cross Country Trail, Stamford.

Estimated cost: $50,000.

Filed May 2.

Pro Custom Solar LLC, Stamford, contractor for Frantz Lauture, et al. Install roof-top solar panels at 15 Dryden St., Stamford. Estimated cost: $19,001. Filed May 3.

RCL Building & Remodeling LLC, Stamford, contractor for Bhatnagar Rajat.

Remove and replace kitchen cabinets, at 1 Arnold Drive, Stamford. Estimated cost: $43,000. Filed May 10.

RJ Renovations LLC, Stamford, contractor for Susan Burke, et al. Finish basement at 85 Harpsichord Turnpike, Stamford. Estimated cost: $19,000 Filed May 1.

FCBJ

Roy D. Duckworth IV, Stamford, contractor for Samantha Duckworth. Finish basement at 36 Timber Mill Road, Stamford. Estimated cost: $20,000. Filed May 6.

Sproule, David and Sue Sproule, Old Greenwich, contractor for David Sproule.

Replace rear deck at 9 Park Ave., Old Greenwich. Estimated cost: $45,800. Filed June 2019.

Stamford Tent, Stamford, contractor for Pamela Rohr.

Set up for a private party at 84 Field Point Circle, Greenwich. Estimated cost: $12,000.

Filed June 2019.

Tesla Energy Operation, Fremont, California, contractor for Andrew Doba. Install roof-mounted solar panels at 990 North St., Greenwich.

Estimated cost: $46,000.

Filed June 2019.

Tesla Energy Operation, Fremont, California, contractor for Alan Rodriguez. Install roof-mounted solar panels at 67 Harding Road, Old Greenwich. Estimated cost: $47,000. Filed June 2019.

Tesla Energy Operation, Fremont, California, contractor for James Nolletti. Install roof-mounted solar panels at 41 West View Place. Riverside.

Estimated cost: $31,938. Filed June 2019.

US Home Services LLC, Stamford, contractor for Leon L. McCulley Jr., et al. Add a single-family dwelling at 27 Brighton Place, Stamford.

Estimated cost: $135,000.

Filed May 4.

Vitiello, Rita Etal, Riverside, contractor for Rita Vitiello.

Supply and install shingles on roof area at 37 Meyer Place, Riverside. Estimated cost: $9,000. Filed June 2019.

Vivint Solar Developer LLC, Stamford, contractor for Stiller, Moira F. et al. Install roof-mounted panels at 63 Rachelle Ave., Stamford.

Estimated cost: $8,038. Filed April 30.

OCTOBER 14, 2019

23

Facts & Figures COURT CASES Bridgeport Superior Court Davis, Brinton L. et al, Bridgeport. Filed by Benchmark Municipal Tax Services LTD, Bridgeport. Plaintiff’s attorney: Epstein Juda J Law Office, Bridgeport. Action: The plaintiff filed a certificate tax lien on the defendants’ property for the unpaid tax with interest fees and charges. The plaintiff claims foreclosure of the mortgage, possession of the mortgage premises, monetary damages in excess of $15,000, exclusive of interest and costs and such other and further relief as the court deems appropriate. Case no. FBT-CV-196088376-S. Filed July 29.

Hessel, Sara F., et al, Bridgeport. Filed by Bayview Loan Servicing LLC, Coral Gables, Florida. Plaintiff’s attorney: O’Connell Attmore & Morris LLC, Hartford. Action: The plaintiff was assigned the mortgage of the defendants who defaulted on the terms of the agreement and have failed to pay the plaintiff the amount due. The plaintiff claims foreclosure of the mortgage, possession of the mortgage premises, monetary damages in excess of $15,000, exclusive of interest and costs and such other and further relief as the court deems appropriate. Case no.

FBT-CV-19-6086760-S. Filed June 5.

Hsu, Leo, et al, Stratford.

Filed by JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association, Jacksonville, Florida.

Plaintiff’s attorney: McCalla Raymer Leibert Pierce LLC, Hartford. Action: The plaintiff was assigned the mortgage of the defendants who defaulted on the terms of the agreement and have failed to pay the plaintiff the amount due. The plaintiff claims foreclosure of the mortgage, possession of the mortgage premises, monetary damages in excess of $15,000, exclusive of interest and costs and such other and further relief as the court deems appropriate. Case no. FBT-CV-196087878-S. Filed July 11.

24

OCTOBER 14, 2019

Martinez, Kimberly, et al, Stratford. Filed by Selene Finance LP, Fairfield. Plaintiff’s attorney: Glass & Braus LLC, Fairfield. Action: The plaintiff was assigned the mortgage of the defendants who defaulted on the terms of the agreement and have failed to pay the plaintiff the amount due. The plaintiff claims foreclosure of the mortgage, possession of the mortgage premises, monetary damages in excess of $15,000, exclusive of interest and costs and such other and further relief as the court deems appropriate. Case no. FBT-CV-196087446-S. Filed June 26.

Danbury Superior Court Cipriani, Lisa F., New Fairfield. Filed by Discover Bank, New Albany, Ohio. Plaintiff’s attorney: Schreiber / Cohen LLC, Salem. Action: The plaintiff is a banking association that issued the defendant a credit account. Defendant agreed to make payments for goods and services and failed to do so. The plaintiff seeks monetary damages more than $15,000, exclusive of interest and costs. Case no.

DBD-CV-19-6032271-S. Filed July 3.

Love-szarka, Jacquelyn, Danbury. Filed by Jeffrey Hidalgo, Danbury. Plaintiff’s attorney: Kernan Scully & McDonald LLP, Waterbury. Action: The plaintiff suffered a collision allegedly caused by the defendant and sustained severe and painful personal injuries. The plaintiff seeks monetary damages in excess of $15,000, exclusive of interest and costs and such other and further relief as the court deems appropriate. Case no.

DBD-CV-19-6031703-S. Filed June 4.

FCBJ

Skahen, Patrick, et al, Danbury. Filed by Judith Warner, Brookfield. Plaintiff’s attorney: Cohen & Wolf PC, Danbury. Action: The plaintiff suffered a collision allegedly caused by the defendants and sustained severe and painful personal injuries.

The plaintiff seeks monetary damages in excess of $15,000, exclusive of interest and costs and such other and further relief as the court deems appropriate. Case no. DBD-CV19-6032842-S. Filed Aug. 7.

Yamin, Veronica, Bethel.

Filed by Stephen Morris, Newtown. Plaintiff’s attorney: Cohen & Wolf PC, Danbury.

Action: The plaintiff suffered a collision allegedly caused by the defendant and sustained severe and painful personal injuries. The plaintiff seeks monetary damages in excess of $15,000, exclusive of interest and costs and such other and further relief as the court deems appropriate. Case no.

DBD-CV-19-6032517-S. Filed July 19.

Stamford Superior Court

Harbor Point Planned Community Association Inc., et al, Stamford. Filed

by Cindy Rinfret, Greenwich.

Plaintiff’s attorney: The Reinken Law Firm, Stamford.

Action: The plaintiff was on premises controlled by the defendants when she fell as the result of a defective sidewalk and sustained injuries.

The plaintiff seeks monetary damages in excess of $15,000, exclusive of interest and costs. Case no. FST-CV-196042370-S. Filed July 2.

Shaikh, Abdulkadar, Stamford. Filed by Rafael Alvarez-ramirez, Stamford.

Plaintiff’s attorney: Martinez Alex J. Law Offices LLC, Stamford. Action: The plaintiff suffered a collision allegedly caused by the defendant and sustained severe and painful personal injuries. The plaintiff seeks monetary damages in excess of $15,000, exclusive of interest and costs and such other and further relief as the court deems appropriate.

Case no. FST-CV-19-6042801-S. Filed Aug. 22.

DEEDS

Derouin, Michael, Stratford.

Filed by Sandra Macvicar, Darien. Plaintiff’s attorney: Berkowitz and Hanna LLC, Shelton. Action: The plaintiff suffered a collision allegedly caused by the defendant and sustained severe and painful personal injuries.

The plaintiff seeks monetary damages in excess of $15,000, exclusive of interest and costs and such other and further relief as the court deems appropriate. Case no. FST-CV19-6043006-S. Filed Aug. 2.

Commercial

Garavito, Abner, et al, Stamford. Filed by Bibiana Yoguez, Norwalk. Plaintiff’s attorney: Berkowitz and Hanna LLC, Shelton. Action: The plaintiff suffered a collision allegedly caused by the defendants and sustained severe and painful personal injuries. The plaintiff seeks monetary damages in excess of $15,000, exclusive of interest and costs and such other and further relief as the court deems appropriate. Case no.

FST-CV-19-6042334-S. Filed June 18.

Etta, Scott R. and Caroline E. Etta, Fairfield. Seller: Pressman Family Trust, Fairfield. Property: 460 Aram Hill Road, Fairfield. Amount: $1,125,000. Filed July 16.

9 Lafayette 1B LLC, Greenwich. Seller: LD 9 Lafayette Connecticut LLC, Greenwich.

Property: 9 Lafayette Cottage, Unit 1B, Greenwich. Amount: $1,900,000. Filed July 11.

Charlotte Berthou and Erica Elisabeth, Greenwich.

Seller: 777 Lake Ave., Greenwich. Property: 777 Lake Ave., Greenwich. Amount: $10.

Filed July 1.

Fisher, Christopher and Ava Fisher, Fairfield. Seller: 111 Forest LLC, Westport.

Property: 117 Forest Road, Fairfield. Amount: $799,700.

Filed May 24.

Gentile, Michael, Fairfield.

Seller: CBK Financial Solutions LLC, Palm Beach, Florida. Property: 110 Old Hickory Road, Fairfield. Amount: $1,350,000. Filed July 17.

Goldsmith, Michael and Sarah Goldsmith, Fairfield.

Seller: Declan Mahar and Kathleen E. Mahar, Fairfield.

Property: 160 Windermere St., Fairfield. Amount: $547,000.

Filed July 16.

Gregory Kopchinsky 2012 Trust, New Canaan. Seller: Joseph Stolarski and Karin Stolarski, Fairfield. Property: 600 Hoydens Hill Road, Fairfield. Amount: $1,495,000.

Filed July 12.

Kryzwick, Joanne and Francis Kryzwick, St. Augustine, Florida. Seller: P3K Homes LLC, Easton. Property: 103 Katona Drive, Unit 3A8, Fairfield. Amount: $250,000.

Filed May 22.

Mansfield, Scott D. and Gregory D. Slattery, Cos Cob. Seller: 269 Greenwich Milbank LLC, Armonk, New York. Property: 269 Milbank Ave., Greenwich. Amount: $1.

Filed July 10.

Ravindran, Balagoplan and Sangeetha S. Ravindran, Stratford. Seller: FGB Partners LLC, Fairfield. Property: 269 Judd St., Fairfield.

Amount: $679,500. Filed July 12.

Rhinebeck Realty LLC, Millwood, New York. Seller: 343 West Putnam Avenue LLC, Fort Collins, Colorado.

Property: 343 W. Putnam Ave., Greenwich. Amount: $10. Filed June 28.

Rigo, Stephen G. and Emily Rigo, Fairfield. Seller: Brian Lee and Kerry Lee, Fairfield.

Property: 494 Redding Road, Fairfield. Amount: $1,260,000. Filed July 12.

Roberts, Jean and Matthew Farley, Greenwich. Seller: JDP North Maple LLC, Greenwich. Property: 185 N. Maple Ave., Greenwich. Amount: $2,075,000. Filed July 1.

Sunshine Residences LLC, Bridgeport. Seller: The Bank of New York Mellon, Coral Gables, Florida. Property: 1992 Redding Road, Fairfield.

Amount: $393,750. Filed July 15.

Testani, Alexander Mark, Fairfield. Seller: Bel Air Development Group LLC, Westport. Property: 533 Black Rock Turnpike, Fairfield.

Amount: $460,000. Filed July 12.

The 36 Rockwood Lane, Greenwich. Seller: Stone Harbor Land Company LLC, Greenwich. Property: 36 Rockwood Lane, Greenwich.

Amount: $10. Filed July 12.

The Guide, Love & Protect Realty Trust, Weston.

Seller: Salvatore V. Russo III, Fairfield. Property: 259 Edward St., Fairfield. Amount: $2,495,000. Filed July 15.

Residential Arsenault, Jeffrey, Greenwich. Seller: Jeffrey Arsenault and Allison K. Hopkins, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. Property: Lot 148, Map 3, Sound Beach Park, Greenwich. Amount: $0. Filed June 24.

Beney, Thomas H. and Vicki Beney, Rye, New York.

Seller: Marguerite Cattan, Greenwich. Property: Lot 24R, Map 1992, Hickory Drive, Greenwich. Amount: $1,215,000. Filed June 26.

Bernard, Stanley and Patricia Bernard, Dobbs Ferry, New York. Seller: Gilberto Rodriguez Jr. and Kimberly Rodriguez, Fairfield.

Property: 285 Bulkley Drive, Fairfield. Amount: $720,000.

Filed July 12.

Bixler, Peter and Claire Bixler, Greenwich. Seller: Evan P. Bos and Elizabeth B. Bos, Riverside. Property: Lot 5 of Westcott Gardens, Greenwich. Amount: $843,000.

Filed July 1.

Blondin, Nicholas Alfred and Rebecca Jacobs Gordon, Fairfield. Seller: William Brewster and Karen Brewster, Fairfield. Property: 47 Stoneleigh Road, Fairfield. Amount: $845,000. Filed July 17.

Facts & Figures Bogacki, Jacek and Inesa Malyshka, Greenwich. Seller: Minnie C. Petise, Greenwich.

Property: Lot 59, Map 303, Greenwich. Amount: $10.

Filed July 15.

Boske, Jason and Emily A. Nevin-Giannini, Bridgeport.

Seller: Matthew A. Baker and Katelin L. Loebbe, Fairfield.

Property: 1210 Valley Road, Fairfield. Amount: $476,000.

Filed July 16.

Cammarota Jr. Alfonso, Fairfield. Seller: William Borsi, Milford. Property: 528 Black Rock Turnpike, Fairfield.

Amount: $299,900. Filed July 12.

Caram, Mary Ann, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Seller: Zilong Wang and Meixu Liu, Darien. Property: 192 Fairland Drive, Fairfield. Amount: $400,000. Filed July 11.

Chafiian, Marc, Greenwich.

Seller: K. Keith Roe and Elizabeth Eaton Roe, Greenwich.

Property: 5 Wyckham Hill Lane, Greenwich. Amount: $1.

Filed June 25.

Chafilan, Marc and Unni Royland, Greenwich. Seller: Marc Chafilan, Greenwich.

Property: 5 Wyckham Hill Lane, Greenwich. Amount: $0. Filed June 28.

Chin, Rebecca J. and Arianne C. Apicelli, Greenwich.

Seller: Jeffrey Geisler Jr. and Meagan Geisler, Riverside.

Property: Lot 50, Map 454, Cherry Hill Park, Greenwich.

Amount: $760,000. Filed June 25.

Cocozza, Peter and Ruth Cocozza, Greenwich. Seller: Mary H. Rappa, Greenwich.

Property: 125 Hendrie Ave., Riverside. Amount: $0. Filed July 1.

Cohen, Ziv E. and Rina Levy Cohen, Greenwich.

Seller: Sven Juul-Sorensen, West Palm Beach, Florida.

Property: 14 Hilton Heath, Cos Cob. Amount: $0. Filed July 2.

Crotty, Tara, Fairfield. Seller: Federal National Mortgage Association, Dallas, Texas.

Property: 140 Alden St., Fairfield. Amount: $355,500.

Filed July 15.

Davey, Ken and Elizabeth Davey, Northboro, Massachusetts. Seller: Carl Walker and Jill Walker, Fairfield.

Property: 1810 Fairfield Beach Road, Fairfield. Amount: $1,520,500. Filed July 16.

Frankel, Bradley M. and Ronelle A. Frankel, Cos Cob. Seller: Barry W. Rickert and Jessika Z. Maiman. Greenwich. Property: 25 Meadow Drive, Cos Cob. Amount: $0.

Filed July 15.

Grassi, John and Marcelle Grassi, Amherst, New York.

Seller: Aaron Armstrong and Kathryn Armstrong, Fairfield.

Property: 9 Marne Ave., Fairfield. Amount: $500,000.

Filed July 11.

Hart, Jack A. and Lisa Louise Hart, Norwalk. Seller: Abdallah K. Igram and Priscilla P. Igram, Fairfield. Property: 244 Windermere St., Fairfield.

Amount: $50,000. Filed July 16.

Mikolasy, Andrew and Kelly Mikolasy, Norwalk.

Seller: Donna Rudolph, Fairfield. Property: 371 Midlock Road, Fairfield. Amount: $1,540,000. Filed July 17.

Pereira, Bradley and Gabrielle Marangell, Greenwich. Seller: Thomas J. Dodd and Rachel Dodd, Greenwich. Property: 270 Tait Road, Greenwich. Amount: $1.

Filed July 15.

Cedillos, Mayra, et al, Creditor: Deutsch Bank National Trust Co., Salt Lake City, Utah.

Property: 610 Ogden St., Unit 610, Bridgeport. Mortgage default. Filed May 28.

Smrtka, Jennifer Marie, Fairfield. Seller: Stephen G. Rigo and Emily Rigo, Fairfield. Property: 1075 Round Hill Road, Fairfield. Amount: $726,500. Filed July 12.

Cotto, Miriam, et al Creditor: US Bank Trust National Association, Greenville, South Carolina. Property: 28 Bell St., Bridgeport. Mortgage default.

Filed June 3.

Tomlin, Damon and Kathleen Tomlin, Monument, Colorado. Seller: Edwin A. Martin and Lori A. Martin, Fairfield. Property: 1912 N. Benson Road, Fairfield.

Amount: $920,000. Filed July 15.

Duzant, Claude E., et al, Creditor: Bank of America, NA, Westlake Village, California. Property: 379 Interval Road, Bridgeport. Mortgage default. Filed June 12.

Heath, Carmen, Norwalk.

Seller: Emerson Do Couto and Edson Do Couto, Fairfield.

Property: 224 Fairchild Ave., Fairfield. Amount: $245,000.

Filed July 15.

Toto, Michael and Anne Toto, Fairfield. Seller: Mark E. Hassey and Margaret S. Hassey, Fairfield. Property: 127 Longfellow Ave., Fairfield.

Amount: $415,000. Filed July 17.

Herzog, Jordon R. and Kimberly Herzog, Fairfield.

Seller: Robert A. Herzlinger and Paula H. Herzlinger, Fairfield. Property: 215 Curtis Terrace, Fairfield. Amount: $570,000. Filed July 16.

Ward, Anthony and Daria Ward, Fairfield. Seller: Thomas E. Doherty and Susan K. Doherty, Fairfield. Property: 674 Mill Plain Road, Fairfield.

Amount: $800,000. Filed July 11.

Iragorri, Maurice and Sara Iragorri, Cos Cob. Seller: Thomas G. Faughnan and Maura M. Faughnan, Fairfield.

Property: 208 Village Lane, Fairfield. Amount: $827,000.

Filed July 15.

Wein, Byron A. and Marita A. Wein, Fairfield. Seller: Mark J. Macedonio and Jody L. Macedonio, Fairfield. Property: 102 Fairfield Beach Road, Fairfield. Amount: $1,535,000.

Filed July 15.

Kelly, John and Suzanne K. Freda, Fairfield. Seller: Thomas J. Bepko III, Fairfield.

Property: 260 Roselle St., Fairfield. Amount: $485,000.

Filed July 15.

McArthur, Zachary F., Fairfield. Seller: Craig P. Barre and Maureen F. Barre, Fairfield.

Property: 71 Ryegate Road, Fairfield. Amount: $590,000.

Filed July 12.

Cavanaugh, Elizabeth, et al, Creditor: The Success Village Apartments Inc, Bridgeport. Property: 171 Court D, Building 37, Apartment 171, Bridgeport. Mortgage default.

Filed June 11.

FORECLOSURES Carrington, Kevin B., et al, Creditor: Deutsch Bank National Trust Co., West Palm Beach, Florida. Property: 146 Dixon St., Bridgeport. Mortgage default. Filed June 4.

Carter, Sonya, et al, Creditor: Benchmark Municipal Tax Services LTD, Bridgeport.

Property: 381 Remington St., Bridgeport. Mortgage default.

Filed June 4.

Fernandez, Oscar, et al, Creditor: US Bank National Association, Coppell, Texas.

Property: 1480 Capitol Ave., Unit 806, Bridgeport. Mortgage default. Filed June 6.

Fils, Simon, Creditor: US Bank National Association, Coppell, Texas. Property: 31 Burnsford Ave., Bridgeport.

Mortgage default. Filed May 23.

Garner, Sherlyn, et al, Creditor: Connex Credit Union Inc, North Haven.

Property: 625 Westfield Ave., Bridgeport. Mortgage default.

Filed May 21.

Morency, Richard, et al, Creditor: Wilmington Savings Fund Society, Anaheim, California. Property: 239 Laurel Hill Ave., Norwich. Mortgage default. Filed May 20.

Natera, Georgette, et al, Creditor: US Bank NA, Salt Lake City, Utah. Property: 421 Lincoln Ave., Unit 425, Bridgeport. Mortgage default.

Filed May 16.

Ortiz, Jesus, et al, Creditor: The Bank of New York Mellon, Greenville, South Carolina.

Property: 238 Wood Ave., Bridgeport. Mortgage default.

Filed May 16.

Ortiz, Jesus, et al, Creditor: US Bank Trust NA, San Diego, California. Property: 61 Granfield Ave., Bridgeport.

Mortgage default. Filed June 14.

SRJR LLC, et al, Creditor: Benchmark Municipal Tax Services LTD, Bridgeport.

Property: 1300 Howard Ave., Bridgeport. Mortgage default.

Filed May 13.

JUDGMENTS Luna, Jose, Bridgeport. $2,953, in favor of Cavalry SPV I LLC, Valhalla, New York,

by Tobin & Marohn, Meriden.

Property: 135 Voight Ave., Bridgeport. Filed April 24.

Allen, Christopher, Norwalk. $3,569, in favor of Norwalk Hospital Association, Norwalk, by Lovejoy and Rimer PC, Norwalk. Property: 7 Buckthorn Road. Norwalk.

Filed June 12.

Castro, Elena, Bridgeport. $13,718, in favor of The United Illuminating Company, New Haven, by Nair & Levin PC, Bloomfield. Property: 1065 Old Town Road, Bridgeport.

Filed April 25.

Dworkin, Selda, Bridgeport. $6,688, in favor of The United Illuminating Company, New Haven, by Nair & Levin PC, Bloomfield. Property: 1200 Huntington Turnpike, Bridgeport. Filed April 25.

Flanagan Menozzi, Carrie, Fairfield. $40,802, in favor of Plimpton & Hills Corp, Meriden, by the Law Office of Carreira & Wojciechowski LLC, New Preston. Property: 785 Riverside Drive, Fairfield.

Filed June 3.

Garcia, David, Stamford. $2,484, in favor of American Express National Bank, Salt Lake City, Utah. by Zwicker & Associates PC, Enfield.

Property: 1 Barmore Drive E., Stamford. Filed June 14.

Jeter, Kizzy, Bridgeport. $601, in favor of Women’s Health Connecticut, Bridgeport, by Flanagan & Peat, Danbury. Property: 1492 North Ave., Apartment 105, Bridgeport. Filed April 16.

FCBJ

Johnson-Cole, Alethea, Bridgeport. $3,712, in favor of The Southern Connecticut Gas Company, Orange, by Nair & Levin PC, Bloomfield.

Property: 2090 North Ave., Bridgeport. Filed May 1.

Lapegna, Anthony J., Gayslordville. $8,210, in favor of Ford Motor Credit Company LLC, Livonia, Michigan, by Nair & Levin PC, Bloomfield.

Property: 63 Valley Road, Cos Cob. Filed June 12.

Luna, Jose, Bridgeport. $2,953, in favor of Cavalry SPV I, LLC, Valhalla, New York, by Tobin & Marohn, Meriden.

Property: 135 Voight Ave., Bridgeport. Filed April 24.

Lynch, Sean A., Fairfield. $7,785, in favor of Cavalry SPV I, LLC, Valhalla, New York, by Schreiber/Cohen LLC, Salem, New Hampshire. Property: 3800 Black Rock Turnpike, Fairfield. Filed May 13.

Maloney, Robert G., Fairfield. $30,570, in favor of American Express National Bank, Salt Lake City, Utah. by Mark Sank & Associates LLC, Stamford. Property: 72 Judd St., Fairfield. Filed June 10.

Marshall, William, Fairfield. $31,646, in favor of Frank J. Romano, Bridgeport,

by The Law Offices of Becker & Zowine LLC Bridgeport.

Property: 110 Elm St., Fairfield.

Filed June 6.

Mota, Maria, Bridgeport. $4,038, in favor of Capital One Bank NA, Richmond, Virginia,

by London & London, Newington. Property: 147 Garfield Ave., Unit 149, Bridgeport.

Filed May 13.

Ortiz, Anthony, Bridgeport. $4,065, in favor of Midland Funding LLC, San Diego, California, by London & London, Newington. Property: 1137 Hancock Ave., Bridgeport.

Filed May 13.

Pettway, Lisa, Bridgeport. $9,802, in favor of The United Illuminating Company, New Haven, by Nair & Levin PC, Bloomfield. Property: 3 Cottage Place, Bridgeport. Filed April 25.

OCTOBER 14, 2019

25

Facts & Figures Roman, Elvira, Bridgeport. $440, in favor of Med-Aid LLC, Orange, by Eric H. Opin & Associates LLC, Milford.

Property: 170 Park St., Bridgeport. Filed April 29.

LIENS Federal Tax Liens Filed Overthrow, Deicely and Daniel J. Overthrow, 25 June Ave., Norwalk. $29,006, civil proceeding tax. Filed June 11.

Arango, Gabriel A., 7 Benedict St., Norwalk. $15,409, civil proceeding tax. Filed July 8.

Billik, Ann B., 399 Main Ave., Unit 204, Norwalk. $12,687, civil proceeding tax.

Filed July 8.

Davila, Edelman, 5 Sniffen St., Apt. 5A, Norwalk. $11,569, civil proceeding tax. Filed June 17.

Dunn, Linda and Christopher Dunn, 24 Craw St., Norwalk. $44,003, civil proceeding tax. Filed July 8.

Errico, Mark W., 28 Overbrook Road, Norwalk. $536,789, civil proceeding tax. Filed July 8.

Gatt, Meghan, and Peter Gatt, 26 Thomas St., Rowayton. $112,376, civil proceeding tax. Filed June 26.

Guerrera, Lisa and Robert Guerrera, 8 Allen Cottage, Norwalk. $28,780, civil proceeding tax. Filed June 26.

Joseph, Guivenson, 90 Bouton St., Apt., 2A, Norwalk. $13,908, civil proceeding tax.

Filed June 17.

Lilas Beauty Salon Corp., 8 Belden Ave., Norwalk. $3,640, civil proceeding tax. Filed July 1.

McNichols, Audrey M. and James M. McNichols, 6 Elliott St., East Norwalk. $88,178, civil proceeding tax.

Filed June 26.

26

OCTOBER 14, 2019

Norris, Thomas, 15 Cove Ave., Norwalk. $37, 141, civil proceeding tax. Filed July 1.

Ong, Helen L. and John F. Ong, 25 Point Road, Norwalk. $41,276, civil proceeding tax.

Filed July 1.

Parks, Tricia A., 20 Arbor Drive, Norwalk. $12,209, civil proceeding tax. Filed June 26.

Pettibone, Jacqueline F., 76 Bayne St., Norwalk. $16,046, civil proceeding tax. Filed June 26.

Rofhok, Darrow, 243 Flax Hill Road, Norwalk. $23,002, civil proceeding tax. Filed June 24.

Rosales, Edwin, 6 Lyncrest Drive, Norwalk. $21,220, civil proceeding tax. Filed July 1.

Ruttkamp, Stephen M., P.O. Box 43. Wilton. $175,019, civil proceeding tax. Filed June 18.

Sasloe, Stephen A., 14 East Meadow Lane, Norwalk. $6,939, civil proceeding tax.

Filed June 24.

Scudder, Alfred J., 14 Cottage St., Unit 4, Norwalk. $51,614, civil proceeding tax.

Filed July 1.

Spaeth, Steven M. and Leigh M. Spaeth, 32 Ellen St., Norwalk. $44,157, civil proceeding tax. Filed June 26.

Stewart, David P., 444 Flax Hill Road, Norwalk. $25,567, civil proceeding tax. Filed June 26.

Taylor, David A., 10 Raymond Terrace, Norwalk. $61,688, civil proceeding tax.

Filed June 26.

Vegas Masonry Garden & Law Company LLC, 36 Gregory Blvd., East Norwalk. $189,805, civil proceeding tax.

Filed July 1.

Witherspoon, Micahel L., 5B Observatory Place, Norwalk. $98,862, civil proceeding tax. Filed June 11.

FCBJ

MECHANIC’S LIENS Koutras, Iakovos and Andrea Koutras, Greenwich.

Filed by: Custom Air Systems Inc., by John J. Scianna Sr. Property: 12 Pintail Lane, Greenwich. Amount: $5,307.

Filed April 29.

LIS PENDENS Comers-Rilla, Nora, Fairfield. Filed by Seiger Gfeller Laurie LLP, West Hartford, for Megan Nabozny and Derek Nabozny. Property: 34 Dalewood Ave., Fairfield. Action: foreclose a certain mortgage from the defendant. Filed July 19.

Ferguson Sr., William E., et al, Bridgeport. Filed by McCalla Raymer Leibert Pierce LLC, Hartford, for US Bank National Association.

Property: 245 Harlem Ave., Bridgeport. Action: foreclose defendant’s mortgage. Filed April 29.

Gentile, Bonnie, et al, Fairfield. Filed by Glass & Brauss LLC, Fairfield, for Deutsche Bank National Trust Company. Property: 32 Laurel St., Fairfield. Action: foreclose a certain mortgage from the defendant. Filed July 16.

Gifford, Lee, et al, Bridgeport. Filed by O’Connell, Attmore & Morris LLC, Hartford, for Bayview Loan Servicing LLC. Property: 1515-1525 Stratford Ave., Bridgeport.

Action: foreclose defendant’s mortgage. Filed April 29.

Guity, Abelardo, et al, Bridgeport. Filed by The Marcus Law Firm, North Branford, for the Water Pollution Control Authority for the city of Bridgeport. Property: 28-30 Putnam St., Bridgeport.

Action: foreclose defendants’ mortgage. Filed April 30.

Higgins, Keith and James Higgins, Cos Cob. Filed by McCalla Raymer Leibert Pierce LLC, Hartford, for Quicken Loans. Property: 29 Cross Lane, Cos Cob. Action: foreclose defendants’ mortgage. Filed June 26.

Hudson, Norma H., et al, Stamford. Filed by Ackerly & Ward, Stamford, for the Stamford Water Pollution Control Authority, Property: 22 Wilson St., Stamford.

Action: foreclose defendants’ mortgage. Filed May 6.

Izaguirre, Rigoberto, et al, Stamford. Filed by McCalla Raymer Leibert Pierce LLC, Hartford, for Deutsche Bank National Trust Co. Property: 49 Williard Terrace, Stamford.

Action: foreclose defendants’ mortgage. Filed May 6.

James, Louis J., et al, Bridgeport. Filed by Bendett & McHugh PC, Farmington, for US Bank National Association. Property: 84 Velvet St., Bridgeport. Action: foreclose defendants’ mortgage. Filed May 1.

Johnson, Chiyezhath A., et al, Stamford. Filed by Ackerly & Ward, Stamford, for the Stamford Water Pollution Control Authority, Property: 138 Fourth St., Stamford.

Action: foreclose defendants’ mortgage. Filed May 6.

Julia, Concepcion, Bridgeport. Filed by Bender, Anderson and Barba, PC, North Haven, for The Success Villages Apartments Inc. Property: 242 Court D, Building 57, Apartment 242, Bridgeport.

Action: foreclose defendant’s mortgage. Filed May 1.

Kabir, Mohammed, et al, Stamford. Filed by Bendett & McHugh PC, Farmington, for US Bank National Association. Property: 45 Woodmere Road, Stamford. Action: foreclose defendant’s mortgage.

Filed May 3.

Klein, Samuel, et al, Greenwich. Filed by Locke Lord LLP, Hartford, for Bank of America NA. Property: 131 Pecksland Road, Greenwich.

Action: foreclose a certain mortgage from the defendant. Filed July 10.

Lavin, Lisa, et al, Fairfield.

Filed by Bendett & McHugh PC, Farmington, for Wells Fargo Bank NA. Property: 140 Woods End Road, Fairfield.

Action: foreclosure of a mortgage to plaintiff. Filed July 3.

Lavin, Lisa, et al, Fairfield.

Filed by Bendett & McHugh PC, Farmington, for Wells Fargo Bank NA. Property: 140 Woods End Road, Fairfield.

Action: foreclosure of a mortgage to plaintiff. Filed July 11.

Bernier, Roseline, Stamford,

by Robert E. Colapietro. Lender: Citibank NA, 1000 Technology Drive, O’Fallon, Missouri. Property: 44 Strawberry Hill Ave., Stamford. Amount: $45,000.

Filed July 8.

Lombardi, Leslie, et al, Greenwich. Filed by Bendett & McHugh PC, Farmington, for US Bank Trust National Association. Property: 26 Heittiefred Road, Greenwich.

Action: foreclose defendants’ mortgage. Filed June 28.

Carrasco, Luis, Stamford, by Cheryl A. Rodriguez. Lender: Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions LLC, 980 Hammond Drive, Suite 200, Atlanta, Georgia.

Property: 113 Toms Road, Stamford. Amount: $297.500.

Filed July 3.

Montague, Antoinette, Fairfield. Filed by McCalla Raymer Leibert Pierce LLC, Hartford, for M&T Bank.

Property: 28 Suzanne Circle, Fairfield. Action: foreclosure of a mortgage to plaintiff.

Filed June 20.

Demetros, Greg P. and Marybeth O. Demetros, Stamford,

by Mark A. Sank. Lender: People’s United Bank National Association, 850 Main St., Bridgeport. Property: 63 Buena Vista St., Stamford. Amount: $560,000. Filed July 3.

Navarro, Luz, et al, Fairfield. Filed by McCalla Raymer Leibert Pierce LLC, Hartford, for The Bank of New York Mellon. Property: 23 Eastfield Drive, Fairfield.

Action: foreclose defendants’ mortgage. Filed July 11.

Hanson, Brent and Nancy Hanson, Stamford, by Cassim Maloney. Lender: Loandepot. com LLC, 26642 Towne Centre Drive, Foothill Ranch, California. Property: 106 Woodside Green, Unit 3C, Stamford.

Amount: $229,500. Filed July 3.

LEASES Amarti, Thami and Mounia Maliki, by John Jordan. Landlord: Putnam Park Apartments Inc. Greenwich. Property: 155 Putnam Park, Greenwich. Term: 31 years, commenced July 31, 2019. Filed July 31.

Maselli, Alyssa and Garrett Marino, by Gerald S. Knopf.

Landlord: Putnam Park Apartments Inc. Greenwich. Property: 148 Putnam Park, Greenwich.

Term: 31 years, commenced July 22, 2019. Filed July 23.

MORTGAGES Alao Yuqui, Luis Gilberto and Marta Alao, Stamford,

by Matthew NL Roach. Lender: Plaza Home Mortgage Inc., 500 Edgewater Drive, Wakefield, Massachusetts. Property: 8 Sherman St., Stamford. Amount: $252,200. Filed July 3.

Almanzar, Edgar A. and Soribel Almanzar, Stamford, by Stephen M. Spedaliere. Lender: Loandepot.com LLC, 26642 Towne Centre Drive, Foothill Ranch, California. Property: 99 Frost Pond Road, Stamford.

Amount: $601,450. Filed July 3.

Hazelton, Kevin and Stephanie Mondragon, Stamford,

by Kristen A. Mazur. Lender: Guaranteed Rate Inc., 3940 N. Ravenswood, Chicago, Illinois.

Property: 80 Lawn Ave., Unit 11, Stamford. Amount: $277,950.

Filed July 3.

Kuzmyn, Iryna and Ihor Kuzmyn, Stamford, by Matthew J. Cholewa. Lender: Mortgage Services Inc, 193 Grand St., Second floor, Waterbury.

Property: 60 Lawn Ave., No. 17, Stamford. Amount: $264,000.

Filed July 8.

Lucy, Philip J. and Caroline Lucy, Stamford, by Leah M. Parisi. Lender: Wells Fargo Bank NA, 101 N. Phillips Avenue, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Property: 82 Dunn Ave., Stamford.

Amount: $349,200. Filed July 3.

Neudecker, Austin K., Stamford, by Anne-Marie Penkala.

Lender: Better Mortgage Corp., 250 Greenwich St., 36th floor, New York, New York. Property: 119 Forest St., Stamford.

Amount: $343,200. Filed July 5.

Facts & Figures Neurohr, Nicole and Kenneth Neurohr, Stamford, by Mark A. Sank Lender: Savings Bank of Danbury, 220 Main St., Danbury. Property: 409 Hope St., Stamford. Amount: $310,000. Filed July 3.

Ovando, Danny E., Stamford,

by Jonathan T. Hoffman. Lender: Quicken Loans Inc., 1050 Woodward Ave., Detroit, Michigan.

Property: 50 Glenbrook Road, Unit 14A, Stamford. Amount: $220,950. Filed July 5.

Pierre, Lourdine S., Stamford,

by Gregory G. Andriunas. Lender: JPMorgan Chase Bank NA, 1111 Polaris Pkwy., Columbus, Ohio. Property: 227 Sylvan Knoll Road, Stamford. Amount: $210,000. Filed July 3.

Ragonesi, Carol and John Ragonesi, Stamford, by Robert E. Colapietro. Lender: Ditech Financial LLC, 1100 Virginia Drive, Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. Property: 697 Cove Road, Unit 1D, Stamford. Amount: $130,900. Filed July 5.

Rana, Mohammed Shoel and Sharmine Akter. Stamford,

by Mame L. Baz Car. Lender: CrossCountry Mortgage Inc., 6850 Miller Road, Brecksville, Ohio. Property: 38 Uncas Road, Stamford. Amount: $529,237.

Filed July 3.

Seymour, Daniel, Stamford,

by Antonio Faretta. Lender: UBS Bank USA, 299 S. Main St., Suite 2275, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Property: 30 Windermere Lane, Stamford. Amount: $750,000.

Filed July 8.

Spano, Frank, Stamford, by Richard J. Margenot Lender: First County Bank, 117 Prospect St., Stamford. Property: 27 Northill St., Unit 6N, Stamford.

Amount: $96,000. Filed July 3.

NEW BUSINESSES AXC Automation, 49 Willowbrook Ave., Stamford 06902, c/o LBP, LLC. Filed May 2.

Blade and Bow, 3 World Trade Center, New York 10007 c/o Diageo Americas Supply Inc. Filed May 9.

Bluepearl Designs, 1450 Washington Blvd. Stamford 06901, c/o Bobby Blue. Filed May 8.

Infinity Remodeling and Home Improvement, 93 Dean St., Stamford 06902, c/o Maria Saravia. Filed May 13.

Bourgeois Services LLC, 750 E. Main St., Suite 620, Stamford 06902, c/o Jean Menard. Filed May 7.

J5 Fashions, 82 Ralsey Road, Stamford 06902, c/o Robert Jackson Jr. Filed May 10.

Community Care Services, 1450 Washington Blvd. Stamford 06901, c/o Bobby Blue.

Filed May 8.

Digium, 2414 Industrial Drive, Stamford 06902, c/o Sangoma US Inc. Filed May 3.

Grace Daycare and Learning Center, 369 Washington Blvd, Stamford 06901, c/o Fritz G. Chery. Filed May 7.

JC Rejoice Art, 83 Morgan St., Suite D, Stamford 06905, c/o JC Center LLC. Filed May 13.

Jordan Grey’s LLC, 29 High Ridge Road, Suite 305, Stamford 06902, c/o Brenda Clark.

Filed May 1.

Marinero Multiservices Inc., 809 E. Main St., Stamford 06902, c/o Jose L. Marinero.

Filed July 25.

Hydro Fresh, 477 Den Road, Stamford 06903, c/o Bob Tonne. Filed May 1.

New Life Warehouse, 1127 High Ridge Road, Suite 161, Stamford 06906, c/o Stamford Junk Pros LLC. Filed May 10.

Ife-Amore, 113 Myano Lane, Stamford 06902, c/o Ebonie Adams. Filed May 8.

PATENTS

Christopher Michael Trestain, Livonia, Michigan. Assigned to Harman, Stamford.

Automatic suppression of unrecognized spot colors from a raster image. Patent no. 10,432,826 issued to Arindam Das, Konnagar, India; David C. Robsinson, Penfield. Assigned to Xerox, Norwalk.

Bearing-based leveling assembly for three-dimensional object printing. Patent no.

10,434,711 issued to Aaron M. Moore, Fairport; Ron E. Dufort, Rochester; Timothy G. Shelhart, West Henrietta; Timothy D. Slattery, Elma. Assigned to Xerox, Norwalk.

Electrical system tester. Patent no. D861,519 issued to Justin Peters, Haslet, Texas. Assigned to GE Global Sourcing LLC, Norwalk.

Location tracking system for networked print devices in an environment. Patent no.

10,440,221 issued to Fritz Francis Ebner, Pittsford. Assigned to Xerox, Norwalk.

Audible prompts in a vehicle navigation system. Patent no.

10,440,493 issued to

Method and apparatus for determining an ultraviolet (UV) cure level. Patent no. 10,436,758 issued to Paul McConville, Webster. Jason M. LeFevre, Penfield; Douglas K. Herrmann, Webster; Michael J. Levy, Webster; Seemit Praharaj, Webster. Assigned to Xerox, Norwalk.

Multiple path acoustic wall coupling for surface-mounted speakers. Patent no.

10,440,465 issued to Paul Wayne Peace Jr., Viejo, California; Derrick Rodgers, Altadena, California. Assigned to Harman, Stamford.

Process for continuously supplying a fracturing fluid. Patent no. 10,436,001 issued to Richard Kelly, East Amherst.

Assigned to Praxair Technology Inc., Danbury.

Smart speakers with cloud equalizer. Patent no. 10,439,578 issued to Srinath Arunachalam, West Jordan, Utah. Assigned to Harman, Stamford.

System and method for adjusting operation of a transfer assist blade drive train with reference to printing operational parameters.

Patent no. 10,437,179 issued to Michael N. Soures, Webster. Assigned to Xerox, Norwalk.

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