Fairfield County Business Journal 120814

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FAIRFIELD COUNTY

BUSINESS JOURNAL YOUR ONLY SOURCE FOR REGIONAL BUSINESS NEWS | westfaironline.com

December 8, 2014 | VOL. 50, No. 49

To build a hospital

FCBJ this week BIG INVESTORS A Quinnipiac survey shows where the money is going … 3

STAMFORD CENTER TRANSFORMS ITSELF

BIG THINKING Bigelow Tea moves mountains, one customer at a time … 4

BY CRYSTAL KANG ckang@westfairinc.com

K

Eigen said she sees technology in the form of smartphones and tablets used not to bypass stores but to hone and improve the in-mall shopping experience. The day she spoke was so-called Cyber Monday; the mall’s crowds that built into the evening hours seemed not to care. “C’mon,” came the timeless prompt in the parking lot. “Remember where we parked.” “Today people use all kinds of tools to shop,” Eigen said during a post-Black Friday sitdown at the Macerich-owned mall, one of 60 shopping centers in the California-based company’s portfolio. “They shop in stores, they shop online, they shop from mobile devices. But it’s clear that the in-store experience remains a very important — in fact, dominant — part of the mix.” Eigen said lower gas prices could be part of the profitable equation this year. In-store promotions that compete with the Web are also an attraction.

athy Silard, Stamford Hospital’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, sat at a round table next to her desk with her hands neatly folded in front of her. After presenting Stamford Hospital’s 640,000-squarefoot expansion project and its state-of-the-art talking points at numerous health care conferences nationwide, she retains her smile, her poised demeanor and her passion for the project. Among the biggest challenges of the $450 million construction project are, Silard said, the planning and scheduling. “The logistics have been challenging because we’re building a new facility on the site of an existing facility,” Silard said. “We’re focused on thinking about what’s going to happen in terms of construction, what’s the impact on patients and staff and how do we get out there and tell them about it. The hardest part that is yet to come is operating it once it’s open.” Stamford Hospital’s management has been carefully monitoring each step of the project since it first broke ground in May 2013. The single-phase construction builds on the hospital’s existing campus, providing more green space and specialized services such as pediatric and inpatient care as its network of patients and physicians grows. After demolishing a number of homes on the hospital’s perimeter, the campus will grow from 20 to 30 acres, creating a footprint for future health care services. The construction project, which is headed by Skanska USA, a Sweden-based company with a New York City headquarters, is expected to finish in spring 2016. The new 11-story building will be completely curtained with thermal glass panels, manufactured and installed by First Massey-Ferguson Neudorf Glass Inc., based in Branford. Currently, work on the internal mechanical systems, including heating, ventilation, air conditioning and plumbing is underway and scheduled for an April 2016 completion.

» MALL, page 6

» HOSPITAL, page 17

BIG PIPE A natural gas pipeline through Brookfield faces cross-border opposition … 15 BIG DECISION Many are shopping for health coverage for next year … 18

Retail vs. Web battle withers

MEDIA PARTNER

Melissa Eigen, senior manager for marketing at the Danbury Fair Mall. Photo by Bill Fallon

DANBURY MALL AUGMENTS INTERNET WITH BRICK AND MORTAR BY BILL FALLON

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bfallon@westfairinc.com he National Retail Federation pegged 2013 seasonal retail sales numbers up 3.1 percent compared with 2012. This year’s uptick is looking better still, with an NRF-predicted 4.1 percent improvement. Melissa Eigen, senior manager for marketing at the 1.3 million-square-foot, 180-store Danbury Fair Mall on Backus Avenue in Danbury, has been assessing the holiday shopping scene since early November when it began in earnest and sees the favorable metric playing out in full bags and packed parking lots. The mall generates 25 percent to 30 percent of its annual traffic in the holiday season.


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