HFD/Conn Economic development

[The Voice of Reason]

Peoples bank decided to unite all of its insurance units from the various banks it has bought over the last few years.... not at all a big deal I know, but what is kinda cool is that they put the HQ in Hartford. Now sure it may have allready been here kinda, or at least the HQ of one or some of the units were in hartford, but with the combined companies and an official HQ in Hartford, I think its a great sign.

partly because PBCT is surely going to continue buying other banks and they will surely have insurance units that will be folded into the parent.

Now if only Peoples would bring its securities uit into hartford (as they are generally closely related) that would be great for the future.

now we just need peoples to buy some more banks and grow these franchises

[drc72]

I thought the headquarters was in Bridgeport?

[The Voice of Reason]

I thought the headquarters was in Bridgeport?

HQ for the bank is in bport and id assume each subsidiary would be too, but for sure now the insurance unit is in Hartford.

so good stuff

[beash19]

Well it looks like downtown is finally going to have a grocery store...or as they say, it's an epicure.

http://www.courant.com/business/hc-hartford21-market-0111-20110111,0,2672990.story

That should help a bit.

[The Voice of Reason]

last night Peoples bank announced that they were buying a bank in Boston.<BR><BR>Danvers Bancorp has 28 branches mainly just north of Boston primarily in Danvers Beverly Peabody and Salem area, but good penetration into cambridge and Boston itself.<BR><BR><BR>They are paying 493 Million and getting 2.6 Billion in assets<BR><BR>the 493 million is broken down as 55% stock 45% cash<BR><BR>or $271 million in stock $222 million in cash<BR><BR>Combined, the two banks would have 368 branches and $27.6 billion in assets in five New England states and New York— making it the largest bank based in New England.<BR>and now, the 7th largest in the greater boston Area (before this, they were not even on the map)<BR>you can bet Peoples plans on raising that ranking, so expect branch openings or another merger.<BR><BR><A class=bbc_url title="External link" href="http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/news16509.html" rel="nofollow external">http://www.hartfordb.../news16509.html</A><BR><A class=bbc_url title="External link" href="http://www.courant.com/business/hc-peoples-earns-0120-20110120,0,2460362.story" rel="nofollow external">http://www.courant.c...0,2460362.story</A><BR><BR>After its all said and done PBCT will still have over 2.25 billion in cash to spend on acquisitions and there will still be alot of pressure to do so from investors, so I highly doubt this bank is done building its franchise<BR>Id expect to see an acquisition in Western Mass still, especially of Berkshire Hills bankcorp is interested in selling, and yet another purchase near boston but on the S side or on the cape because PBCT is very soft in those two areas, heck Rhode Island is also a possibility since I do not think they have any branches there.<BR><BR>I also would not be surprised to see them make a deal for a bank in NY/NJ to connect their long island holdings to their Greenwich/Westchester presence. VlY is one bank that comes to mind, and maybe Astoria Federal, but thats a fairly large bank<BR><BR>"Barnes(CEO) said using the capital — now totaling about $2.5 billion — remains a top priority for the bank. Acquisitions are high on the list, but People's United will also continue to repurchase shares and pay dividends on common shares. The company announced another 5 percent repurchase on Thursday."<BR>

[HartfordTycoon]

This is certainly good news. Not good that Fairfield Co. went down but I guess it's good that we are on top in CT again. It's crazy to me how they feel like Hartford leeches off of Fairfield county though when clearly our economies are quite similar in scale and ours is not even attached to a mega city like NYC. Hartford should be proud of it's economy and the state, especially those on the Gold Coast, should recognize that our region is vital to the well being of our state.

Hartford Courant

In the worst year of the recession, when the size of U.S. cities' economies fell by $2 trillion, the Hartford-area economy was one of only 8 in the top 50 that grew.

Hartford's gross domestic product — the combination of the salaries earned here, the products sold from here, and the investments in infrastructure made here — went from $78.7 billion in 2008 to $79.4 billion in 2009, a gain of $678 million.

For the first time in 10 years, the size of the Hartford economy overtook the size of the Fairfield County economy.

[beerbeer]

I wonder how much of the city's growth comes from government growth, which is a double edge sword.

[HartfordTycoon]

I completely agree with this Courant Editorial stressing the need to keep the Women's Big East Tournament in Hartford for the indefinite future. This tournament has become one of the marquee events for the city and is obviously the best attended and most exciting women's basketball conference tournament there is. It's good for UConn of course but also good for women's college basketball to have the event in a region that embraces the sport. Moving it would severely diminish the event overall and I think Big East Brass has to already know this. I would be surprised if they don't sign another contract for Hartford to continue hosting it for the next couple years but we need to make sure that this thing stays here for the long term like the Men's Tournament in NYC. Gov. Malloy indeed needs to get right out in front of this and make sure that the Big East is happy and want to return.

Hartford Courant

Now to keep the tournament here.

The postseason conference championship has been held in Hartford since 2004. The contract expired after this tournament, and the Big East is exploring options. It's imperative that Hartford go into a full-court press, perhaps with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy at point guard, to keep it here.

[MadVlad]

Too bad they never made a push to get the League offices here...

[The Voice of Reason]

I'm not sure how much those offices would bring the city really, but It would be nice to see Hartford as the tag line for every press release etc...

I agree about keeping the womens championship. Hartford has done very well by the Womens Big East, and the Womens big east has done well by Hartford. Dream team for sure.

I hope we loose the championship for a couple years though.... while we build a new Arena. then we sign a 10 year deal.

[HartfordTycoon]

This is certainly a nice example of how these tax credits can really benefit the state. I think they should be more geared towards long term operations in the state than just coming here to shoot for a couple days and leaving.

Hartford Courant

"It's the first film made entirely in Connecticut by our 400 employees," said Blue Sky Chief Operating Officer Brian Keane at Monday's press conference at the Connecticut Science Center. He said, "We're proud to be in Connecticut, proud to be in the community."

The studio moved 12 miles from White Plains, N.Y., to Greenwich in 2009 after the state gave it a low-interest loan for $8 million ($6 million is forgivable) and exempted it from paying $750,000 in sales taxes on the renovation of its new studio. It also received $3.6 million in infrastructure tax credits.

[beerbeer]

The film tax credit is the just about the only economic success story for CT in ten years. There are plenty of permanant jobs being created. The film industry is largely free lance and more and more of those jobs are going to CT residents. Film production in CT was practically zero before the tax credit, now there are millions being poured onto the state economy.

Of course, the brain dead Democrats want to scale back the tax credits.

[The Voice of Reason]

The film tax credit is the just about the only economic success story for CT in ten years. There are plenty of permanant jobs being created. The film industry is largely free lance and more and more of those jobs are going to CT residents. Film production in CT was practically zero before the tax credit, now there are millions being poured onto the state economy.

Of course, the brain dead Democrats want to scale back the tax credits.

Dude, seriously stop being a jackass on the political side. You are NOT a jackass anywhere but in the political arena! I gotta say those comments tend to devalue your other non political comments and contributions to these boards. The film tax credit has been supported by both Donkeys and Elephants. It also has come under fire by both Donkeys and Elephants. And either way, "brain dead" never needed to be added to this post. in fact your last sentance was uneccesary

Former Speaker of the House James Amann, helped create Connecticut's film tax credit program in 2006-he is a Democrat

Linda McMahn is the most recent loud supporter of the credi t(partly due to her family business) she is a Republican

This is CT, the House and senate are almost always democrat conrtolled, so if it is a law in the state you can bet that at least some democrats supported it.

The comments you are making are diversive and in reality this is an issue that both parties end up on both sides of.

And more importantly, this is not a political forum, it is about urban development and urban living. I am not talking crap here, I am honestly asking you, no, begging you to please stop injecting politics, and hate politics at that into every thread and every comment.

please!

I like what you have to say about urban and development related issues, but I would greatly appreciate you stopping the political hatemongering

cheers!

and yes I know I should not have written jackass, but I had to use the best words the english language provides.

[The Voice of Reason]

I get a kick out of the tax credit. Its cool that with technology today you likely have no idea what is being worked on in the fim studios, untill an article comes out. So, Rio is seemingly a big movie and it brought a lot of work with it, but you never saw a giant parrot flying around hartford or whatever being chased by a camera.

I think the Indiana jones movie was the exception here, but the film credit is less visable and less glamorous that you might think. it is really more simular to the insurance tax credits that put quiet workers in dull offices just churning out work and revenues. I think the more that the state sees it as just another tech job, the better off we will be. I think some people are expecting Bradd Pitt to be shopping around town with Angelina jolie and kids in tow, but the movie industry has changed a great deal.

I really hope the studio in Windsor or was it S windsor continues to move forward. these are generally very good jobs, and our quality of life is top tier for sure. we should do well with this industry for years to come.

Cheers!

[beerbeer]

Call me names if you like.

But I have watched Democrats destroy this state. Jobs are fleeing like crazy. Expansion of an Enfield based firm will take place in another state. The firearms company in North Haven just moved all its jobs out of state. And that's just the last two weeks.

This board is devoted to building, economic development and quality of life issues. Unfortunately, it is impossible to divorce those issues from the political and tax structure of the state.

Connecticut will always be behind the eight ball in these areas because of it's liberal legislature. It's just a fact. Even when they have proof that tax cuts work, they remain blind to their power.

Even New York State with a Democratic governor is balancing a much bigger deficit than Connecticut's without raising taxes. So when I talk about brain dead Democrats. I don't mean all Democrats across the country. Just the Connecticut ones.

[The Voice of Reason]

Beerbeer,

Thanks, you did what I asked of you in your reply and I appreciate it. I know, we all know your feelings about taxes and democrats etc, but my contention was not against your opinion or even you having that opinion, but the fact that its included in posts in an conflict causing manner. a one sentance sound byte that is diversive and insulting.

And the names you will see were to make a point, re-reading what I wrote you should take away from it that you, at the time you type in the hatred are acting like a jackass. all the rest of the time I know you are not. its kind of like when good people do bad things.

you are not a jackass you were just acting like one... splitting hairs I know.

I hope you accept my posts for what they are. I like your posts, just not those comments. I even tend to agree that we need to change the way we as a state do business (the reason I worked on the OZ for Gov campaign). and for my part, I appologize for being blunt about it and not using IM or whatever, and the jackass comment if that offended you.

cheers.

[beerbeer]

Beerbeer,

Thanks, you did what I asked of you in your reply and I appreciate it. I know, we all know your feelings about taxes and democrats etc, but my contention was not against your opinion or even you having that opinion, but the fact that its included in posts in an conflict causing manner. a one sentance sound byte that is diversive and insulting.

And the names you will see were to make a point, re-reading what I wrote you should take away from it that you, at the time you type in the hatred are acting like a jackass. all the rest of the time I know you are not. its kind of like when good people do bad things.

you are not a jackass you were just acting like one... splitting hairs I know.

I hope you accept my posts for what they are. I like your posts, just not those comments. I even tend to agree that we need to change the way we as a state do business (the reason I worked on the OZ for Gov campaign). and for my part, I appologize for being blunt about it and not using IM or whatever, and the jackass comment if that offended you.

cheers.

I agree that you should always respond to the post and not to the poster. There is a huge difference between saying a post was stupid and saying the poster is stupid. Same with your jackass example, I don't thing you are splitting hairs, it is a very solid point.

[The Voice of Reason]

It is now official, New Alliance will be part of FNFG. On april 18, the bank well be re-branded as First Niagara.

they have name a new regional president and they will be laying off some people and hiring others. this will be a major change in the look and feel of the CT banking scene, and honestly change the look of many towns.

it seems as thought the bank is changing their logo some too, so they are including some orange Ai think

[Mr. Brass Bonanza]

It is now official, New Alliance will be part of FNFG. On april 18, the bank well be re-branded as First Niagara.

they have name a new regional president and they will be laying off some people and hiring others. this will be a major change in the look and feel of the CT banking scene, and honestly change the look of many towns.

it seems as thought the bank is changing their logo some too, so they are including some orange Ai think

"New Haven Savings Bank...it's a very nice bank." Now that jingle will be two banks removed from its origin.

[The Voice of Reason]

Aetna buys Prodigy Health Group for 600Million

The New York-based company operates in 15 states and has about 600,000 medical members.

=LookupCode$0@113;ArticleType]http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/article_list.php?RF_ITEM[]=LookupCode$0@113;ArticleType

from the HBJ

Not a huge buy, but Aetna has been pretty damn quiet and it is good to see them growing again.

[Theophrastus Bombastus]

New (temporary) sign on the E. Hartford Holiday Inn, it's gonna be a Ramada (haven't seen one of those lately). Also, the Sheraton in E. Hartford has a new (temporary) sign that says "The Plaza Hotel" - won't the folks in NYC be annoyed at that???

[The Voice of Reason]

New (temporary) sign on the E. Hartford Holiday Inn, it's gonna be a Ramada (haven't seen one of those lately). Also, the Sheraton in E. Hartford has a new (temporary) sign that says "The Plaza Hotel" - won't the folks in NYC be annoyed at that???

I think I posted the full name earlier in this thread, but yeah its weirdly close.

I saw the Ramada permanent sign last night BTW on the highway. in front of the place its permanent, on the roof last night it looked like a big banner type sign, but at the time it was ripped and I couldnt tell if it said anything as the old Holiday INn sign was still there.

[Theophrastus Bombastus]

Say bye-bye to another CT business:

http://www.courant.com/business/hc-bkm-sold-0505-20110504,0,6184271.story

[Theophrastus Bombastus]

Good news....

http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/news18536.html

[HartfordHope]

Looks Like someone else wants to create another parking lot.

a. 77 Wadsworth Street — Demolition of building for the purpose of repaving the property as a surface parking lot. Applicant– Jeffrey Dressler, Owner- 77 Wadsworth Street, LLC

http://www.realhartford.org/