As Cigna Corp. preps for a major $90-million renovation of its Bloomfield campus, it’s adding yet another construction project to the mix.
The health insurer is planning to double the size of its training and learning center at 1350 Boulevard Rd., a little-known facility — known as “Cigna University” — that is taking on added importance following the company’s $67 billion purchase last year of pharmacy-benefits manager Express Scripts.
Cigna is asking the Bloomfield planning and zoning commission permission to add a 5,310-square-foot addition to the 5,900-square-foot building, which formerly housed a daycare center, along with 49 parking spaces.
Cigna’s combination with Express Scripts doubled the size of the company and is driving the need for more training space, according to Cigna spokesman Mark Slitt.
Sam Rindell, a learning director at Cigna, said the renovated and expanded facility will be completed in May 2020 and be nearly twice the size with additional innovative learning spaces that can accommodate larger learning programs and team meetings.
It will also feature improved technology in each of the rooms to deliver a better learning experience, Rindell said. The property sits on 3.36 acres and is assessed at $400,680, town records show.
Slitt said the Cigna University expansion is an entirely separate project from the health insurer’s $90-million Wilde Building renovation, at 900 Cottage Grove Rd., but the aim is the same: to create a world-class, 21st-century campus that will enhance the insurer’s ability to serve its global customers.
Earlier this year, Cigna won town approval for a tax abatement tied to its main campus renovation.
Slitt declined to disclose the price tag of the Cigna University renovations.
Cigna’s purchase of Express Scripts was a historic deal that solidified the trending reorganization and consolidation in the healthcare industry, where insurers and pharmacy-benefit managers are teaming with the aim to increase preventative care services and lower costs for customers.
CVS Health last November also completed its $69 billion buyout of Aetna, Hartford’s 165-year-old health insurer.
Based in St. Louis, Mo., Express Scripts administers drug plans for patients with employer and government health insurance. Cigna on Thursday said it will leverage Express Scripts to add to its expanding care network, creating more “value-based relationships.”
The combined companies had 73,800 employees as of Dec. 31, 2018.
