A Simsbury economic development official wants to bring startups and the innovation groups of larger companies under one roof at The Hartford Financial Services Group’s Simsbury campus, which is for sale.
Jay DeVivo, a candidate for town selectman and a member of the town’s economic development commission, sent a letter to The Hartford’s vice president and assistant general counsel calling for an innovation center at the campus, which is for sale.
The insurer announced in February that it planned to vacate the 625,000-square-foot facility on Hopmeadow Street. The property went up for sale in August, but area brokers have expressed some skepticism about the chances of finding a buyer willing to pay the market value of nearly $46 million (as of Oct. 2012).
DeVivo wrote in a September piece for Simsbury Patch that the center would focus on four main industries — financial services/insurance, bioscience, precision manufacturing and clean tech.
The concept would be modeled after the Cambridge Innovation Center outside of Boston, which has launched over 1,400 startup companies.
DeVivo was scheduled to discuss the idea at a meeting in Simsbury this morning.
