Connecticut Wealth Management — a firm that has won Hartford Business Journal’s Best Places to Work in Connecticut award five years running — recently gave employees one more reason to come into its Farmington office with a new $1 million “collaboration space.”A web-conferencing area with a large video monitor stands in one corner of the […]
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Connecticut Wealth Management — a firm that has won Hartford Business Journal’s Best Places to Work in Connecticut award five years running — recently gave employees one more reason to come into its Farmington office with a new $1 million “collaboration space.”
A web-conferencing area with a large video monitor stands in one corner of the 3,000-square-foot space, an artificial turf putting green and video golf simulator on the other. Between them is a new kitchenette with a lunch bar and tables beyond. The kitchen and bathroom counters, as well as the bar, are Corian.
“The whole idea was to try and create a space to help us attract employees in such a hypercompetitive labor market, retain the great employees we have currently and create a space that just allowed everybody to work together on our clients’ behalf,” said Denis M. Horrigan, a partner and co-founder.
Planning for the collaboration space began in 2019 but was pushed back by the pandemic. Now, with an increasingly tight labor market and hybrid working conditions, the renovated space is even more relevant.
“Lo and behold, COVID just made that space that much more important to draw people into the office,” said Kevin C. Leahy, president and CEO of Connecticut Wealth Management.
New Britain-based Priority Construction handled the build-out, which began in late September 2021, with the creation of 58 square feet of windows along the exterior wall. It required special temporary supports and the addition of “an extensive amount of permanent structural steel,” according to Matt Annitto, one of Priority Construction’s three owners.
The project wrapped in February.
Connecticut Wealth Management competes for talent with firms in Boston and New York. The new collaboration space might not be a deciding factor in a prospect’s decision, Leahy said, but just like the sophisticated fitness center added to the basement a few years earlier, it might help tip the scales.
“When we interview people and they turn the corner — and this is true of the gym downstairs as well — their eyes light up,” Leahy said. “There’s no question it makes a difference.”
Growing footprint
Leahy and Horrigan launched Connecticut Wealth Management in 2010 by buying away the wealth management arm of accounting firm Kostin, Ruffkess & Co.
There were seven employees at the outset, managing $180 million in client assets out of a leased 2,000-square-foot Farmington office. Today the firm manages $2.5 billion in client assets, Horrigan said.
Connecticut Wealth Management paid $2 million for the roughly 18,000-square-foot building at 281 Farmington Ave., in 2014. At the time, the company had 14 employees and used only about a third of the building, leasing the remaining space to two other companies, Leahy said.
Over the years, Connecticut Wealth Management has grown and claimed more space. Today, it has no tenants, although there is still room to grow in the building, Leahy said. The firm may eventually open additional offices, possibly along the shoreline, he said.
Connecticut Wealth Management handles assets for clients with portfolios of at least $1 million, generally business owners and executives. The company has added a dozen new hires over about a year to reach 48 employees, according to Steve McLoughlin, director of marketing.
Connecticut Wealth Management celebrated completion of the collaborative workspace with an April 20 event attended by state Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner David Lehman, among others.
At the event, Leahy spoke of the vision shared with Horrigan when they launched the firm 12 years ago — attract top talent to service clients.
“We realized not only do we have to keep up with technology, not only do we need to compensate appropriately, but you need to have a place where people want to come,” Leahy said.
