Financial-technology company Ideanomics reached an agreement with the state Friday that clears a path for it to move forward with plans to build a $283 million tech hub in West Hartford.
The so-called “FinTech Village,” which promises to create 330 jobs, was in limbo last month when Ideanomics CEO Alfred Poor told vendors to halt work at the former UConn campus amid “regrettable and irreconcilable differences with the state of Connecticut.”
West Hartford Mayor Shari Cantor, Rep. Derek Slap (D-West Hartford) and other officials last month helped restart negotiations between Ideanomics and Gov. Ned Lamont’s office to resolve previously undisclosed disagreements.
On Friday, the two sides agreed to a new plan on how to cover costs for additional cleanup of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and asbestos that were found on the property after its $5.2 million sale last fall.
UConn’s board of trustees last week finalized an amended purchase and sale agreement to allow Ideanomics to substitute an existing $8 million surety bond with a performance bond worth approximately $4 million. Release of the surety bond will allow Ideanomics to unlock capital currently earmarked as collateral for additional environmental remediation needed at the 58-acre site.
Environmental work and demolition of four of five buildings on site is now scheduled to begin in mid July, a source familiar with the project said Monday.
UConn’s former IT building is the only salvageable building at the site and will be the last existing school building at the site. Ideanomics had previously planned to raze two of the property’s five buildings, but contamination at two structures is worse than expected, officials said.
The additional remediation work is expected to cost millions of dollars more than originally planned, they said.
Ideanomics was not allowed to conduct environmental testing at the former campus prior to its acquisition from UConn, according to officials, who said the company had not conducted a site test until December and designed an environmental cleanup plan in April.
An environmental remediation plan, which required approval by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, was also delayed by the month-long government shutdown earlier this year, officials said.
In a June 21 letter to outgoing UConn President Susan Herbst, Gov. Ned Lamont said the bond substitution was crucial because it would expedite the remediation and “assist Ideanomics with its redevelopment plans” at Trout Brook Drive and Asylum Avenue.
Ideanomics had asked Lamont’s administration for economic assistance with the redevelopment effort, and the state Department of Economic and Community Development began working with the fintech company to explore solutions to minimize costs or risk to the state.
“While I recognize the substitution of a performance bond for a surety bond creates some additional risk, I believe the overall economic benefits of this approach justify that risk,” Lamont wrote in the letter.
“In addition, you have my commitment that in the event of a default the State will assist and work cooperatively with UConn to satisfy any environmental liabilities resulting from the replacement of the surety bond,” he continued.
Ideanomics plans to submit a formal site plan to the town in late July or August, officials said. A zone change is likely needed for the development.
Former Gov. Dannel Malloy’s administration last year announced it reached a deal to provide Ideanomics, then called Seven Stars Cloud, with a $10 million forgivable loan if it meets certain hiring goals.
