In 2007, financial services giant ING abandoned plans to build a 2,000-employee location in East Hartford in favor of Windsor. This year, online ticket exchange TicketNetwork abandoned expansion plans in Vernon to move to South Windsor.
In each instance, Windsor and South Windsor used their smart planning and strong commitment to business to secure companies that would have gone elsewhere, exemplifying their roles as pathfinders in Connecticut’s economic road to recovery.
“The quality of the town and the people that work there in Windsor are very good … We can’t say enough good things about them,” said Phil Margolis, ING director of external communication. “They understand the need to be efficient in their timetables.”
When ING first moved to Connecticut, the company leased space in Hartford from Aetna. As that lease neared expiration in 2007, ING decided it wanted to stay in the Hartford area, Margolis said.
The first plans called for a new ING facility to be built near Rentschler Field in East Hartford, but the development bogged down. The facility couldn’t be built before ING’s lease expired with Aetna, necessitating a costly re-up with the insurer.
Instead of building in East Hartford, ING exercised an option it had on property in Windsor. The town had high quality developable land, the space needed for a large facility, good highway access, and was centrally located near Hartford and Bradley International Airport, said Margolis.
The 475,000-square-foot ING location in Windsor employs 2,000 people — 22 percent of the ING workforce in America — and the company is a big supporter of Windsor.
“The region and the town are our home,” Margolis said. “It is important to us to be supportive of them.”
TicketNetwork decided in 2010 to build out its Vernon location, expanding to nearly 200,000 square feet for 325 employees. But residents surrounding the property objected, and the growth efforts ground to a halt.
The company then looked at Simsbury, Hartford and Hamden for a new location. Eventually, TicketNetwork CEO Don Vaccaro paid $6.8 million for the former Gerber Scientific facility in South Windsor.
The facility is excellent; the high quality of life in South Windsor provides good living for employees; and South Windsor town officials were very enticing, Vaccaro said.
“They worked very well with us to find what we wanted and make sure we got it,” Vaccaro said.
On July 21, Gov. Dannel Malloy named TicketNetwork one of his “First Five” companies to spur economic growth in the state. The company received $7.75 million in state incentives to grow in South Windsor.
For their efforts, the towns of Windsor and South Windsor reap the rewards of these new companies.
ING flies in employees and clients regularly to its Windsor location. Those people stay at local hotels and dine in local restaurants, Margolis said.
With a major financial services facility in Windsor, the town attracts and retains top-level employees. The commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, Catherine Smith, is the former CEO of ING U.S. Retirement Services, out of Windsor.
“We have people with a variety of backgrounds that work here,” Margolis said.
ING also tries to be a good corporate partner to the region, sponsoring the Concerts on the Green series in Windsor, Margolis said.
Vaccaro said most TicketNetwork employees are highly paid. When they start buying houses in the town, property values and the real estate industry will benefit. TicketNetwork plans on brokering deals with area apartment owners to rent housing for its employees.
TicketNetwork has a buy-local policy, and Vaccaro negotiates deals with area restaurants so employees eat out.
South Windsor also benefits from TicketNetwork buying a largely vacant 194,000 square-foot facility, and upgrading and maintaining it for the foreseeable future.
“The town certainly sees the benefit of having businesses come in,” Vaccaro said.
