🔒MetroHartford Alliance to relocate HQ, as efforts to build insurtech corridor ramp up

After more than 15 years at 31 Pratt St., the MetroHartford Alliance is relocating its downtown Hartford headquarters.

The private economic development organization has signed a five-year lease to occupy about 4,500 square feet of mezzanine-level space in City Place I, a 38-story, 884,669-square-foot Class A property that stands as Hartford’s tallest office building.

MetroHartford Alliance President and CEO David Griggs confirmed the move during a recent interview with the Hartford Business Journal. The new lease begins on Aug. 1.

“We have a little bit of work that we’ve got to do to the place; not much, but we need to ‘MHA’ it all,” he quipped, adding he expects to be fully operating from the new location by Sept. 1.

Until then, the Alliance has been granted temporary space in the city’s iconic “Boat Building,” at 1 American Row.

In addition to its role as a regional private economic development agency, the Alliance also runs several other organizations that will be moving to the new space, including the Hartford Chamber of Commerce; HYPE, a program for young professionals; the Connecticut Health Council, which recently hired a new executive director; and Connecticut IFS, an insurance and financial services cluster.

Griggs said the impetus for the move was that the Alliance’s Pratt Street lease expired at the end of April, but there were other considerations as well.

“We had, at one point, a few other … organizations that shared our space, and a few of those either became defunct or moved out,” he said.

The organizations that relocated were the Hartford Business Improvement District, which moved to State House Square, and iQuilt, which moved to Central Row across from the Boat Building.

“So, we were paying for a ton of space that we just didn’t use,” Griggs said.

The Alliance leased approximately 10,000 square feet at its Pratt Street office; the new City Place I space will be roughly half that size, he said.

Fiduciary responsibility

Griggs admitted there is some irony in an economic development organization, which is trying to boost the city’s economic prospects, downsizing its office space, at a time when the Hartford office market is struggling.

About 27% of Class A downtown Hartford office space was vacant at the end of the first quarter of 2024, according to CBRE. Cushman & Wakefield estimates the downtown office vacancy rate is even higher, at 36.3%.

Griggs said the Alliance is an investor- and member-based organization that has a fiduciary responsibility “to put as many of our investor dollars into programming and ‘actual work’ as possible,” while also saving money.

“The irony is not lost on me, but the solution for our office market is larger than any one company or organization,” Griggs said. “One could argue that our decision is actually part of the solution — by moving from an older Class ‘C’ building to a Class ‘A’ building, we are reducing the vacancy of our highest-value assets and allowing the old office to be converted to housing, which is desperately needed.”

The Alliance’s former Pratt Street offices are being considered for a conversion to apartments by landlord The Simon Konover Co.

Griggs also noted that the Alliance could have moved anywhere, but chose City Place I, in space formerly occupied by Bank of America Private Bank, because it wanted to remain in the “heart of the city, close to all the action.”

“We could have gone into any building, but what we really wanted was to have better access for our investors and the public,” he said. “We needed to be accessible, and on the fifth floor of Pratt Street we’re not very accessible.”

The Alliance’s staff of 15 has been operating on a hybrid work schedule — three days in office, two days remote — since the pandemic, and will continue to do so after the move, he added.

But perhaps most importantly for the Alliance, Griggs said, is that City Place I provides a more modern location to conduct business, particularly with those from outside the region, and the nation, who are investing in Hartford.

InsurTech Corridor

That includes investors from across the pond.

MetroHartford Alliance is a stakeholder in the InsurTech Corridor, a collaboration between the state of Connecticut and United Kingdom that is intended to help insurance technology companies gain a foothold in both locations.

As part of the collaboration, 10 U.K. insurtech companies have committed to opening offices in Hartford, Griggs said, including five last year and five more so far in 2024.

“They’re going to be small, let’s say five to 15 people,” he said. “But those are numbers that don’t upset the marketplace.”

Griggs said the goal right now for Hartford is to bring in a number of smaller companies.

“It’s no longer ‘can we get a company to hire 500,’ but ‘can we find 50 companies to hire 10,’” he said.

U.K. companies coming to Hartford may fill as many as half of their U.S. jobs with people from overseas to start, Griggs said, adding that “no one knows which company will be the next unicorn, that’s going to just take off as soon as they hit the U.S. market.”

He noted it’s unlikely that Hartford’s large legacy insurance companies — Travelers, The Hartford, Aetna — are going to hire hundreds of new employees.

“The next company that hires 500 isn’t likely to be one of those,” he said. “So, we have to bring in companies if we want to see that growth and that high volume. And that’s what this is all about.”

More opportunities

Along with the InsurTech Corridor project, MetroHartford Alliance continues to work with site selectors and consultants to find opportunities for companies to expand and/or locate in the region.

Griggs cited the recent announcement that Massachusetts-based Home Market Foods has acquired the former Carla’s Pasta production facility in South Windsor as an example.

Home Market said it plans to invest more than $70 million in the building at 50 Talbot Lane over the next 18 months, and add 210 new jobs. The renovated building is expected to reopen in June 2025.

“The site selector reached out to us maybe in January or last December,” Griggs said about the move and deal. “It was from our initial conversation with them that we were able to build and activate the Connecticut team that ended up putting together a proposal for them.”

Other major initiatives for the Alliance, Griggs said, include the Hartford Chamber’s continuing support for the Hart Lift retail and restaurant incentive grant program, which the city has funded with between $10 million and $11 million.

The program provides matching grants of up to $150,000 to property owners to offset the costs of preparing first-floor retail spaces for new shops and restaurants.

Griggs said the program is bringing 75 new restaurants to the city, which has a broader effect than some might think.

“Let’s use the Travelers as an example,” he said. “Those 70 new restaurants equal an ROI (return on investment) for them, because their workforce will have more options. They’ll love being in Hartford more, and it might make it easier to attract future talent, but it’s hard to put a number on that.”

The Alliance is also working with the Connecticut Airport Authority to bring to Bradley International Airport a direct flight to London.

“We’re shooting for Heathrow, but it could be Gatwick,” Griggs said. “At the end of the day, we just need it. Having that connection between the two markets will only serve to accelerate the investment between the two.”