The Hunt for Business: Connecticut Pitches Sites and Economic Rebound

Connecticut, and many of its municipalities, are looking for business.  All one needs to do is flip thru the pages of the most recent edition of Site Selection magazine and it’s apparent that the drive to attract business has intensified across the country, and Connecticut is no exception.

Connecticut’s feature story – one of 10 state or regional profiles – is headlined “A New Plan for Economic Growth Is Catching On.” The 16-page section includes comments from the Governor and select business leaders, interspersed with ads trumpeting the virtues of the state and municipalities for business relocation and growth. Site Selection magazine, published by Conway Inc., delivers expansion planning information to 45,000 executives of fast-growing firms, according to the publication.

Among the advertisers are the Bristol Economic & Community Development Office, City of Meriden Economic and Community Development, City of New Haven Economic Development, City of Stamford Economic Development, Mansfield Downtown Partnership, Town of Groton, Town of New Milford and Town of Newtown Economic and Community Development.  The MetroHartford Alliance, Connecticut Business & Industry Association and Advance CT (formerly the Connecticut Economic Resource Center) are also among the Connecticut advertisers.

 “We’ve been out of favor for the last years,” Gov. Lamont told the publication’s editor-in-chief earlier this year. “Being a high-cost state was our reputation. I’d like to think that’s turning around. One small reason for that is I’m the first business guy to be in this seat in a long time.”  He added, “The next two years will not be a walk in the park, but we’ll do it without raising taxes.”

An example cited by the Governor as essential to growing Connecticut’s economy is devoting sufficient funds to improve infrastructure.  Said Lamont, “if the thinking had been, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,’ then that thinking needs to change. This is personal. Annie and I went over the Mianus River Bridge down in Greenwich a few hours before it collapsed a generation ago. So I know.”

The trend of businesses – and residents – moving from New York to Connecticut, particularly during COVID, was also highlighted. 

“You can get a very high quality workforce at less cost because we have high quality public schools and real estate is less expensive. For construction we may be more expensive but no more so than our peers. We have the cleanest and most reliable electricity in the country,” Lamont explained.

The publication also featured the perspectives offered by Elizabeth Power, director of communications at defense contractor and submarine builder General Dynamics Electric Boat, Groton; Eric Schadt, founder and CEO of Sema4, an AI-driven, patient-centered genomic and clinical data insight platform company in Stamford; and Jeff Auker, Tech & Innovation Hub Lead at Infosys, a digital services and consulting firm that opened a Technology and Innovation Hub in Hartford.

Power noted an “open and productive” relationship with the Lamont administration; Schadt gave the state’s “overall business climate a very high grade,” and Auker said his company was “quite happy with our experience expanding our operations in Connecticut,” noting that “Connecticut offers an increasingly attractive alternative to the costs and commutes of doing business in New York City and Boston.”