‘We’re getting our mojo back’
Lamont: Companies moving to Stamford-Greenwich area, showing CT’s turnaround
STAMFORD — Gov. Ned Lamont wants Connecticut to modify its reputation as the “land of steady habits.”
He said that the past two weeks demonstrated its ability to evolve, as tobacco giant Philip Morris International and several other companies unveiled plans for new offices and major hiring in the state. Lamont and other state officials argue that those commitments reflect the momentum of Connecticut’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic-sparked economic downturn — a confidence shared by many business leaders and local officials in lower Fairfield County, where the growth is concentrated.
“We invented the submarine, we invented the jet engine, we invented the hamburger, we invented the Frisbee. Then something happened, and we became the land of steady habits,” Lamont said in a speech to several dozen business people during a networking event Wednesday evening at The Village, a new mixed-use complex in Stamford’s South End. “I think we’re getting our mojo back right now, and I think the people in this room are evidence of that.”
Philip Morris International, the No. 101 company on this year’s Fortune 500 list, led off the new announcements.
At a June 22 event at The Village with Lamont and other state officials, PMI executives confirmed that the firm would relocate its headquarters to the state from Manhattan — a move involving about 200 jobs. Its arrival would add a 15th member to the group of Fortune 500 firms headquartered in the state.
PMI, which sells its products outside the U.S., last year shipped more than 628 billion cigarettes worldwide — a dominance decried by many medical professionals. But PMI executives said that the company’s future focuses on smokeless products such as heated tobacco devices. Emphasizing that shift, PMI announced Thursday that it had agreed to buy nicotinegum maker Fertin Pharma for about $820 million.
“We were talking to PMI for the last year and a half,” Lamont told Hearst Connecticut Media. “I also think people are taking a second look at the state.”
Two days after the PMI announcement, financial-technology firm iCapital Network said that it would open offices in Greenwich and bring about 200 jobs to the area.
A day later, manufacturer and technology-services firm ITT announced it would relocate its headquarters from White Plains, N.Y., to Stamford.
On Wednesday, Tomo Networks, a financial-technology firm focused on the real estate industry, rolled out plans to create up to 100 Stamfordbased jobs by the end of this year.
PMI is not receiving any state subsidies for its move. ITT qualified for a grant of up to nearly $2 million, aid that depends on the company creating and retaining up to 57 full-time jobs. Tomo was awarded “earn-as-yougrow” incentives that provide grants as job targets are reached.
The wave of corporate commitments aligns with other promising trends, according to state economic development officials.
“Last year, if you look at the data, we had 40,000 businesses register in the state of Connecticut — a record,” David Lehman, the state Department of Economic and Community Development’s commissioner, said at The Village. “COVID is changing a lot of things, and it’s making people reinvent who they are and innovate. In addition, we saw 20,000 new residents in the state of Connecticut in the past year. We haven’t seen those kinds of numbers for almost 15 years in the state.”
Gov. Ned Lamont speaks at a business networking event at The Village in Stamford on Wednesday. “We invented the submarine, we invented the jet engine, we invented the hamburger, we invented the frisbee. Then something happened, and we became the land of steady habits,” he said. “I think we’re getting our mojo back right now, and I think the people in this room are evidence of that.”
Wednesday’s event took place at a venue that epitomizes the type of economic development that the Lamont administration is trying to cultivate.
Covering approximately 133,000 square feet, The Village was built to house the operations of reality-TV powerhouse ITV America, other media businesses, several dining establishments and other firms.
“We believed that Stamford could and should be the next Brooklyn, the next Nashville, the next Austin,” Brent Montgomery, founder and CEO of conglomerate Wheelhouse, whose
Wheelhouse Properties developed The Village, told attendees Wednesday. “Our job here at The Village is to bring great people together.”
In recent years, Stamford’s South End has emerged as a locus for fastgrowing businesses, a trend boosted by the construction of several thousand apartments in the mixed-use Harbor Point development in the past decade.
Across the street from The Village, health care information firm Sema4 opened its headquarters at 333 Ludlow St. in 2017, after being spun out of the Mount Sinai Health System. This month, it plans to complete the process of becoming a publicly traded company.
“There’s so much energy in Stamford,” Sema4 founder and CEO Eric Schadt told Hearst. “It definitely helps with recruiting.”
In total, Sema4 employs about 1,000, a headcount that reflects major hiring in Connecticut in the past four years.
To support its expansion, Sema4 was awarded $15.5 million in loans by the administration of Lamont’s predecessor, Dannel P. Malloy.
Other attendees at Wednesday’s event included Andre Swanston, co-founder and CEO of media dataanalytics firm Tru Optik, which was acquired last year by TransUnion. Tru Optik employs more than 40 Stamford-based employees, with offices at 750 E. Main St., on the edge of the downtown.
“We have the talent pool of the tri-state area. We have New York, New Jersey and Connecticut residents who work here,” Swanston said. “The ecosystem here has grown so much over the last decade. I’m very excited about it.”
Economic development figures prominently on the platforms of the three candidates for Stamford mayor in this year’s municipal election.
“Businesses look for cities that are well managed and financially strong; we are. To grow, they need a well-trained workforce; our work with UConn and building workforce talent is paying off,” Mayor David Martin, a Democrat who is running for a third term, told Hearst. “Businesses want a safe city; we are the safest in New England. They want good infrastructure and a high quality of life; we’ve never been better. We will continue to attract firms like Tomo Networks and ITT as our strategy to attract businesses and jobs is working.”
Unaffiliated candidate Bobby Valentine told Hearst that Lamont was “doing a terrific job highlighting the attractiveness of our community, helping reverse the trend of the last decade.”
“As a business owner in Stamford for 40 years, I can attest to the caliber of people and quality of resources we have to offer,” said Valentine, who has taken a leave of absence from his position as Sacred Heart University’s athletics director to run for mayor. “The mayor should be the city’s biggest advocate and, if elected, I will continue to bring regional and national attention to Stamford, enthusiastically cultivating businesses of all sizes to operate here, hire from our diverse population and invest in our community.”
State Rep. Caroline Simmons, who is challenging Martin for the Democratic nomination, told Hearst that the companies’ announcements showed that “they recognize all of the assets we have as a city and our talented workforce.”
As co-chairwoman of the state legislature’s Commerce Committee, Simmons said that “I have worked closely with DECD and the state to make Stamford and Connecticut a more attractive place for businesses and would continue to prioritize that as mayor. As mayor, I would launch a proactive marketing and recruitment campaign to attract businesses to Stamford as well as support our existing vibrant small businesses and entrepreneurs with access to capital and a more innovative ecosystem.”
Despite the growth in Fairfield County, Connecticut’s economy still faces significant challenges.
The state's unemployment rate dropped from 8.1 percent to 7.7 percent in May, but it ran above the national level of 5.8 percent.
In the first quarter of this year, the state’s gross domestic product increased at an annualized rate of 6 percent. The growth lagged, however, the uptick of 6.4 percent nationwide. Neighbors New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island each posted higher rates than Connecticut.
Sen. Kevin Kelly, R-Stratford, the state Senate’s minority leader, told Hearst that he was encouraged by the recent announcements, but that they did not represent the “transformative change” needed in the state.
“Moving workers from New York to Connecticut, as in the case of Philip Morris, is positive. But we can’t be fooled into thinking it's the same thing as creating new jobs for unemployed Connecticut residents,” Kelly said. “The growth promised by other companies is also positive, but it still doesn’t change the fact that Connecticut remains dead last in the nation in job growth and income growth, and Connecticut lags behind the rest of the nation in post-pandemic recovery.”
Lamont, a Democrat who took office in January 2019, said he is still convinced that Connecticut is on the right trajectory. He quipped to the crowd at The Village that he had no plans to move out of the state.
“I’ll just say one last thing: I can’t think of getting any more boring than Delray, Fla., on a Thursday night. Everywhere I go in Greenwich — ‘Oh, I may go to Florida,’” Lamont said. “Not me, I’m sticking here. I love this state. And I hope you believe in this state. I hope you start your businesses and grow here.”