As an economic development official in New York City, Laure Aubuchon had cause to lament the occasional loss of a business to the city of Stamford.
Now in the employ of Stamford, Aubuchon”™s bringing the hurt to the Big Apple.
Stamford Mayor Mike Pavia dispatched his chief economic development official to New York City last week with the goal of introducing corporations to Stamford who might be considering a relocation or expansion.
“We”™re sending her back down to New York ”¦ so she can steal back some of the companies she stole from us,” Pavia said, speaking in Stamford last week at the State of the City lunch hosted by the Stamford Chamber of Commerce and sponsored by TD Bank.
Pavia said he knows of as many as four opportunities in which Stamford has the opportunity to draw a company from elsewhere with the economic impact of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., which is taking more than $90 million in state incentives to relocate 820 headquarters jobs from White Plains, N.Y., to Stamford in 2012.
“With a little luck and a little hard work, we will be able to announce those (next year),” Pavia said.
He did not mention the newest prospects by name and whether they were all in New York City. When asked, Pavia also declined to give the name of a prospective “anchor” tenant cited earlier this year by Building & Land Technology, as BLT readies multiple new office buildings at its Harbor Point development at Stamford”™s South End.
“I cannot tell you who it is, but I can tell you I did meet with the probable candidate,” Pavia said.
The city is still basking in smaller deals involving Nestle Waters North America relocating its headquarters from Greenwich, adding 450 jobs; and Affinion Group Inc. bringing its main office and 350 workers from Norwalk.
As expected, Gartner Inc. also elected last month to stay put at its Top Gallant Road campus near Long Island Sound, after the property”™s owner agreed to spend $25 million to upgrade Gartner”™s offices. The deal keeps some 700 jobs within the city limits, and as part of an incentive package to stay within Connecticut, Gartner has committed to adding more than 300 jobs. It was not immediately apparent whether it has sufficient space for those future employees at its headquarters facility or whether it will need to secure a secondary site for an expansion.
In addition to BLT”s Harbor Point project, Pavia noted the massive expansion planned by Stamford Hospital in the city”™s West End; the speculative purchase of the former Procter & Gamble Co. plant in the Cove neighborhood; and several others.
“I don”™t think there”™s a mayor in the country that would not be thrilled to have one of (those projects),” Pavia said. “Here, we have a basket of them.”
The city also has multiple other large blocks of available office space, including the former headquarters of Time Warner Cable Inc. in the Harbor Drive complex. Jim Fagan, managing director of the Stamford office of Cushman & Wakefield, said the property could command a top-tier corporate tenant ”“ but would likely require a significant renovation along the lines of what Gartner secured for its own building.
