Home ownership up
Home ownership increased last year in the lower Fairfield County area, cutting against the trends both in Connecticut and nationally.
The U.S. Census Bureau estimated 71.6 percent of local residents owned their own homes in 2011, a second straight year of increase but still a full percentage point below the home ownership rate in 2008 on the cusp of the Great Recession. The lower Fairfield County area had the eighth-highest rate of home ownership of the 75 largest metropolitan areas nationally and edged out greater Hartford for the highest in the Northeast.
Connecticut”™s rate of 70.6 percent was the 18th-highest nationally and fourth in the Northeast, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, after Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire. Connecticut”™s rate declined just 0.2 percent last year, slower than the 0.8 percent drop nationally.
In the past three decades, Connecticut had its highest home ownership rate in 2003, when 73 percent of residents owned their home.
More housing funds
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced $25 million in new funding to build or rehabilitate 250 units of affordable housing in Connecticut.
In February, the governor added more than $330 million to improve and expand affordable housing initiatives across the state, bringing the total state commitment to nearly $500 million over 10 years.
Owners and developers can apply for funding through the Competitive Housing Assistance for Multifamily Properties initiative (CHAMP), with information available at decd.org and chfa.org.
TicketNetwork backs out
In one of the more bizarre episodes in Connecticut economic development lore, TicketNetwork Inc. backed out of a ballyhooed incentive program for new hiring after its CEO was accused of unleashing slur-laced threats against a bouncer.
TicketNetwork was among the first companies to win incentives under Gov. Dannel P. Malloy”™s First Five program, under which employers agree to add at least 200 jobs.
Reportedly TicketNetwork”™s CEO is now on a leave of absence and in counseling for alcohol abuse.
Maclaren in bankruptcy filing
Less than two years after launching a “Yellow Submarine” Beatles baby stroller, Maclaren sank its Norwalk-based U.S. operations into bankruptcy protection, following a massive recall in the wake of children losing fingertips to a pinch point in its collapsible strollers.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission ordered Maclaren in 2009 to recall about a million strollers.
People”™s expands in NY
Bridgeport-based People’s United Financial Inc., the holding company for People”™s United Bank, will pay $3.25 million to acquire 56 branches from Citizens Financial Group Inc.
Fifty-two of the branches are in Stop & Shop supermarkets and four are traditional branches. All are in New York state with 29 on Long Island, eight in Westchester County and six in the boroughs of New York City, all areas of key focus for People”™s United.
People”™s United currently operates 87 Stop & Shop branch locations in Connecticut.
First County ups loan
First County Bank increased by $2 million a loan financing construction at the Stamford Plaza Hotel & Conference Center L.P., with the loan limit now set at $12 million.
The loan is extended to affiliates of RDCP Holdings Inc., whose president is Thomas Rosenberg.
Two enter TechStart
Student teams from Stamford and New Canaan were among nine statewide entered in TechStart, a startup accelerator run by Connecticut Innovations Inc., with more than 30 teams submitting applications.
Each team will receive $25,000 in financial assistance and enter a 10-week crash course on launching a high-tech business.
Information on Stamford-based eBrevia was not immediately available. According to the Connecticut Technology Council, New Canaan-based My Luck Club”™s online platform is designed to help people find jobs, products, services or relationships they are seeking, scoring a reward for doing so.
