In brief

Report: Georgetown development has buyer

Georgetown Land Development Co. reportedly has a purchase agreement with an unnamed buyer for a former mill property envisioned as a mixed-use village.

Redding”™s first selectman announced this month that a deal had been struck, according to the Redding Pilot, describing the buyer as a national developer with local roots.

Georgetown Land Development reached an agreement in March 2010 for a local syndicate to buy the 55-acre site, but those buyers never completed the deal.

 

S-97 in jeopardy?

The U.S. Army is planning a flight demonstration next April for a potential new armed scout helicopter, likely too soon for Stratford-based Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. to complete work on its S-97 Raider high-speed prototype.

Any such development could leave Sikorsky on the sidelines for what it hopes would be the first major reward from its X-2 high-speed helicopter demonstrator, which broke a speed record last year that had stood since 1986.

“If it doesn”™t fly, don”™t bother to show up,” said Maj. Gen. Tim Crosby, as quoted by Shephard Group. “We believe that there are (commercial off-the-shelf) systems that meet not all the requirements, but a substantial part of it.”

 

Dinosaur makes way to South End

Dinosaur B-B-Q plans to open its first Connecticut location in the former Yale and Towne building in Stamford”™s Harbor Point development, giving the South End neighborhood its first regionally known restaurant.

Founded in Syracuse, N.Y., Dinosaur is opening its first non-New York location next month in Newark, N.J.

Zagat recently cited Dinosaur”™s Harlem eatery as one of the top barbeque restaurants in New York City.

 

 

Hub funds for Fairfield County

Connecticut awarded more than $1.4 million to four Fairfield County municipalities to improve rail and bus links, of $5 million distributed statewide.

The state funded 11 projects picked from 23 applicants. Awards include:

• $490,000 for Norwalk to link the South Norwalk Railroad Station and Intermodal Center to bus, shuttle, bike and pedestrian routes;
• 460,000 for Stamford for parking and assessments at the Glenbrook and Springdale stations on the New Canaan branch of the New Haven Line;
• $250,000 for a transit-oriented development plan for the Stratford station on the New Haven Line, and the development of a model development ordinance by the Greater Bridgeport Regional Council for its member municipalities; and
• $265,000 to improve bicycle and pedestrian connections to the Derby/Shelton Multi-Modal Center.

“Finding smart, practical ways to connect housing and employment centers to transportation is a critical step in growing the state”™s economy and making Connecticut a more vibrant place to work and live,” said Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, in a prepared statement.

 

Westport butcher files shelf registration

The owner of Saugatuck Craft Butchery filed a shelf registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission after opening his shop in Westport, with Connecticut Magazine calling it the second “nose-to-tail” shop in Fairfield County after Butcher’s Best in Newtown.

The SEC document lists a potential total offering amount of up to $1 million.

According to Connecticut Magazine, Saugatuck Craft Butchery owner Ryan Fibiger apprenticed at Fleisher”™s Grass-Fed & Organic Meats of Kingston, N.Y., whose owner Joshua Applestone is a leader in the movement to reinvent traditional butchery.

 

Record sentence for hedge-fund schemer

Raj Rajatratnam, whose insider trading ring led to plea deals by multiple Fairfield County residents, was sentenced to 11 years in prison, the longest sentence ever imposed for the crime.

Rajaratnam was founder of New York City-based Galleon Management L.L.C. and affiliate companies. He was convicted last May of 14 counts of conspiracy and securities fraud. As part of his sentence, Judge Richard Holwell also ordered him to forfeit nearly $54 million and pay a $10 million fine.

“We can only hope that this case will be the wake-up call we said it should be when Mr. Rajaratnam was arrested,” said Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney in Manhattan, in a prepared statement. “Privileged professionals do not get a free pass to pursue profit through corrupt means.”

Prosecutors”™ investigations led to individuals who have worked at several of the tristate area”™s most prominent companies, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., IBM Corp. and McKinsey & Co.

 

Nash pumps up Trumbull presence

Gardner Denver Nash L.L.C. is leasing 13,000 square feet of space at 2 Trefoil Drive in Trumbull.

Parent company Gardner Denver Inc. sells a range of compressors and pumps. Its Nash division is based at 9 Trefoil Drive in Trefoil Business Park, with Angel Commercial brokering the lease transaction.

Gardner Denver Nash traces its history to 1905 with the founding of Nash Engineering Co. in Norwalk. Nash merged in 2002 with a German company, then was acquired in 2004 by Wayne, Pa.-based Gardner Denver.

 

BofA opens ”˜home retention”™ center

Bank of America Corp. said it has hired several commercial loan officers in southern Connecticut focused on small business, among 90 hired throughout the tristate area.

Separately, Bank of America opened a customer assistance center in Southington to give mortgage customers throughout Connecticut the opportunity to meet face-to-face with “home retention specialists” in the bank”™s words to review options for home-loan modifications or other alternatives to foreclosure.

 

*Due to reporting errors, a previous version of the brief titled “Westport butcher files shelf registration” misspelled the name of Joshua Applestone; incorrectly described a shelf registration amount as a funding tranche; and incorrectly linked Saugatuck Craft Butchery and Butcher’s Best.