It was a great day for an endzone dance in Stamford yesterday: A bright tent, 500 people and billowing clouds to match billowing civic and corporate pride.
The touchdown came in the form of the glistening NBCUniversal”™s NBC Sports Group building in the remade former Clairol factory at the end of Blachley Road.
Governor Dannel P. Malloy with a git-r-done address said: “This was a competition we wanted to win and we won it.” The NBC studios were formerly in New York City. He noted the entire effort had taken just 11 months.
“Welcome to Stamford,” Malloy, a former 12-year Stamford mayor said. “Welcome to Connecticut. Welcome. Welcome.”
The building contains an eye-popping 320,000-square-foot footprint through which 400 miles of optic cables have been snaked. A single newsroom is 320-by-460 feet ”“ more than 3 acres. The headquarters will house some 500 NBC employees.
The chairman of the NBC Sports Group, Mark Lazarus, thanked the builders, architects and government leaders, including Stamford Mayor Michael Pavia. Yet for all the suits and the backdrop of a $100 million-plus headquarters, his enthusiasm remained as boyish as his smile. “We are officially open for business,” he said to a wave of applause.
The project fell under the state”™s First Five/Next Five initiative, which promises tax credits and other incentives to companies that vow to create more than 200 jobs, or in NBC”™s case, to bring them to Connecticut from elsewhere. Malloy said the initiative”™s success will bring about the next phase: the First 15 initiative.
I am on the board of the Boys & Girls Club of Stamford and want to note that Mr. Lazarus and his team at NBC Sports have already proven themselves to be excellent individual and corporate citizens. Welcome to Stamford. I hope you enjoy being here as much as we enjoy having you.