Hartford gets grant for new facility

By RENEE GAMELA

Observer-Dispatch

Posted Dec 19, 2007 @ 11:33 PM

NEW HARTFORD — The Hartford Financial Services Group has been awarded a $500,000 grant from the Empire State Development Agency toward its new facility, state officials announced Wednesday.

The grant will help secure The Hartford’s commitment to invest about $22.8 million into a new building in the New Hartford Office Park, said Daniel C. Gundersen, Empire State Development co-chairman.

“The project, with the retention of 689 jobs and a $20 million-plus investment in the community is a vote of confidence for the Mohawk Valley,” Gundersen said in a news release.

The insurance and investment company, which leases facilities in New Hartford at 4401 Middle Settlement Road and 8364 Seneca Turnpike, plans to consolidate into one new building along Route 840 in the newly created New Hartford Office Park.

The New Hartford Office Group LLC, an affiliate of Syracuse-based development firm Cameron Group LLC, owns the 120 acres that will be developed as the office park.

The property is bordered by Woods Highway, Seneca Turnpike and Route 840. The Hartford's new site will occupy about 13.5 acres along Route 840, Larry Adler, a principal in The New Hartford Office Group and Cameron, has said.

Last year, the New Hartford Town Planning Board approved a final site plan for the first phase of the office park, but said an access road from Woods Highway needed to be built for subsequent phases.

The Hartford seeks to occupy its new facility at the end of 2008. The company is one of the largest U.S.-based global investment and insurance companies and has operated a range of business functions in New Hartford since 1976.

“The local Hartford team is excited about the opportunity to consolidate our business center into a new state-of-the-art facility,” Vice President of Service Operations Sandra Millen said in a statement. “We’re proud to contribute to the redevelopment of the community.”

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