Brownfields Remediation

By Cynthia
Petruzzello
Vice President

The Connecticut Brownfields Redevelopment Authority (CBRA) provides the financial muscle to turn environmentally contaminated properties into productive re-use while creating local tax revenue and jobs.

CBRA, a subsidiary of the Connecticut Development Authority (CDA), provides direct loans and Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) to handle projects like converting an abandoned gas station into a retail store, or an environmentally contaminated property or former factory site into productive re-use.

CBRA can help developers execute environmental remediation plans by providing some of the required financial resources. To help developers address financial risks, CBRA provides financing, enabling them to convert underutilized properties into productive resources for the community and the state.

TIF is one of our widely used tools that complement private and non-private resources for financing brownfields redevelopment. In this program, CDA provides the financing for the project, while the municipality agrees to repay the TIF by using property taxes collected once the project is completed. A portion of ordinary property taxes generated by the redevelopment is utilized to repay CDA’s investment in the environmental cleanup. It’s a win-win situation: the developer builds the project and the town collects tax revenue on a former environmental eyesore.

The brownfield can be just a half-acre property that was once the site of a gas station or some other small business, or it can be a many-acre property once used for a factory, a landfill, or some other purpose that left an environmental footprint.

One example is in Berlin. We were approached by the local economic development officials about a closed solid-waste facility there. After we worked to finance the project with the developer, the closed facility became a retail center with a supermarket as its anchor.

At CDA and CBRA we make the impossible possible, converting environmentally contaminated property to productive uses that result in new local tax revenue and jobs for Connecticut residents.

Cynthia Petruzzello can be contacted at 860.258.7833 or at mailto:Cynthia.Petruzzello@ctcda.com

Introducing Connecticut Business and Finance

We hope you find this first edition of Connecticut Business and Finance, the Connecticut Development Authority’s new e-newsletter, both informative and helpful. We named our newsletter Connecticut Business and Finance in recognition of CDA’s role in helping companies grow, create jobs and contribute to the economy of the state. The purpose of the e-newsletter is to educate our audience about key issues facing Connecticut’s businesses and their financing challenges. Along the way, you will learn about our innovative financing programs and our expert staff who help develop them.

Please feel free to contact us at 860-258-7800 or visit our website at http://www.ctcda.com/ to comment on the e-newsletter or to request additional information about CDA’s programs.

CDA is Significant Financial Resource for Connecticut Companies

By P. Joseph Harpie
Senior Vice President Chief Lending Officer

The Connecticut Development Authority (CDA) is an important financial resource to companies in Connecticut, providing direct-loan financing that businesses need to keep and grow jobs in Connecticut. CDA’s loans have been used to support manufacturers and other businesses that are in need of capital for the acquisition of revenue-producing equipment, lease hold improvements, acquisition of new facilities and permanent working capital.

CDA can provide extended terms and advance rates on equipment and buildings that complement the company’s current banking relationships. We can lend up to $5 million to any qualified business.

One of the key advantages of direct loans from CDA is the quick, approximate 45-day turnaround from application to approval. Each of our lenders has the background and experience necessary to work with companies in these economically challenged times.

Many referrals for our direct loan program come from our banking and non-banking partners, municipal economic development directors, chambers of commerce and other economic development-related organizations.

A good example of how CDA worked with a manufacturing company with several different needs is Flanagan Brothers, Inc., an aerospace manufacturing company in Glastonbury. The company had been working with one of our banking partners to expand its facilities. However, the company also needed money for some Information Technology (IT) software that would allow it to build redundancy programs in order to meet Homeland Security specifications required by its military customers. We were able to provide funding that enabled the company to successfully acquire manufacturing software and hardware and related revenue-producing equipment, allowing Flanagan to continue to grow and add jobs.

In essence, CDA is the “go-to” organization for companies in need of non-traditional financing to locate or expand their businesses in Connecticut, providing jobs for Connecticut residents.

Joe Harpie can be contacted at 860.258.7832 or at Joseph.Harpie@ctcda.com.