State Senator Gary LeBeau
October 26, 2009
LeBeau Welcomes Transfer of State Land for South Windsor Film Studio
SOUTH WINDSOR — At a brief ceremony this morning in Town Hall, state Sen. Gary D. LeBeau (D-East Hartford) witnessed the completion of an economic development initiative which he helped launch over a decade ago: the transfer of land from the state to South Windsor for the purposes of building Connecticut Studios LLC, which is expected to create thousands of jobs and generate hundreds of millions of dollars in personal income and tax revenue for the town and the state.
“We are looking at the creation of over 4,500 jobs and three-quarters of a billion dollars in new economic activity. This is a tremendous milestone,” said Sen. LeBeau, who is Senate Chairman of the legislature’s Commerce Committee. “We need to make investments and take risks, and these are the types of high-tech, knowledge-economy jobs that people in north-central Connecticut need to buy homes and make a comfortable living. I look forward to putting a shovel in the ground on this project.”
Sen. LeBeau was joined at today’s event by Gov. M. Jodi Rell, state Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Joan McDonald, South Windsor Town Manager Matthew B. Galligan, Economic Development Director Craig Stevenson, studio officials, and a host of other state and local officials.
12 years ago, Sen. LeBeau — at the request of South Windsor town officials — helped write a bill that allowed the state Department of Transportation (DOT) to convey two parcels of state land near the intersection of Interstate 291 and Routes 30 and 5 to South Windsor. Under that agreement, the land could only be used for open space, storm water management and infrastructure improvements, or for sale to a buyer who must use the land for economic development.
It is these parcels that are now planned to host Connecticut Studios LLC, which is a partnership between California-based Pacifica Ventures LLC and Rhode Island-based Halden Acquisition Group. The company plans to invest approximately $65 million to build eight sound stages totaling 150,000 square feet, four office buildings totaling 75,000 square feet, a visitor center and an additional 100,000 square feet of storage. The journey to today’s land transfer was not an easy one, however.
In 2007, Sen. LeBeau helped pass another piece of legislation that allowed South Windsor to sell that land for “administrative costs” rather than fair market value, thereby reducing business start-up costs and encouraging significant economic growth in the area. And this year, in the midst of a budget battle that once threatened to cut and cap the size of Connecticut’s film industry tax credit, Sen. LeBeau helped correct an oversight that neglected to include 2 acres of “right of way” land on the building site that was located under some high-power lines.
This small but important piece of “right of way” land was NOT included in today’s transfer of 21.4 acres from the state to the South Windsor Redevelopment Agency, but it will be transferred shortly, town officials said.
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