Rell pushes for $9M loan to keep GenRe in Conn.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell is optimistic that the state Bond Commission will act swiftly to approve a $9 million loan to help Stamford-based General Reinsurance Corp. move from 695 E. Main St. to 120 Long Ridge Road in the city.

Rell said Tuesday that she expects the loan, planned for review by the commission Oct. 30, to result in the retention of more than 800 jobs.

The $9 million loan is part of a mix of incentives that is keeping GenRe in Connecticut, maintaining the state's leadership in insurance and financial services, she said. A subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., GenRe is a holding company for global reinsurance and related operations and employs 2,300 people in more than 50 locations.

"GenRe had to make a decision -- stay in Stamford or relocate to Westchester County, N.Y. -- and we were not going to lose those dependable jobs and their IFS expertise without a fight," Rell said in a statement. "This funding, which goes toward fixtures and equipment in the new facility, ensures that a company based in our state since 1974 is not lost to a neighboring state. Connecticut is rightfully known as the insurance capital of the world -- but it is a title other states would dearly love to claim as their own."

The state must use "smart, targeted loans and investments" to prevent the loss of business, she said, adding that she is committed to keeping good, well-paying jobs in the state, as well as creating new ones.

The loan was a key factor in

retaining the company, said Michael Freimuth, Stamford's director of economic development. Freimuth said he is confident that the Bond Commission will approve the $9 million but was dismayed that it has taken so long to advance to the panel.

"It's concerning that it takes so long to go through the state Bond Commission. We were having this discussion back in 2008," he said.

, attributing the delay to the state budget crisis. "We've been working on the premise that it was going to happen, but with some level of anxiety."

Other components of the package include eligibility for as much as $19.5 million in Urban and Industrial Sites Reinvestment tax credits through the state Department of Economic and Community Development. The Connecticut Development Authority also has approved a $2.1 million in sales and tax exemptions to help defray construction costs.

"The significance about this (Rell's announcement) is that it is going to the state Bond Commission," said DECD spokesman James Watson, adding that the DECD and GenRe are finalizing the agreement for the tax credit package, which is spread over 10 years and subject to annual review.

Gen Re plans to move at the end of January 2010 from 575,000 square feet in the East Main Street building into nearly 300,000 square feet of reconstructed space formerly occupied by GE Energy Financial Services, a building owned by Norwalk-based Building and Land Technology. The two parties have negotiated a 20-year lease.

The impending departure of GenRe from 695 E. Main St., also known as the Financial Centre, has led to a flight from the building by other tenants, creating concern at the city level, Freimuth said, and spelling trouble for its owners, Lehman Brothers, the liquidating New York investment bank, and other partners.

The move will create a hole in the Class A office space market as the region rebounds from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

"The tenants (of the Financial Centre) are making other plans," said Jim Fagan, senior managing director and had of Cushman and Wakefield's Fairfield and Westchester County Region.

Other landlords are taking advantage, he said, but they must offer updated accommodations to attract tenants.