Business View Magazine - October 2018

206 207 fying three target census tracts for inclu- sion in the new federal Opportunity Zone initiative,which is attached to the Federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (December 2017), to invite investors with long-term capital gains to defer paying tax on those gains for a period of time,while investing in un- derserved communities that need capital.” BVM: How does New London market itself? Nocera: “The City of New London con- tracts with a local marketing consulting firm tomarket the city.TheOffice of Devel- opment and Planning is currentlydevel- oping a complete“Developer’sManual”for developers and investors.Thismanual will be the guide toNewLondon for interested investors,with emphasis on investment fromoutside the local region. “New London Main Street is a non-prof- it corporation committed to revitalizing New London’s HistoricWaterfront District. The goal of Main Street is to build com- munity through activities and programs that enrich the cultural fabric, preserve and enhance historic streetscapes, and support and expand the economic base of the city center.New London Main Street publishes the New London Map & Guide and hosts the city’s only tour- ism-related website. “New London is well represented in the Southeastern Connecticut Cultural Coa- lition,which has more than 540 partners and contributes to the cultural identity, economy and quality of life of South- eastern Connecticut by advocating and supporting arts, heritage, cultural, and business activities and organizations.” the character of both districts.Thames River Innovation is supported by CTNext, a public private partnership that fosters an agile, open, and networked entrepreneurship community that helps Connecticut’s most promising startup and growing small businesses find the necessary resources to experience accelerated growth. “The Ignite Program helps entrepreneurs solve their start-up challenges while making great connections.The Ignite Program,whose partners include BioCT Innovation Commons and SparkMakerspace, is a program established under the Thames River Innovation Place, and is made possible with support from CTNext. Ignite is designed to spur new ideas, businesses, and innovative growth in the Thames River region by producing events, sponsoring education, and connecting entrepreneurs into the business development support system. “The City’s Office of Development and Plan- ning provides business and property owners with a variety of incentives to defer or offset taxes, and also to provide grants and loans for building improvements, such as its Façade Improvement Program,which provides grants up to a maximum of $50,000 per single principal building fronting on a City street located within the downtown City Center District. Bombria: “Electric Boat is the biggest industry in the area and the government just awarded EB several new submarine contracts, so the future is pretty sustainable there. It recently announced the expectation of hiring up to 18,000 new em- ployees over the next ten years; and they already have more employees working there now than they’ve had for 25 or 30 years. “As a result of the new contracts, there has been a lot of interest in private development housing projects and many have already gone through the pipeline of planning and zoning and have either started breaking ground or are working on financial arrangements.New hous- ing projects will generate the foot traffic and critical mass leading to better opportunities for businesses to locate in New London.” Nocera: “The City was also strategic in identi- PREFERRED VENDORS n Foxwoods Resort Casino www.foxwoods.com Foxwoods Resort Casino is a hotel and casino complex owned and operated by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation on their reservation located in Ledyard, Connecticut. Including six casinos, the resort covers an area of 9,000,000 sq. ft. The casinos have more than 250 gaming tables for blackjack, craps, roulette, and poker, and have more than 5,500 slot machines. There are several restaurants within the casinos, among them a Hard Rock Cafe. Foxwoods has two hotel towers, with a total of 2,266 hotel rooms; and a two-story game arcade for children and teens. The original tower, the Grand Pequot Tower, opened in 1997, while the second opened in 2008 as the MGM Grand; it was rebranded the Fox Tower in 2013. In 2015 a retail complex, known as Tanger Outlet Mall, opened between the two hotel towers with 85 stores for luxury goods. n Laz Parking www.lazparking.com