Print

NewAlliance Bank To Open Branch At Hartford 21 Complex

KENNETH R. GOSSELIN

December 09, 2009

Two years passed without a new retail or office lease at the Hartford 21 complex in downtown Hartford.

Now, there are two announcements in less than a week.

NewAlliance Bank will announce today that it plans to open a branch office in early 2010 at 227 Trumbull St. in Hartford 21, which is owned by Northland Investment Corp.

The New Haven-based bank, the state's sixth-largest when ranked by deposits, has applied to the state Department of Banking to open a 3,500-square-foot, full-service branch with two ATMs and five teller stations.

"We are excited about being part of downtown Hartford," said Peyton R. Patterson, NewAlliance's chairman, president and chief executive. "Now is a key time to move into downtown Hartford and become a financial resource for residents there, and the many people who come in and out every day for work and visits."

NewAlliance opened its first branch in the city in 2005 in the Parkville section.

Northland declined to comment Tuesday.

Since Hartford 21 opened in 2006, office and street-level retail leasing has moved slowly, and plans for a grocery store have yet to materialize.

The announcement follows one last week that St. Joseph College had signed a lease for 35,000 square feet of office space in the same complex.

At that time, Northland Chairman Larry Gottesdiener said that he had a letter of intent — the step before a formal lease — from a retail tenant for space on the Trumbull Street side of the complex.