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Silver City Unveils IT Zone
City Council approves tax breaks for center-city info tech improvements
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Business New Haven
8/5/2002
By: BNH
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MERIDEN - “Technology, technology, technology,” may not be as catchy a mantra as “Location, location, location,” but Meriden's inclusion of nearly three square miles of properties in its new Information Technology Zone (ITZone) marks the beginning of the next phase of economic development in the Silver City.
The new ITZone, approved by the Meriden City Council July 15, overlays hundreds of buildings and developable parcels, includes both the center city area, the former Veteran's Memorial Medical Center and Insilco sites near Cooper Street and stretches south to Wallingford along Broad and Colony Streets.
The city hopes to attract new investment and help property-owners improve space for new info technology companies.
The ITZone offers real property tax incentives to property owners who construct or newly improve their buildings to house IT businesses. The incentive, linked to the cost of improvements, will be in the form of a break on the increased assessment resulting from the same improvements.
The minimum new investment is $25,000, while the discount will be from 50 to 100 percent of the tax increase for terms of two to six years. Qualified IT business tenants may also be eligible to receive tax abatements for three years on IT personal property new to the city's tax rolls. This abatement will be 100 percent for the first two years and 50 percent in the third year.
“Meriden has been successful in attracting top-notch corporate headquarters along Research Parkway, which is nearly at capacity with companies such as Canberra Industries, RFS Cablewave, Cuno Corporation and Bob's Stores' corporate offices,” says Stephen T. Zerio, chairman of the city's Economic Development, Housing & Zoning committee. “The ITZone is designed to attract investors and IT users; [as well as] companies that will benefit from our central location and excellent IT infrastructure while investing in center-city office reconstruction and other redevelopment opportunities,” he adds.
Explains Peggy Brennan, Meriden's economic development director: “The ITZone program seems complicated but it really isn't. People who have any questions about the incentives and requirements for qualifications should call us. Our goal is to make this program very user-friendly.”
Many of the properties in the ITZone are also in the state-designated Enterprise Zone (EZ), says Brennan. Building owners and prospective tenants must submit both state and local applications prior to securing a building permit or signing a lease. ITZone benefits may only be applied retroactively except with the approval of the City Council.
“Meriden has made a strong commitment to its marketing campaigns and to being business-friendly,” says Meriden Mayor Mark Benigni. “We're hopeful that the ITZone will help us parlay those investments into returns on investment, with a unique offering for information technology dependent companies.”
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