Image courtesy of Ideanomics
New York financial services firm Ideanomics earlier this week revealed more information about its plans for a 58-acre former University of Connecticut commuter campus in West Harford. It plans to build a development it is calling “Fintech Village” on the campus, which sits near the Bishop’s Corner shopping district.
“This innovation hub will be a center of excellence and collaboration for cutting-edge solutions with applications in artificial intelligence, robotics, clean tech, med tech, accounting, insurance, financial services, transportation and more,” Ideanomics board chair Bruno Wu said in a statement.
The project would cost $283 million. Ideanomics paid West Hartford $5.2 million for the property in 2018, after UConn left the campus in 2017 and the town balked at potential PCB and asbestos cleanup costs.
Ideanomics said in a statement released Monday it would “soon” begin removal of both contaminants, with asbestos abatement beginning in the next three months and PCB removal beginning “hopefully” by early fall, pending EPA approval of its disposal plans.
Along with environmental cleanup, Ideanomics will also have to seek local zoning approval to create “technology village district” zoning based on West Hartford’s current “business office laboratory” classification. After the zoning rules are updated, Ideanomics will then submit all the required permit applications necessary to develop and operate the campus.
The plan outlined Monday includes promises to build an art gallery, public plazas, boardwalks and trails through “restored natural habitat” on the campus’s lawns, plus an unspecified amount of office space and “corporate housing” units.
The project comes as Ideanomics has failed to turn a profit in its last four fiscal years and reported a net loss of $27 million for fiscal 2018 on revenues on $378 million. In a February management shakeup, three executives left the company and Wu returned to his previous position as chairman. Last week, law firm Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman LLC asked investors in Ideanomics stock to assist an investigation into whether Ideanomics and certain executives or directors violated federal securities laws.
