Tri-State Briefs

CONNECTICUT
UConn moves closer to Hartford campus
The University of Connecticut drew 13 submissions from property owners in its hunt for a new campus in Downtown Hartford by last month’s deadline, the Hartford Courant reported. The university, which is planning to relocate its West Hartford campus to the city, is looking for 150,000 square feet of space for classrooms, laboratories, offices, conference rooms and other uses. One of the proposals came from the City of Hartford, which proposed leasing a three-acre, vacant city-owned lot in the “Downtown North” neighborhood to the school for $1 a year. The city’s goal is to spur development in the area. According to the Courant, other property owners submitted proposals for a former bank data processing center at 150 Windsor Street, north of Hartford’s central business district; for One Talcott Plaza on Main Street; for an area on Front Street that includes the former Hartford Times Building; and for the former Broadcast House on Hartford’s Constitution Plaza. The campus will be home to roughly 3,100 students and 300 faculty members. The university has not said when it would make a decision.

WESTCHESTER
Building buyers may be required to hire property employees
Union officials at 32BJ SEIU— the largest union of property service employees in the country — has thrown its support behind a proposed Westchester bill to protect workers if their building changes hands, LoHud Real Estate, a blog on the Journal News, reported. Dozens of supporters showed up at a meeting of the Westchester Board of Legislators last month to urge lawmakers to pass the measure, which would require owners who buy or take control over a building to keep workers employed for 60 days — unless there is an overstaffing issue or employee misconduct. After that period, the new employer would be required to officially rehire all workers who’ve had satisfactory evaluations. The bill would affect janitors, security guards, maintenance workers and other service workers in larger residential and commercial buildings such as concert halls, private schools and colleges. However, some building owners believe such a bill is unfair. The legislation will likely be revised before a decision can be made.

LONG ISLAND
Nassau’s housing market looking up; Suffolk’s down
Nassau County’s housing market showed improvement in February, but Suffolk County’s disappointed. In Nassau, home prices and sales activity rose compared to February 2012, but in Suffolk prices remained stagnant and sales fell, Newsday reported, citing a report by the Multiple Listing Service of Long Island last month. Indeed, Nassau had 589 home sales for February (a 1.6 percent year-over-year increase) and a median sales price of $383,200 (a 2.2 percent increase). By comparison, Suffolk had 615 sales, but that was down 3 percent from last February, and Suffolk’s median price of $298,700 came in just 0.3 percent higher than the year before. There was some all-around good news, though. Both counties saw pending sales rise — by 14 percent in Nassau and 11 percent in Suffolk. Inventory also tightened. In Nassau there were 6,480 homes for sale in February, 27 percent fewer than last February, while in Suffolk there were 9,068 homes for sale, 22 percent fewer.