Joined by some of Connecticut's elected officials, executives with United Technologies broke ground on the new Research Center that will be located in the heart of the company's sprawling East Hartford campus.
"The investment will transform the United Technologies Campus into the Research Center of tomorrow and provide the resources and foundation for all of the technologies that this team will develop," said UTRC Director David Parekh.
The building will formally open in 2017.
The new research center was a part of the negotiations between the company and Connecticut state officials like the governor and top members of the Connecticut General Assembly. The deal led to a commitment from UTC that it would stay in Connecticut for years to come and that the company would get to cash in on roughly $400 million in unused tax credits.
"That's something that had never been before," said Gov. Dannel Malloy during the event.
He added that the partnership with the state is something other companies can look at for themselves to decide whether Connecticut is a good place for business.
"I think every relationship is one unto itself," Malloy told reporters following the groundbreaking.
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When asked about the proposed sale or spinoff of Sikorsky that UTC executives announced last week, Malloy said, "The sale or spinoff of Sikorsky is something that we have to deal with but I think that we’re in better shape now with the agreement that we have in place to compete for that than we would have been without it."
The new research center will also contribute to the partnership between UTC and UConn. Mun Choi, executive vice president and provost of the UConn School of Engineering, said a state-of-the-art facility like the research center will only help students.
"This really provides the best elements of a public and private partnership that really works," Choi added.
Six hundred existing UTC employees will work in the new research center.
