NYC-Based Chinese Fintech Firm To Establish Global HQ In West Hartford
The deal in West Hartford comes about two months after it struck a deal in early May to consolidate its New York City offices into approximately 10,300 square feet of leased space on the 19th floor of 55 Broadway in the Financial District of Manhattan.
HARTFORD, CT—Seven Stars Cloud Group, Inc., which recently consolidated its US headquarters operations at 55 Broadway in New York City, has struck a deal to eventually establish its global corporate headquarters at a former University of Connecticut campus in West Hartford.
The deal was announced on Tuesday by Seven Stars Cloud Group officials and Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy. The State of Connecticut is supporting the $283-million project with a $10-million loan from the Department of Economic and Community Development’s Connecticut First Five Plus program to be used for capital renovations to the site’s existing structures. The loan may be forgiven if job targets are reached, state officials said. No timeline on the completion of the project was released.
The new headquarters campus project, coined “Chain Valley,” is expected to create 330 jobs over the next five years. The agreement with the State of Connecticut is contingent on SSC purchasing UConn’s former campus in West Hartford, which consists of two contiguous properties located at 1700 and 1800 Asylum Ave. The purchase of the property will require approval of both UConn’s Board of Trustees and West Hartford’s Town Council, which are anticipated to consider the sale at upcoming meetings.
Nasdaq-listed SSC’s plans for the site include a combination of rehabilitation of existing structures, the razing of others, and modest new construction. The company intends the site’s redevelopment to maintain the open look and feel of the campus, state officials noted.
The deal in West Hartford comes about two months after it struck a deal in early May to consolidate its New York City offices into approximately 10,300 square feet of leased space on the 19th floor of 55 Broadway in the Financial District of Manhattan. Alan Rosinsky, principal broker of Metro Manhattan Office Space who represented Seven Stars Cloud Group in its seven-year lease at 55 Broadway, tells Globest.com that SSC has since exercised its option to acquire space on the 18th floor of the building that will bring its total occupancy at the property to approximately 20,000 square feet of space. The company is currently occupying a portion of its space there while tenant fit-out work is being conducted. CBRE represented the landlord in the lease deal at the property.
“We are thrilled to have found such a wonderful spot right here in central Connecticut,” Bruno Wu, executive chairman and CEO of SSC, said. “It is here that the first students to ever leave China, the Mission Boys, settled in the late 1800s to study Western science and engineering. It is in the spirit of these students that we will build a facility so modern and dynamic that it will attract the best talent and companies, making this site the blockchain capital of the U.S. and the world.
He added that the location provides the firm with access to a highly skilled workforce, as well as more than 40 institutions of higher learning. “It is an ideal location for our firm to write our next chapter, and we could not be more excited to soon join this wonderful community in West Hartford.”
Gov. Malloy calls the deal a “major economic milestone for the entire Hartford region.”
He said, “When companies like SSC decide to locate and grow here, combined with unprecedented investments in making our communities more livable and walkable, it makes Connecticut a more attractive place to live and work.”
SSC is a global fintech company that leverages artificial intelligence and blockchain technology to facilitate and enable the transformation of traditional financial assets, as well as industrial, media, and consumer assets into digital ones. SSC works with participants across the financial markets and industry verticals to assist in the securitization, tokenization, and trading of a growing number of both liquid and illiquid assets, by enabling asset digitization processes.
The company has partnered with the team that led the building and development of Level 39, one of the largest fintech and smart city hubs in Europe for fast-growth technology companies.