35 Small City Anchor Institutions • Feature • Kooris participating communities are largely small and mid-sized cities, including Bridgeport, Stamford, and New Haven, as well as suburban municipalities seeking to strengthen walkable, mixed-use corridors and neighborhood centers. Connecticut’s small to mid sized cities offer useful case studies into how anchor institutions benefit and harm small city economies. Hospitals and universities are often the biggest employers in these places; they are embedded and less likely to relocate, providing stable jobs. This can also create an appearance of stability; some communities are overly dependent on these institutions, and this vulnerability is heightened if the institution’s governance is misaligned or operating from afar. David Kooris describes how these challenges are playing out across two small cities where CMDA operates, as well as the efforts institutions and government are making to address them. In Waterbury, CT, the local economy was disproportionately dependent on its medical system. The city’s primary hospital, Waterbury Hospital, was owned by an out-of-state private equity firm, exposing the community to significant risk as ownership did not have longterm stake in the community’s wellbeing. When the hospital was facing financial hardship, the decision to close was simple enough from the firm’s perspective, but for the city, it was a potential economic catastrophe. “Ultimately, the state orchestrated a buyout by the UConn health center,” said David, effectively pushing out the private equity owner and tying the institution to a state anchor with longterm staying power. The outcome changed the governance structure so that the institution’s future was bound to the city’s. In New Haven, Yale University controls a significant share of the city’s real estate, owning 1,108 acres of tax-exempt land across 300 parcels, while continuing to expand through small land acquisitions. Their presence is deep and outsized. Yale’s real estate arm even manages and curates a portfolio of mixed-use retail along Broadway which until recently, has not prioritized new housing development. Yale has begun to deepen its fiscal and civic partnership with the city, “expanding its commitment to revenue to the city,” says David. It has renegotiated its payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreement to New Haven’s benefit, increasing its financial contribution and adding a $5 million community investment. On top of this commitment, he also describes how Yale has taken on “a more entrepreneurial role in sort of joint development around housing,”
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