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GE Opens New Headquarters In Boston

FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- General Electric moved into its temporary home in Boston on Monday, according to Boston.com.

General Electric celebrated the opening of a temporary new headquarters in Boston

General Electric celebrated the opening of a temporary new headquarters in Boston

Photo Credit: Boston Mayor Marty Walsh via Twitter

A bigger home base is being planned that will include three buildings, said the report.

Click here to see the Boston.com story.

General Electric, which had been headquartered in Fairfield since 1974, announced in January that it was moving its headquarters to Boston.

GE had been considering a move for more than three years, and began a formal review last June with a list of 40 potential locations. Boston was selected after a careful evaluation of the business ecosystem, talent, long-term costs, quality of life for employees, connections with the world and proximity to other company assets.

GE will sell its offices on its 85-acre campus in Fairfield and at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City to further offset the cost of the move. GE is the largest taxpayer in the town of Fairfield.

Gov. Dannel Malloy said the departure of the Fortune 500 company was a disappointment to Connecticut.

'"Luckily we've won more than we've lost — but frankly this hurts," Malloy said of corporate moves into and out of the state. "We're not going to win every one of these."

GE had expressed frustration with attracting "job applicants from the New York market," Malloy said. 

Town officials have said they are not too worried about long-term impact. 

"While I am disappointed that GE is moving approximately 200 jobs to Boston, it is, however, an undeniable fact that Connecticut’s economy is growing and creating jobs," said state Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff. 

"Businesses around the country and the globe know Connecticut for its business competitiveness, worker productivity, and highly educated workforce. That’s why GE will still have thousands of employees in Connecticut.”

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump brought a local message to his Bridgeport audience at his Aug. 14 rally, blasting the loss of more than 60 percent of its manufacturing jobs since 1990 and the move of Fairfield-based General Electric to Massachusetts.

"You should be ashamed of yourselves, I'm sorry to say," Trump said of Connecticut's loss of GE.

Fairfield Director of Economic Development Mark Barnhart recently said that he believes even the loss of one of America’s corporate giants won’t derail the town’s long-term goals.

While disappointing, Barnhart believes GE’s move will not be a crushing economic blow. He feels the emergence of Commerce Drive, near the Fairfield Metro train station, will spur economic development. The train station opened in 2011, and Barnhart says it’s just a matter of time before economic development blossoms in the area.

“It has already transformed the area,’’ said Barnhart, who has been in his position since 2002. “We haven’t seen the development we’d like to see there yet, but it’s more a question of when, not if. You can see it in the lifestyle people want today. They want to be close to an urban environment. They want to be close to transit connections so they can get where they need to go. At Fairfield Metro, they have direct access to New York. Right now, there’s so much office space available in Lower Fairfield County. That needs to sort itself out. It will eventually happen, and it will bode well for the town’s economic future.”

While Barnhart paints an optimistic long-term view for Fairfield’s economic future, the short-term prism was undeniably hurt by GE’s decision to vacate its 68-acre property. 

“There’s no question that’s a big hit for the town, especially from a psychological view,’’ Barnhart said. “For 40 years, our image, our brand, was somewhat defined by General Electric. It’s something we have to deal with.”

Initial fears that GE’s move would adversely impact the town’s real estate market, however, have proven unfounded. In addition, some GE employees will be shifted to other facilities within Fairfield County.

Fairfield University and Kleban Poperties want to turn General Electric's Fairfield headquarters into a "high-tech hub" after GE departs for Boston this summer, the Daily Voice reported in March .

The university announced that it entered into an exclusive agreement with Kleban Properties, a real estate investment and development company located in Fairfield. Kleban had previously announced that it would seek to buy the GE campus , and is exploring with GE the potential purchase and development of the 68-acre property.

If the purchase of the property goes through, the company and Fairfield University would want to use it for a variety of educational components, including an executive education center

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