Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration is finalizing plans to move state government’s data processing center to southeastern Connecticut early next year.
The State Bond Commission approved $18.25 million in financing Friday to move the center from East River Drive in East Hartford – its home for 12 years – to a site it will lease on the campus of Pfizer Inc. of Groton, a major pharmaceutical manufacturer.
Malloy said after Friday’s meeting that further details about the transfer would be forthcoming. But state officials have been talking since early 2008 about moving data processing operations from the 192,000 square feet of office space Connecticut leases on East River Drive. That lease, which costs about $5 million per year and expires in late 2015, is one of the state’s most expensive.
The state’s data processing demands have grown significantly since the mid-2000s. Technology officials have said that to remain at the East River Drive location, the state would need to invest $10 million or more in the site, particularly to develop enhanced electrical and cooling systems.
The legislature authorized up to $21 million in bonding in 2010 to develop a new center, including upgrades to the new site and to the data processing network. The bond commission released $2.75 million of that total last year.
In 2010, Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s administration investigated moving technology operations to the Newington campus of the former Cedarcrest Hospital. The state closed the 103-bed psychiatric unit on that campus in January 2011.
In other business Friday, the bond commission approved $277 million in financing regional wastewater treatment plant upgrades in six communities.
The bonding will support grants and low-interest loans to upgrade plants serving Hartford, Rocky Hill, Norwich, Middletown, New Haven and Bristol.