It’s official. Charter Communications is pulling up stakes and moving its headquarters from the St. Louis area to Stamford, Conn over the coming weeks.
Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy made the announcement this morning and was scheduled to hold a press conference this afternoon. Charter will transfer the majority of its executive officers, along with members of their staffs, to the new 70,000 square-foot office space at 400 Atlantic Street.
Charter will invest more than $10 million in its new corporate digs, along with the addition of 200 corporate jobs to the area. The move to Stamford comes as no surprise after Charter said in a June Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing that some of its executives would be relocating to the New York metro area. Charter CEO and President Tom Rutledge, who came to Charter from Cablevision, and other former Cablevision executives now employed by Charter have homes in the New York metro area.
As the Stamford location is readied, Rutledge and other members of the executive team will make the move over the coming weeks.
“Establishing a corporate presence in Stamford is one of many actions we have taken to position Charter for long-term growth. In addition to our cable operations in Connecticut, access to the talent base, the transportation infrastructure, and the proximity to other media headquarters and financial markets made Stamford a logical alternative,” Rutledge said. “The state of Connecticut and Governor Malloy’s commitment and package of incentives offered made it compelling for us to decide on Stamford.”
Charter, the nation’s fourth-largest cable operator, will still maintain its corporate offices in St. Louis and Denver, the latter of which is where the majority of its engineering team is located. A spokeswoman for Charter said most of the functions currently performed in the St. Louis office would remain there and that only a small number of jobs were leaving the St. Louis office location, but did not provide an exact head count of the jobs lost.
Charter serves more than 550,000 customers in the St. Louis area and surrounding markets, and the company plans on adding 300 jobs in the greater St. Louis area over the coming months.
Charter’s move to Stamford was part of Gov. Malloy’s Next Five economic development plan that offers companies incentives to move to the state or provide additional jobs. Charter is the ninth company to participate in the Next Five’ program, which is administered by the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD).
In return, DECD will provide a 10-year loan of $6.5 million at 2 percent, with principal payments deferred for three years. The funding will go toward Charter’s costs for tenant improvements and the purchase of furnishings and office equipment. The loan, or a portion of it, may be forgiven if certain job milestones are met. It also includes funding provisions for future job growth.
