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Do you think GE's move will hurt the economy in Fairfield County?
- yes
- no
- not sure
Since the news was initially leaked to the media a day before an official statement was expected, the company had not announced a timeline or transition schedule to employees, Tetreau said.
GE has said 200 current employees will move with the headquarters, but it hasn’t discussed what will happen with the other 600, he said.
“They’re thinking, ‘Am I one of the ones who is going or am I one of the ones who is not?’” Tetreau said, calling that situation “traumatic.”
The relocation is expected to have heavy repercussions in both the labor and real estate markets in Fairfield, as well as communities from Greenwich to Trumbull, where employees live.
Tetreau plans to meet with GE officials next week to discuss their plans.
He will also meet with a planning group of state and local officials that was created over the summer to discuss the town and state’s options should GE relocate. The group had not made much headway, he said.
“There were too many options at the time,” Tetreau said. “Now that we will have specifics, we can start brainstorming again.”
GE has been weighing a move of its corporate headquarters for more than three years, and began a formal review in 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 said Wednesday.
The new headquarters will be located in the Seaport District of Boston. Employees will move to a temporary location in Boston starting this summer, with a full move completed in several steps by 2018.
GE will sell its 85-acre corporate campus in Fairfield and at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City to further offset the cost of the move.
Gov. Dannel Malloy said he was sad to see GE leave.
'"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."
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