With New Lease, UTC Envisions Campus-Like Setting In Farmington

United Technologies Corp. plans to invest millions of dollars for improvements and new technology in its corporate locations in Farmington and expand its presence there by leasing another office building.

Hartford-based UTC’s lease of 8 Farm Springs Road — a 108,000-square-foot office building formerly occupied by The Hartford Financial Services Group — is part of a larger plan to develop a campus-like setting in Connecticut.

“Over the next year, United Technologies will relocate a number of corporate functions from Hartford and Windsor to existing and new space in Farmington,” UTC spokesman John M. Moran told me late Monday.

He added: The changes “represent an investment in modern office space and a new UTC Leadership Center, and allow the company to increase efficiencies and collaboration among related business functions.”

Operations are being transferred from elsewhere in Greater Hartford as existing leases expire, UTC said, taking advantage of an opportunity to lease the three-story building at 8 Farm Springs which is so close to other space it now occupies.

As part of the moves, UTC will invest in an upgraded leadership center, which is used for training and conference. Most of the improvements will be in 4 and 8 Farm Springs.

Moran told me UTC will continue to maintain UTC’s corporate headquarters in Hartford’s Gold Building.

The lease comes as UTC nears the closing of its $16.5 billion acquisition of Goodrich Corp., which has raised concerns about how employment in the state will be affected.

With the addition of the new building, UTC will occupy more than 600,000 square feet of office space in and around the Farm Springs office park area, the majority inside the park. UTC has the division headquarters of Otis Elevator, Carrier Corp. and Fire & Security in the area.

UTC recently combined the operations of Carrier and Fire & Security into a new division, UTC Climate, Controls and Security Systems.