The Louis Tagliatela Family
Mary and Louis Tagliatela, Sr.
Deborah and Louis Tagliatela, Jr.
Viola and Stephen Tagliatela
Patricia Tagliatela
Franklin Construction, the firm founded in 1917 by Francesco Tagliatela, is a longtime developer in Greater New Haven and the Connecticut shoreline. Over the years, the company has built a reputation as an environmentally aware, community-minded construction and property management enterprise. Through the Tagliatela Charitable Foundation, created by Mary and Louis Tagliatela, Sr., the Tagliatela family has made significant contributions to education, healthcare and the arts, including New Haven's Hospital of St. Raphael, the University of New Haven, Albertus Magnus College and area high schools.
Community service, education and healthcare have always been an important focus for Louis and Mary. The family has emerged as a major supporter of the University of New Haven, giving a transformational gift to the Tagliatela College of Engineering to support its spiral curriculum, a cutting-edge approach to engineering instruction that encourages students to develop skills across the engineering disciplines.
The environment also has been a primary concern for the Tagliatela family and what is now Franklin Enterprises. The company has won ten Green Circle Awards from the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for its ground-breaking efforts to advance environmental awareness within the hotel, construction and property management industries. Saybrook Point Marina, which is owned by Franklin Enterprises and run by Stephen Tagliatela, a member of UNH's Board of Governors, was the first marina in Connecticut awarded a Clean Marina Award by the state DEP. The marina has been recognized with two national awards as the best marina in the country. The company also operates Saybrook Point Inn & Spa, one of the few AAA Four Diamond hotel and restaurant combinations in the nation, and was the first Energy Star full-service hotel in Connecticut for 2007. In 2009, it was awarded a Connecticut Green Lodging Award by the DEP as one the state's first certified green hotels.
The Tagliatela family companies will be investing nearly $2 million to initiate ten large-scale solar thermal panels to serve more than 600 units in their apartment complexes, run by Louis Tagliatela, Jr. The panels will generate 70 percent of the domestic hot water used in the apartments through solar-thermal heating. An organic community garden is a feature of one of the complexes, and the family is seeking to expand the program throughout its properties. Photovoltaic systems that generate electric power have been added to Saybrook Point Inn and to North Haven Health and Racquet Club, managed by Patricia Tagliatela. This may be the only solar-powered indoor tennis club in the nation. Stephen Tagliatela's private home in Old Saybrook also has a photovoltaic system, which provides about 90 percent of the home's power.