HARTFORD, CT-The State Bond Commission approved a grant-in-aid package of $45 million for major downtown redevelopment projects in Waterbury, including a new 90,000-sf UCONN campus that is now under construction.

WHITE PLAINS-Reckson Associates Realty Corp. reports that it has secured 10 new leases totaling nearly 50,000 sf of space at its office properties in White Plains and Tarrytown.

GLASTONBURY, CT-Athena Communities of Southington, CT., has purchased a 50% stake in the Rosedale at Fairway Crossing senior assisted living facility here and has also taken over management responsibilities for the 52-unit complex.

SUFFERN, NY-Xerox Corp., has signed one of the largest industrial lease deals of the year in the northern suburbs by taking 192,000 sf of space at 22 Hemion Rd. here. The company will use the facility as a warehouse/distribution facility.

WESTPORT, CT-Privately held reinsurance firm Benfield Blanch Inc. has signed a lease for 38,260 sf of space at 100 Nyala Farms Corporate Center here in a consolidation of its offices here and in Dallas.

PERRY, NY-Sallie Mae, the student loan provider headquartered in Reston, Va., plans to spend $5.5 million to expand its operations here that will eventually increase its local workforce from 350 to 900 employees.

STAMFORD, CT-American Express Corp., has officially put the space it had leased in Stamford shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, on the market for sublease.

WHITE PLAINS-Two years ago, Metromedia Fiber Network made a major splash by signing an 80,000 sf lease in downtown White Plains. Today, the digital communications solutions firm, awash in debt, is bankrupt and trying to chart a new course towards financial stability.