RMS Cos. is welcoming the first tenants to its sleek, gray-sided, nearly-finished apartment building that wraps around Trumbull and Main streets on the northern edge of downtown Hartford.
The 270-unit building next to Dunkin’ Donuts Park is among the first installments of Stamford-based RMS’ “North Crossing” development.
RMS President Randy Salvatore said the plan is to eventually add about 1,000 new apartments around the stadium, largely by building on parking and other empty lots.
Q&A talks with Victor W. Nolletti, executive managing director of investments for Institutional Property Advisors, a division of Marcus & Millichap, about the outlook for the multifamily market.
Connecticut’s multifamily market is coming off another hot year. What’s driving demand for apartments?
Nolletti: Rising costs and restrictive regulations in New York state, specifically the five boroughs, ignited a capital flight to commutable markets in and around New York City.
Across from Dunkin’ Donuts Park in Hartford’s Downtown North neighborhood, developer Randy Salvatore began building 270 new apartments last fall and he’s already making plans for the next batch of a few hundred more.
Salvatore, CEO of Stamford-based RMS Cos., brushes aside any suggestion that the COVID-19 pandemic which fueled significant demand for single-family homes has made multifamily property investment more tenuous.
“I remain as bullish as ever about the long-term prospects for Hartford and this development,” Salvatore said in a recent interview. “Time is the most prized possession for a lot of people. They work really hard and they don’t want to be doing yard work on the weekends and going to Home Depot to buy a part to repair the toilet. They want to be able to just enjoy themselves.”