In its first meeting of 2021, the state Bond Commission later this week will vote on millions of dollars worth of loans and grants that would help spur the redevelopment of 460 new apartment units in Hartford.
The funding on the commission’s Friday agenda would shepherd a $100 million Pratt Street redevelopment into its next phase, kickstart the repurposing of a former state office building fronting Bushnell Park and stake a mixed-income apartment redevelopment project near the Colt Armory.
The largest Hartford economic development item the agenda is $13.5 million in loans to help Spinnaker Real Estate Partners redevelop the 55 Elm St. office building into 164 apartments with co-working space and a restaurant.
The pandemic has battered the U.S. retail sector, driving bankruptcies and store closures to record highs.
That’s translated into some big, empty storefronts, and left real estate owners scratching their heads about how best to fill them. At two prominent Greater Hartford retail properties that are coincidentally right across the street from each other, new office space may be the desired solution.
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Marty Kenny
Brokers for the owners of the Corbin Collection shopping center in West Hartford and recently shuttered Lord & Taylor store at Westfarms mall just over the border in Farmington are working to find tenants who would repurpose tens of thousands of square feet of vacant retail space into office space.
Investors betting on Hartford: Pratt Street developers acquire major stake in four downtown apartment buildings; more retail a priority courant.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from courant.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Parking magnate Alan Lazowski has acquired a 50% ownership stake in four large Class A apartment buildings in downtown Hartford.
Lazowski, head of LAZ Parking and LAZ Investments, partnered with longtime realty development partner Marty Kenny to purchase the stake from Jeffrey Ravetz of New York-based Girona Ventures.
The deal includes Spectra Plaza at 5 Constitution Plaza, Spectra Pearl Main at 101 and 111 Pearl St., and Spectra Park at 100 Trumbull St., which contain a combined 554 mostly market-rate apartment units.
Financial terms of the ownership shake-up were not disclosed, but Lazowski said that Joseph Klaynberg will maintain his 50% stake in the properties, three of which were 90% leased or higher as of November, according to data from the Capital Region Development Authority, which has financed apartment conversions at the properties over the past nine years.