Downtown Hartford’s major office buildings remain relatively deserted compared to pre-pandemic times, which creates potential problems for building owners.
“It makes it harder to lease additional space because it looks like a ghost town,” said Gary B. O’Connor, a commercial real estate attorney at Pullman & Comley. “[Owners] want the tenants to come back.”
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Gary B. O’Connor
Hartford’s largest office landlord, Shelbourne Global Solutions, certainly wants its tenants to start beckoning workers back to the workplace as soon as possible, said Benjamin Schlossberg, managing member of the New York-based realty company.
“We need to keep our buildings full, occupied and vibrant and it’s hard to do if people aren’t at work,” Schlossberg said. “For us it’s a real urgency.”
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Downtown Hartford apartment building 777 Main St. has partnered with San Francisco-based carshare company Getaround, which now has three vehicles on the property available for short-term rentals.
Developer Bruce Becker, who converted 777 Main St. from office space into a 285-unit residential building, said the deal with Getaround places three cars a Volkswagen Tiguan, Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V in three desirable parking spots across from the Old State House building. It is a program that I think will be great for our own residents and also for the larger community of downtown Hartford residents and beyond, Becker said Wednesday morning.
Bradley International Airport wants to expand its leisure travel offerings as an increasing number of newly COVID-19-vaccinated people itch to take vacations they’ve postponed for more than a year.
That’s a shift for the Windsor Locks-based airfield, which has long depended on business travelers for the majority of its business.
In fact, about 65% of Bradley’s customers have traditionally been business travelers. But that was before the pandemic.
As the tourism industry looks to rebound from COVID-19 this spring and summer, business travel, both in Connecticut and around the globe, is expected to make a much slower comeback as companies think twice about hosting large or even small gatherings, or sending their employees to meetings and conventions.