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6 Hartford Business Journal • November 19, 2018 • www.HartfordBusiness.com Reporter's Notebook Gregory Seay | gseay@HartfordBusiness.com Real Estate, Economic Development/Construction, Banking & Finance and Manufacturing COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE East Hartford's towering 111 Founders Plaza gets a refresh F or 46 years, East Hartford's 111 Founders Plaza office tower has stood as the tallest building immediately east of the Con- necticut River. The Travelers Cos. and former Con- necticut Bank & Trust were among its lead tenants when the edifice opened two years after the 1970 debut of adjacent 99 Founders Plaza. 111 Founders housed the bank's data-processing operation. It also was the first home for a fledgling architecture firm, Amenta Emma Architects, hired by CBT to redesign some of its interior spaces. CBT later was absorbed into former Fleet Bank, now Bank of America, and many of the original tenants, including Amenta Emma, have moved on or gone out of busi- ness. Yet, 111 Founders Plaza survives. Now the building is trying to appeal to a new generation of tenants as it undergoes a refresh and looks to fill empty space vacated by several big employers in recent years. "It's got nine lives,'' said Tony Amenta, co- founder and principal of Amenta Emma Archi- tects, which, ironically, has been hired to over- see an extensive exte- rior and interior facelift of the skyscraper. Landlord Merchants 99-111 Founders LLC is being advised on the project by lease broker Tom York, of Goman + York Property Advisors LLC in East Hartford. Having recently got- ten its first fresh coat of exterior paint in 25 years, the renova- tion team has turned attention to upgrades underway to the lobby- entryway. A new security/visitors' station is being added, along with fresh wallcoatings and flooring. The first-floor cafeteria, a key amenity for the building's tenants and their guests, is being remodeled and a portion of its square footage is being glass-partitioned into meeting or gather- ing space. The aim, York said, is to satisfy tenants' need for useful, shared space beyond their leased real estate. The upgrades, too, are part of the land- lord's and York's near- term plan to lift 111 Founders' occupancy rate back into the 90s. The building in recent years has lost several high-profile tenants, among them administrative offices for Connecticut Chil- dren's Medical Center and CareCentrix, both of which relocated to downtown Hartford. Today, Jefferson Radiology, 1st Alliance Lending and Masoni- care are its lead occu- pants, York said. Future development? Meantime, as 111 Founders deals with revolving tenancy and a renovation, its surrounding acres of free park- ing is being eyed by its landlord, the city of East Hartford and Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA), for potential development. The list of possible developments is long and not yet set. But York and others point to its proximity to East Hartford's riverfront park and sweeping views of downtown Hartford — a 10-min- ute walk across The Founders Bridge — as attractive amenities to any east-of-the-river development. One option includes building a parking garage to free acres of surface parking to development. CRDA is advising the city of East Hartford in those talks with Founder's Plaza's landlord. In recent years, acreage adjacent to 111 Found- ers was redeveloped as a Hampton Inn. DEAL WATCH Glastonbury building sold at $425K A half-century-old Glastonbury commercial building has sold for $425,000, brokers say. Contractor Christopher Gonsalves, owner of Millstream Construction LLC, bought the building at 255 Williams St., near Route 17 and New London Turnpike, from John J. Longo of Glastonbury, and plans to renovate it for office space, according to seller's broker O,R&L Commercial. Tenant LaBella Salon will remain, brokers said. Starling's Bristol med-office lease Starling Physicians Ophthalmology has leased about 4,891 square feet of medical-office space in Bristol. Starling leased the formerly vacant retail space at 1235 Farmington Ave., from landlord Julian Enterprises. O,R&L Commercial represented Starling Physicians. BANKING & FINANCE 5.5% of CT households lack a bank account Connecticut banks looking for new customers may want to tap into the state's unbanked and underbanked populations. According to a recent analysis by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., 5.5 percent of Connecticut households don't have a bank account, while 15.3 percent are underbanked, meaning they have an account at an insured institution but also obtained financial products or ser- vices outside of the banking system. Nationally, 6.5 percent of U.S. households are unbanked, while 18.7 percent were underbanked, FDIC data show. Unbanked % Underbanked % Year of CT households of CT households 2013 5.9 14.2 2015 6.2 14.9 2017 5.5 15.3 Source: Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Other East Hartford developments While 111 Founders Plaza gets a facelift, its hometown is considering, or in the middle of, other potential developments. The Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) is working closely with the town, Pratt & Whitney, Goodwin College, and others, to redevelop the Silver Lane corridor — a major boulevard linking the town to Hartford and Manchester. CRDA also aided East Hartford in unsuccessful talks to buy the 26- acre former Showcase Cinemas site fronting I-84 East, where the town once hoped to land a casino. CRDA was expected to advise East Hartford about redevelopment options for the property. Meantime, possible development around Rentschler Field still remains an uncertainty. In March, Illinois developer Horizon Group Properties Inc. officially announced it was pulling out of a $105 million, 70-store Outlets Shoppes at Rentschler Field development, in the shadow of Pratt & Whitney's main campus. 255 Williams St., Glastonbury. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED 1235 Farmington Ave., Bristol. 111 Founders Plaza, East Hartford. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED