Hartford Business Journal

6 Hartford Business Journal • April 22, 2019 • www.HartfordBusiness.com Reporter's Notebook Gregory Seay | gseay@HartfordBusiness.com Real Estate, Economic Development/Construction, Banking & Finance and Manufacturing REAL ESTATE New Jersey landlord bullish on W. Hartford's luxury apartment scene P erched atop a hill fronting West Hartford's Farmington Avenue, with a view of down- town Hartford's skyline, sits four multifamily brick buildings that comprise The Packard. Described by owner-landlord CS Investments as the town's first luxury apartments, The Packard and its 74 units are a reflection of both the town's and region's evolved housing scene during the near century since doors opened to the buildings first units. Purchased for just under $8 million in Aug. 2016 by New Jersey-based CS, which owns and operates hundreds more luxury and mid-range apart- ments in Hartford, Simsbury and Me- riden, The Packard has since under- gone a $2 million renovation of each of its units and common areas, including a resident lounge and fitness suite. Earlier this month, CS announced that it and a Canadian financier paid $12.2 million to acquire another pair of West Hartford apartment buildings — 46-unit former OakWood Apartments, 43-51 Caya Ave., and 63-unit former Park Place West, 158-160 Newington Road. CS also said it plans to spend $1 million more on upgrading the combined 109 units and common areas in both. CS also owns properties in and around Hartford, but The Packard was the land- lord's first West Hartford play, said CS Operations Director Jacob Reiner. "It has good opportunity," Reiner said of West Hartford's attraction. "The town is on the upswing.'' He pointed to The Packard's proxim- ity to bustling West Hartford Center and adjacent commercial-retail hub Blue Back Square. The Packard consists of four gold- hued brick towers. The largest, at 745- 749 Farmington Ave., consists of just 16 units — each with between 2,100 and 2,200 square feet, according to property manager Zuzana Havlickova. Next door, 755 Farmington, a build- ing erected later than The Packard's main edifices, has 27 apartments. East of The Packard's central tower is The Arnoldale, 3 Arnoldale Ave., which is the tallest building with five floors, housing 31 one-bedroom units. The Packard's 21st-century tenants, who pay from $1,395 monthly for a one-bedroom unit up to about $2,500- $2,700 for a two- to three-bedroom unit, have new stoves, microwave ov- ens and new cabinets and countertops, amid the spacious living quarters. Reiner says The Packard's improve- ments led the landlord to raise rents across the board. However, he says its rents are lower than some of the town's newest luxury apartments, among them the newly built Residences at Steele Road and Westgate Apartments. Devel- oper Martin Kenny plans to convert a convent on the West Hartford-Hartford border into a $60 million apartment community with 300 luxury units. Nationwide, apartment rent website RENTCafé pegs West Hartford's aver- age apartment rent for early 2019 at $1,243 a month, $27 more than a year ago. The Greater Hartford's monthly average is $1,268, up $43 from last year. The Packard's tenants primarily con- sist of commuters to Hartford's insur- ance companies and banks, or to sports programmer ESPN in Bristol. But mostly they work at one of the area's three hos- pitals — St. Francis, Hartford Hospital or UConn's John Dempsey Hospital in Farmington, said Havlickova. DEAL WATCH 90 units in E. Hartford's Wickham Gardens fetch $7.5M Ninety condominium units in East Hartford's Wickham Gardens have sold for $7.5 million, or $83,333 per unit, brokers say. North Point Management acquired 49 one- bedroom and 41 two-bedroom units in seven buildings on Wickham Garden's 6.7-acre campus at 1267 Burnside Ave., adjacent to Wickham Park and near the Manchester border, according to exclusive Hartford broker Chozick Realty. Built in the mid 1960s, the property was converted to condos in 1988. However, all but 10 of the 100 units were unsold until the seller, Eagle Capital Group LLC and F. Wild LLC, acquired them in the mid '90s, according to principal broker Rick Chozick. Brizo bows in Rocky Hill Brizo seafood restaurant has opened in about 3,000 square feet of leased retail space in Rocky Hill. Family owned Brizo occupies space at 945 Cromwell Ave., previously home to Mmumbai Spice Restaurant, a spokesperson said. Cold Spring Plaza LLC is landlord. About 20 workers are employed there. Brizo officials say more area locations are planned, but they declined to elaborate. DSS renews in Newington The state Department of Social Services (DSS) has renewed its service- office lease in Newington's Town Line Business Park. DSS re-signed for 28,325 square feet at 30 Christian Lane with landlord Reno Properties II LLC, according to its sole broker and affiliate, Reno Properties Group. DSS provides food-stamp and other social services from the location. Town Line is an 86,000-square-foot, four-building medical-office campus at Kelsey Street and Christian Lane. Loaner bicycles and newly renovated units are among amenities at The Packard apartments in West Hartford. PHOTOS | CONTRIBUTED Wickham Gardens, East Hartford. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED PHOTO | JENNIFER O'SULLIVAN Brizo, 945 Cromwell Ave., Rocky Hill. 30 Christian Lane, Newington. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED

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