Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com • August 19, 2019 • Hartford Business Journal 13 Reporter's Notebook REAL ESTATE Mouta content with revitalizing his old Parkville neighborhood A s downtown Hartford's commercial real estate continues to undergo its greatest transformation in genera- tions, one home-grown developer/ landlord is staying out of the way of the mostly out-of-market investors and their money who are leading the transition. Carlos Mouta, born and raised in the city's ethnic Parkville neighborhood, says he's happy to see the conversion of aged, outdated office buildings into bright, digitally connected living spaces. But he says he's also in no hurry to mix it up with developers reshaping the city's central core, where relatively high property values mean equally high property taxes. "I'm happy developers are downtown. The more the better,'' Mouta said recently on the grounds of his latest development, to turn an old, vacant for- mer ladder warehouse into the Parkville Market, a casual-dining/merchandising/entertainment venue in the South End neighborhood he once called home. "I'm not downtown because there are developers there,'' he added. " … I buy old stuff and I renovate it. That's my niche.'' Though a Glastonbury resident now, nearly all of Mouta's realty holdings and investments are and have been in and around Parkville. Just a short distance from Parkville Market's home at 1400 Park St. and the buildings he owns on either side, Mouta in 2010 refurbished and expanded the tired, '60s-era shopping plaza at 1200 Park St. into Pope Commons, that today houses a food, auto-parts and furniture stores. It also has a Subway sandwich shop and real estate office. Across Park Street from Parkville Market, Mouta owns and rede- veloped the Hartford Design Center, hous- ing interior design- decorating boutiques and 56 loft apartments. In the same block, Mouta is converting his former Hartford Plumbing Supply building into 30 mar- ket-rate apartments. Next door, Hands on Hartford, too, is pre- paring to erect afford- able-housing units. On downtown's southern fringe, Mouta extensively renovated his Adrian Apartments, 360 N. Main St., to include Hartford's first "micro-units'' — apart- ments sized and rented less than typical units. Mouta got the idea during one of his overseas trips — a frequent source of inspiration for him. An avowed "foodie,'' he admits his vision for Parkville Market is a riff on New York's Chelsea Mar- ket, his favorite destination during Big Apple visits. His vision for Parkville Market is just as grand. It includes gutting and upgrading the century- old, 20,000 square-foot building and carving out some 40 stalls — sized from 200 to 400 square feet — to house a variety of full-time and aspiring restaurateurs and weekend chefs. Fourteen of the stalls on the ground floor will have adjoining outdoor space to seat their pa- trons. Others will be available as month-to-month spaces to encourage "pop-up'' restaurants and produce and merchandise vendors. Music and other live entertainment will be another regular offering, Mouta said. Eventually, when all the stalls are leased, Parkville Market's vendors could provide as many as 200 full- and part-time jobs, on top of the dozen or so of his staff Mouta will assign to oversee the venue. Mouta says the one thing the Parkville neighbor- hood lacks is a butcher shop. Growing up, Park Street, generally bounded by Prospect Street, on the Hartford-West Hartford border, and Pope Park, sparkled with the sights, sounds and smells of the ethnic shops hugging the strip. He's still optimistic for the city and Parkville. "We think in five years Parkville will be in a good place,'' Mouta said. "It takes time. You have to be committed. It's coming.'' DEAL WATCH CityPlace I's landlord, Slalom showcase space In the four years since buying Connecticut's tallest skyscraper, Boston investor/ landlord Paradigm LLC has patiently but intently built up occupancy at CityPlace I in downtown Hartford. Among tenants who have lifted occupancy of the tower's 884,000 square feet of rentable space are newcomers consultancy Slalom LLC and management consultants Robert Half International, both of whom relocated from the nearby 100 Pearl office building. Slalom's 10,500 square feet, housing as many as 140 staffers on the 32nd floor, has emerged as a showpiece to existing and prospective CityPlace I tenants for how interior layout and design touches, such as ample natural and artificial light, colorful, functional furnishings, and installation of "cellphone booths" to curtail noise, can be blended into attractive workspaces. Hartford's Infinity Group designed Slalom's interior. Paradigm President John Caldwell said the landlord listened closely to what Slalom and Robert Half wanted in their new spaces, and worked hard to accommodate them. It's part of Paradigm's effort, Caldwell said, to be more of a "services provider'' than just filling office space. For instance, Seattle- based Slalom, a transitional- business and organizational- change consultancy, needed more than the 4,800 square feet it occupied for five years at 100 Pearl, to accommodate its growing staff, said General Manager Jim Goldschlager, a Bloomfield native. "We wanted to build our space for clients, too, and community organizations,'' Goldschlager said. "We use our space in a way that has little to do with work. We want our space to be inspirational … to create good ideas … ." Paradigm regularly tours tenants and prospects through Slalom's quarters, which also feature exposed ceilings, a "milking'' room for mothers, and a game room with a shuffleboard table. Paradigm also has redesigned its three-story atrium and recruited Cosi sandwich shop earlier this year. "It was a nice confluence of their vision and our vision,'' Caldwell said. $367K Meriden church sale A Hamden non- denominational congregation has acquired the former Iglesia Hermanos Unidos Church property in Meriden for $367,500, brokers say. Hamden's King's House Church acquired the 17,981-square-foot sanctuary on 0.6 acres at 410 Colony St., said buyer's broker Press/ Cuozzo Commercial Services of Hamden. Mikasa Realty represented the seller. Gregory Seay | gseay@HartfordBusiness.com Real Estate, Economic Development/Construction, Banking & Finance and Manufacturing Consultancy Slalom LLC made downtown Hartford's CityPlace I its home. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED Hartford developer Carlos Mouta and daughter, Chelsea Mouta, on the ground floor amid construction of their planned Parkville Market food plaza, which is set to open by yearend at 1400 Park St., in the city's Parkville section. HBJ PHOTOS | BILL MORGAN 410 Colony St., Meriden. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED

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