Hartford Business Journal

18 Hartford Business Journal • September 2, 2019 • www.HartfordBusiness.com DoNo developer moving to break ground By Gregory Seay gseay@hartfordbusiness.com A t one point, it looked as if developer Randy Salvatore's vision for revamping Hart- ford's Downtown North parcels would be the city's sole redevelop- ment project for some time. But in the aftermath of turmoil sur- rounding the delayed, overbudget con- struction of the downtown baseball park that led to a weeks- long court trial that ended in victory for the city of Hartford and those parcels being released for develop- ment, Salvatore's proposed $200 million DoNo project has some potential redevel- opment company. A trio of landlord-devel- opers with extensive down- town realty holdings have come forward with their $100 million vision to remake the Pratt Street corridor, from XL Center on Trumbull Street to Main Street and including the Talcott Plaza parking garage. Landlord Martin Kenny, Alan Lazowski, founder-CEO of LAZ Parking, and Shelbourne Global, a New York realty investment group, are looking to start their first con- versions of upper-floor office space along Trumbull and Pratt streets into apartments this fall. But Salvatore, who says lawyers on both sides are reviewing final terms of his DoNo lease with the city for its parcels, hopes to have construction crews turning dirt — by yearend, at the earliest — on the first phase of his yet-to-be-named development on Main Street, adjacent to Dunkin' Donuts Park, that will be the site of about a 250-300-vehicle garage wrapped by 200 apartments. Salvatore says he's not dismayed by the scope of the Pratt-corridor makeover, nor that it may be first to break ground. "I think it's all positive,'' he said. "Anytime people are willing to put private dollars into the city, it'll bring more people, more retail and establishments to downtown.'' Meantime, Salvatore says his design team, New Haven's Ken Boroson Architects in collabora- tion with Torti Gallas + Partners, of Washington D.C., a specialist in re- storing historic neighborhoods, has assembled sketches and blueprints for review. Salvatore's firm, RMS Cos., is the builder, he said. Salvatore said he never lost faith in Hartford or DoNo dur- ing the city's contentious lawsuit with the project's former developer, Center- plan Construction, that held up his development. However, he admits that, if the judge had not released Centerplan's liens, it would have thrown the DoNo project into jeopardy. "I always believed the city would prevail and that these properties would be released for de- velopment,'' he said. "I'm as bullish now as ever on Hartford.'' Centerplan's lawyer, Raymond Garcia, previously said his clients would appeal the court's July ver- dict that sided with the city. Salvatore's first realty foray into Hartford was three years ago, with his $5 million acquisition of the then-shuttered Goodwin Hotel portion of the Goodwin Square office-tower property during the skyscraper's 2016 sale. Following an extensive makeover of every one of The Goodwin's room, lobby and restaurant-bar space, the hotel reopened in spring 2017. Salva- tore says the hotel "is doing very well.'' In Stamford, Salvatore says his boutique Hotel Zero Degrees that opened a decade ago is about to un- dergo renovation and a rebranding. In Hartford, Salvatore knows the Pratt-Street redevelopment players, but said they have not approached him about partnering in either their project or his. He acknowl- edged, though, the possibility down the road. Randy Salvatore, Developer Rendering of the proposed $200 million Downtown North redevelopment. problem for downtown for decades. Gottesdiener said Northland, which has grown to $10 billion in the past de- cade by shifting focus away from Hart- ford to major cities like Boston, Austin, and Denver, has invested millions in cash and in-kind services to attract and prop up retail tenants in the city. Gottesdiener, who has been at odds with the city and state, said he is bullish about Pratt Street's future but unsure about the prospects of the recent $100 million plan to revitalize it. "Pratt Street is a jewel, which has the potential to be the corner- stone of Hart- ford's downtown revival,'' said Got- tesdiener, whose realty company also built the Hartford 21 luxury apartment tower adjacent to the XL Center. "Unfortunately, the $100 million 'Pratt Street' pro- posal is muddied by a lack of focus, and is actually three proposals cobbled together, including two ill- advised bailouts of Talcott Plaza and Sage-Allen." He noted that Shelbourne is al- ready on the hook to repair the Talc- ott Plaza parking garage, thanks to a tax-break deal it hatched with the city last year. In exchange for about $1 million in temporary property- tax savings, Shelbourne agreed to buy and pay $3.1 million in back taxes on the Talcott Plaza parking garage and invest $10 million over five years to fully renovate it. Meantime, The Lofts at Main Temple, a 78-unit market-rate apart- ment community built in the former Sage-Allen department store with public subsidies as part of the "Six Pil- lars" project, slipped into foreclosure earlier this year. That building has been owned by 18 Temple Street LLC, which was controlled by prominent downtown developer Marc Levine prior to his death last October. The Pratt Street develop- ment group is ne- gotiating to buy the property from a private investor that bought the mortgage note last year. In response, Lazowski said Gottesdiener "should be ex- cited" because his partnership's vision "is going to create value on Pratt Street.'' Lazowski said his partnership would welcome using Gottes- diener's "talents and strengths'' to reinvigorate the street. Gottesdiener said if there are sufficient public subsidies, they should be used to build multifam- ily units on both sides of Pratt and to attract decent retailers. "The Pratt Street compo- nent, enlivening the street with residential over retail, is a model that is likely to prove very effective and should be expanded to incorporate the north side of the street as well," he said. Hartford landlord/developers Martin Kenny (left), of Lexington Partners LLC, and Michael Seidenfeld, COO of Shelbourne Global LLC, standing on Pratt Street. HBJ PHOTO | GREGORY SEAY Pratt St. project phases Phase 1: 196 Trumbull St. — This building will have 32 apartment units developed in partnership with "Upward Hartford" for entrepreneurs. It will also include 19,000 square feet of retail space. 99 Pratt St. — Six-story building ad- jacent to 196 Trumbull will contain 99 micro apartment units. The ground floor will house restaurants with outdoor seating. There will be a rooftop lounge. Additional retail will be developed to provide a vibrant, urban marketplace environment similar to Chelsea Market and Eataly in New York City. Phase 2: 75-57 Pratt St. — These four adjacent buildings will be a gut-rehab, adding an additional 62 apartment units and 13,457 square feet of retail space. 21 Temple St. — The Lofts at Main & Temple currently has 78 units. The plan is to add 10 new units and remodel the lay- outs. In addition, 42 adjoining townhomes will be re-imagined into 12 townhomes and 84 micro apartment units. Talcott Plaza — The garage will be repaired and reopened, gaining a total of 960 parking spaces for the development. >> High Hopes continued RENDERING | CONTRIBUTED

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