Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com • December 9, 2019 • Hartford Business Journal 3 860.871.1111 Toll Free: 800.741.6367 nemsi.com MECHANICAL | ELECTRICAL | PLUMBING | SHEET METAL | BUILDING AUTOMATION | FACILITIES SERVICES License #'s: E1-0125666 S1-302974 P1-203519 F1-10498 SM1-192 MC-1134 SUSTAINABLE FACILITIES COMPETITIVE. EFFICIENT. PRODUCTIVE. The company that builds and installs the critical systems in virtually every type of facility is the same company you can rely on to maintain them. For over 50 years, our clients have trusted us to provide sustainable, more efficient, greener facilities. We're experts in: Energy Systems & Incentives, Building Automation Technologies, Sustainable Design & Operation NEMSI HBJ_QtrPg Ads_191009.indd 1 10/9/19 4:20 PM By Sean Teehan steehan@hartfordbusiness.com A chic new four-story, 131- room Glastonbury hotel set to open in 2021 will add lodging options to a town that plays host to many business travelers. More importantly, the AC Hotel by Marriott at 75 Glastonbury Blvd., will fill the last vacant space in Somerset Square, a popular and successful mixed-use development built in the mid-1980s that also includes a shopping center, office space, Hilton Garden Inn Hotel and Homewood Suites Hotel. Somerset Square is Glaston- bury's second-largest taxpayer, according to the town's grand list. "It pretty much completes the area," said Glastonbury Town Manager Richard John- son. "It's the last vacant parcel in Somerset Square. The hotel rooms will help support our local business travelers." The hotel will also include a 25,000-square- foot function hall for events. The two hotels currently located in Somerset Square are the only ones in town, and are consistently booked to capac- ity, especially during the week, said Ned Carney, vice president of Bridgewater, Mass.- based The Claremont Co. Inc., which is developing and will manage the Marriott property. That's likely because the Hilton and Homewood Suites (which Cla- remont also owns) are just about 12 miles down Route 2 from Hartford, an area of Glastonbury attractive to out-of-towners visiting for busi- ness, Carney said. "I think a lot of the weekday [hotel] business is the busi- ness traveler who probably is conducting business in the Hartford market, but likes staying in Glastonbury for the walkability and upscale res- taurants there," Carney said. AC Hotels, which has operated as a subsidiary of Marriott International since 2011, differs from Marriott's more traditional hotels mostly in pre- sentation and amenities. The rooms feature sleek European-inspired furni- ture, art and hardwood floors, and the kitchen and bar offer upscale snacks like imported hand-cut prosciutto, sig- nature cocktails and tapas, according to AC Hotels promotional materials. "The brand has been gaining a lot of momentum over the last five years," Carney said. "Millennials seem to be attracted to the brand, it's a modern kind of hotel." While the hotel site has remained vacant for decades, it wasn't ig- nored by the town, Johnson said. Before the AC Hotel proposal, Glastonbury approved Claremont's plans to build apartments there in 2017, about a year after the com- pany bought the 2.88-acre site for $3 million. That project never materialized, nor did a proposal to develop an assisted-living facility. But the addition of the hotel in an area with low vacancies, should bring into town more travelers who will spend money at local restaurants and shops, Johnson said. The new building will compliment wide-scale renova- tions of nearby commercial buildings over the past six years. "We have new construction, renova- tions and buildings that are outdated and being replaced by new buildings throughout our community," Johnson Up Front Continued on page 4 >> TOWN PROFILE: GLASTONBURY After three decades, hotel will fill last piece of Somerset Square's development puzzle RENDERING | CONTRIBUTED A rendering of the AC Hotel, which will be built on the last vacant space in Glastonbury's Somerset Square. Richard Johnson, Town Manager, Glastonbury Ned Carney, Vice President, The Claremont Co. Inc.

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