Hartford Business Journal

By Matt Pilon mpilon@hartfordbusiness.com I f you're wondering how office environments might change moving forward because of COVID-19, you're not alone. Even commercial property experts aren't exactly sure, but a downtown Hartford-based broker- age firm recently placed its bet. Mark Duclos, president of Sentry Commercial, relocated his commer- cial property brokerage in Novem- ber, moving just a stone's throw away to a larger fourth-floor space at 160 Trumbull St. Despite the extremely short-dis- tance move — Sentry's old office was at 190 Trumbull St. — Duclos said his firm took a long road to get there. Sentry began to search for a new home before the pandemic in prepa- ration of its lease expiring in late 2020. He was pretty sure back then that he wanted something larger and "hip," perhaps in a renovated Class C space with exposed brick and wood floors. When March brought the novel coronavirus, Duclos was ready to scrap his wish list and prioritize space where his 12 to 14 brokers and other employees could remain in separate offices. "The pandemic hit and it all became about private offices," he recalled. He also had bigger concerns, as he expected at the outset of the crisis that the office and overall com- mercial real estate market would be badly damaged. "When we shut our doors on March 12, I can tell you I looked at the future of the commercial real estate market as a big zero," he said. "I didn't think we'd ever do another deal and I didn't know if my ac- counts receivable were any good. It was just 'oh my goodness this is a whole new territory.' " Thankfully, it's turned out to be mostly the opposite, with industrial properties — Duclos' specialty — going especially strong and Hart- ford's downtown office market holding its own. Vacancies are even down from a year ago, according to CoStar, though some area realty experts think there could be major corporate leasing or office-downsiz- ing decisions in 2021 that change the picture. In the end, Duclos said he went full circle on his office vision, returning to the open- space concept, which is what he has in his new 4,500 square feet of space at 160 Trumbull, which has a Santander bank branch on the ground level. The space, which Sentry is renting for $14.75 per square foot, features the exposed brick, wood floors and open floor plan Duclos desired. Brokers are still going to work remotely a fair amount of the time, but when social- ly distanced in-person collaboration is needed, Duclos wanted to have an environment to facilitate it. "We had to pick a horse," Duclos said. "We're betting on the fact that, that type of environment, which is more collaborative and fits our style much better is probably what is going to win out over spaces with a whole bunch of offices in them." "I'm a big believer that coming out of the COVID crisis, this is probably what offices should have looked like going into it," he added. A friendly vision Another consideration for Duclos in Sentry's recent move is that he wanted the right space for creating a more friendly real estate community. "I've always envisioned having a space in downtown Hartford that's a more collaborative space, a space that would be open even to non-Sentry brokers and employees," he said. Duclos sees an opportunity to cre- ate closer ties, even between compet- ing firms. He wants Sentry's new space to be a place for networking, programming and informal interactions too, open to brokers and related professionals like attorneys, accountants, environ- mental consultants and others. The pandemic has made gather- ings more difficult, so the plans aren't fully fleshed out yet, but Duclos has already settled on a name: The REC, which stands for Real Estate Center. "I would like to be in a more collab- orative environment," he said. "That doesn't mean we're not competing against each other, we absolutely are, but we also can leverage our skill sets and ideas by collaborating." REAL DEAL Quality Construction Builds Repeat Customers www.borghesibuilding.com © 2011 BlueScope Buildings North America, Inc. All rights reserved. Butler Manufacturing™ is a division of BlueScope Buildings North America, Inc. 2155 East Main Street • Torrington, Connecticut 06790 Mozzicato Retail, Rocky Hill, CT | 2014 | Renovation — 6,000 sq. ft. Contact us at 860-482-7613 or visit us on the web. Mozzicato Bakery/Retail, Plainville, CT 2010 | 4,700 sq. ft. Farmington Bank, Plainville, CT 2010 | 2,700 sq. ft. www.HartfordBusiness.com • December 14, 2020 • Hartford Business Journal 27 Mark Duclos, president of realty brokerage Sentry Commercial, with his son, industrial broker Chris Duclos, in Sentry's newly leased downtown Hartford office space. Hartford realty brokerage leader Duclos bets on his office vision PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED

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