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16 n e w h a v e n B I Z | F e b r u a r y 2 0 2 1 | n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m creation of 285 apartments in a 1965 mid- rise — in downtown Hartford. Within 12 months that $80 million project, at 777 Main St., was fully rented. But it's not just residential developments. Becker seeks projects that are social and environmental game-changers: restoring underutilized historic buildings and trans- forming urban sites to enrich and revitalize communities. Becker's education background helps to inform his world view. Aer undergrad work at Amherst, he attended the Yale School of Management for a joint degree in architecture and business. He has the finan- cial chops to make deals with major players. "I decided that I wanted to be able to control, create and man- age both the business side and the design side of projects and to approach them in an integrated way," Becker says. "Having my hands in both of these disciplines helps me because oen I'll find a design solution that also solves a budget problem, or utilize a financing solution that allows me to address a design and planning priority. My competitive strength is being able to take on projects that wouldn't be possible with the conventional design/de- velopment approach." Matthew Nemerson, who served as New Haven's city economic development admin- istrator under former Mayor Toni Harp, has worked extensively with Becker. "Bruce is a great politician and also a great finance person — but there really is no one else in the state who combines a love of interesting architecture, and also innovative design and construction methodology," Ne- merson says. Moreover, "He's always trying to do things that are green and sustainable." "ere are three architects in the country that do this — become the architect/devel- oper," he added. "What makes Becker the most interesting is he does very few projects — one major one about every five years. He is a new entity — I don't think you could have had a Bruce Becker in the 20th centu- ry, because you would have needed a large group of humans to execute the amount of data to do projects of this scale." Long-term play e Pirelli building, designed by renowned architect Marcel Breuer and con- structed in 1967, is best known for having no third and fourth floors — it seems to defy gravity. Becker plans to transform it into a boutique hotel. Becker purchased the Sargent Drive structure and its 2.76-acre site from Swedish furniture retailer IKEA for the low price of $1.2 million. IKEA owns and operates a vast showroom and retail store adjacent to the Pirelli building, and the deal was the culmi- nation of two years of discussions. Once the headquarters of the Armstrong Rubber Co., the building has sat idle for more than two decades, since 1999. City officials and IKEA have for years sought to have the building — treasured by architecture buffs and preservationists as a one-of-a-kind exemplar of mid-20th-cen- tury Brutalism — preserved and converted into a hotel to meet the surging demand for hotel rooms in greater New Haven. at, of course, was prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, which sent the hos- pitality industry into a tailspin. Becker says the market needs more hotels that satisfy the growing urge for sustainable design and travel, but he understands the industry won't be fully recovered when his new property debuts later this year. However, it's a long-term play, he said. Developer Bruce Becker transforms iconic buildings By Michael C. Bingham PHOTO | GARY LEWIS A re architects "artists"? Well, they create things of beauty. But can they also be business people. Bruce Becker would know. His Westport-based architectur- al firm, Becker + Becker, is widely acclaimed for recent projects in New Haven, Hartford, Norwich and Roosevelt Island, New York. His latest project is giving one of New Haven's most iconic structures a second life — the long-vacant former Pirelli Armstrong headquarters building at 500 Sargent Dr., which he is transforming into a boutique hotel. Fellow architect Duo Dickinson of Mad- ison says of Becker, "e real reason Bruce Becker is changing architecture more than any other practitioner in New England and perhaps America is that he has broken the mold of the near Holy Trinity of those who build buildings: he's the client, builder and architect." According to Dickinson, Becker "be- comes the project." "He raises the funds and does the work, and gets his hands com- pletely dirty," Dickinson says. Becker is known for transforming buildings. In New Haven 11 years ago, he designed the $180 million 360 State Street residential/ retail/parking complex on the long-vacant site of the former Shartenberg's depart- ment store. At 25 stories it's New Haven's second-tallest building and was fully leased within six months aer construction was completed. Becker also recently headed the bold Matthew Nemerson Artistic Vision Duo Dickinson Developer Bruce Becker stands in front of New Haven's iconic Pirelli building on Sargent Drive, which he is transforming into a boutique hotel.

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