Hartford Business Journal

HartfordBusiness.com | March 22, 2021 | Hartford Business Journal 13 city of Hartford and his hopes for it. "I could see a Hartford where you have 5,000 to 10,000 apartment units downtown, and that changes the fabric of the city because of all the other services and amenities that come with that." A connected web Lazowski, of course, isn't alone in trying to push a Hartford renaissance. In fact, he's got strong business ties — some forged over the last few years, and others over decades — with real estate investors leading downtown's most prized development projects. For example, he and Martin Kenny have been business partners since the 1980s investing in real estate in Hartford, nearby suburbs and increasingly other growing U.S. markets like Georgia and North Carolina. Most recently, they teamed up to buy a 50% stake in four downtown apartment buildings branded under the Spectra name, which include 554 rental units now valued around $100 million. Spectra's original co-developer Joseph Klaynberg, of New York's Wonder Works Construction and Development Corp., remains half owner of the buildings on Pearl and Trumbull streets and Constitution Plaza. Lazowski and Kenny have also teamed with New York's Shelbourne Global Solutions on the Pratt Street redevelopment. Shelbourne has been downtown's most aggressive investor over the last decade buying up more than $200 million of Class A office buildings and other space for redevelopment. Lazowski and Shelbourne partnered in 2019 to buy the Gold Building for $70.5 million. Together these four investor- landlords control a huge swath of downtown's approximately 2 square miles — including more than 1.6 million square feet of office space; 71,946 square feet of retail space (about 65% of which is currently vacant); and hundreds of apartment units. And in many ways their success or failures — along with a few other developers working to revitalize Hartford like Spinnaker Real Estate Partners, RMS Cos. and Carlos Mouta — will be tightly linked to the city's future prospects. "The partnership of Lazowski, Kenny and Shelbourne is interesting," said Mike Freimuth, executive director of the Capital Region Development Authority, which has funded some of the group's projects. "Lazowski bleeds Hartford and knows most of its nooks and crannies. Kenny has been living the details of this marketplace for quite a while and has a sixth sense about it, and Shelbourne, while new to the area, brings resources that are being applied to opportunities that many others have missed. "There have been hiccups and the task of revitalizing downtown is not for the weary or risk averse," he continued. "But this team, fortified with two local guys, has a unique combination and they're not shying from the task." In recent interviews with the Hartford Business Journal, Lazowski and some of his business partners discussed the pandemic's impact on the city while also updating their progress on a few major projects. COVID-19 was an unforeseen risk that served as a "gut punch" to the city, Kenny said, creating some level of uncertainty. Downtown Hartford, at times, has been a ghost town over the past year as many of its predominantly white-collar workers have operated remotely. That's hurt small business operators like restaurants. Office vacancy rates have also risen. However, Kenny predicts many of those workers will eventually return to the center city — at least for the majority of the work week. And he thinks Hartford actually offers a competitive advantage over larger, more densely-populated cities like New York, which has been hit hardest by the pandemic. Meanwhile, downtown apartment occupancy rates have been resilient, giving developers confidence that the market can absorb more units and that people still want to live in the city. "Post-pandemic Hartford is perfect to live, work and play," Kenny said. "We are not reliant on mass transit to a great degree, which works post-pandemic. We've got plenty of living opportunities, a lot of office space to work with and reuse. The infrastructure that is here is exciting." Shelbourne Managing Member Ben Schlossberg, whose sister Shana runs downtown startup incubator and accelerator Upward Hartford, said he thinks New York City and Boston firms will increasingly view the city as a good expansion opportunity, to be in a less densely-populated region. They might, for example, open a satellite office here. Hartford will need to jumpstart activity in the next few months, Schlossberg said, so Shelbourne is working with other stakeholders on a major reactivation campaign for the spring, summer and fall. Those sentiments were shared by Mayor Luke Bronin during his recent State of the City address. "Like every city across the country, [Hartford] has felt hollow and empty without the energy and cultural life that makes us a city," Bronin said. "This summer we need to bring that back. And I think we need to set a goal: beginning at least in mid-July, Hartford should be alive again with art and music and dance and sports and food every single day and every single evening." Pratt St. project One of the biggest redevelopment projects underway in the city is happening on Pratt Street. Many business, civic and economic-development leaders have long viewed the bricked, Group, goal has been our clients with planning and services for commercial, retail buildings. 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