Hartford Business Journal

9 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | JUNE 28 2021 DEAL WATCH ONE LIBERTY SQUARE A Tomasso Property For leasing information, contact Rob Montesi at rmontesi@gomanyork.com or 860.866.7572. BUILDING HIGHLIGHTS: Up to 29,000 SF Available + Owner-Occupied and Managed, Class A Office Environment + Recent High-Efficiency Systems and Security Upgrades + Walkable to Downtown New Britain Amenities + Easy Highway Access, 15 Minutes from Hartford, Middletown, Waterbury and the Farmington Valley CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF SERVING CT AND MA 1971-2021 Industrial manufacturing and distribution facilities, auto dealerships, medical offices, pre-engineered buildings, commercial buildouts, additions and renovations. COMMERCIAL/INDUSTRIAL/INSTITUTIONAL BUILDING SERVICES COMMERCIAL/INDUSTRIAL/INSTITUTIONAL BUILDING SERVICES SITE SELECTION – DESIGN – ENGINEERING – CONSTRUCTION – RENOVATIONS Berkshire Facial Surgery, East Longmeadow, MA 30,000 SF Under Construction Bloomfield, CT BUILDING BUSINESS. BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS. BUILDING EXCELLENCE. Associated Builders Inc. 4 Industrial Drive, South Hadley MA 01075 413-536-0021 | www.abuilders.com have also been "on again, off again" hotel conversations about the former WFSB studio site in Constitution Plaza. "I would think we would get caught up in one of these deals somewhere pretty soon," he said. "But I think for now, everyone is just trying to recover from COVID." Hotel to housing In June, a joint venture consisting of major Hartford landlord Shelbourne Global Solutions and Waterbury's Axela Group acquired the Red Lion hotel at 50 Morgan St. in downtown Hartford for $22 million. The new owners plan to invest another $8 million to complete a stalled apartment conversion at the property, which has been rebranded as The Millennium. Yitz Rabinowitz, vice president at Axela, said the decision to complete the conversion was based on the fact that half of the property was already apartments, and the buyers felt they had to choose one identity for it. Rabinowitz said Axela and Shelbourne had the property under agreement before the pandemic hit. As they explored their eventual investment, they heard several pitches from hotel operators trying to convince them the property was better as a hotel than apartments. "The numbers looked really good, but once COVID hit we thought it was too risky," Rabinowitz said. Both Shelbourne and Axela have more expertise in apartments, and they thought a hotel investment could be more volatile. Still, Rabinowitz says the hotel presentations have stuck with him, and he would explore an opportunity to invest in a Hartford hotel if one came up. "I think hotel rooms are going to be in demand very soon and I think there's a shortage of hotel rooms, so they are going to be very important," he said. In addition to hotel conversions, Freimuth says he also has his eye on potential office-to-apartment conversions, which he expects will mainly impact middle-tier properties, rather than Class A towers, since the former are suffering from higher vacancy rates. "There will be some office conversions to residential in Hartford and maybe even surrounding towns," Freimuth said. "I think it's very possible in East Hartford." If a wave of those conversions crops up, some of the considerations will be the same as with hotels. "Similar to the discussion we have about whether we have enough hotel rooms, you also don't want to wake up one morning and find out you have no office space," he said. Jan. to May Occupancy Room supply Revenue 2018 55.4% 4,378 $98,737,462 2019 56.7% 4,439 $104,848,920 2020 42.5% 4,259 $69,632,962 2021 42.9% 4,287 $53,609,644 Hotels in the Hartford market lost a lot of ground in 2020. Occupancy has leveled off but revenue remains down. Modest hotel rebound Source: STR PHOTO | COSTAR T he longtime owner of one of the very first Whole Foods- anchored properties in Connecticut said it has sold the real estate for $40.5 million. Maryland-based real estate investment trust One Liberty Properties, which acquired the Blue Back Square property and grocery lease in 2010 for $18 million, did not disclose the buyer. Whole Foods first opened the 50 Raymond Road store in 2005. One Liberty put the property on the market several months ago. The reported sale comes less than one month after a Greenwich-based investor acquired the six commercial, retail and residential properties that comprise the 450,000-square-foot Blue Back Square mixed-use lifestyle center adjacent to Whole Foods. Blue Back Square Whole Foods property in W. Hartford sells for $40.5M West Hartford Whole Foods property at 50 Raymond Rd.

• Cover