Hartford Business Journal

26 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | JULY 26, 2021 Paul Brandes P aul Brandes already had major dealings in Greater Hartford, where his fi rm Charter Realty & Development owns and/or operates about a dozen commercial and retail properties, including Farmington's Westfarms Center, Hartford's Front Street District and South Windsor's Evergreen Walk. In May, Greenwich-based Charter, where Brandes is co-principal, raised its profi le in the region by purchasing West Hartford's Blue Back Square, arguably one of the best-known shopping and dining centers in Greater Hartford. The deal turned heads, as Charter and co-buyer Rialto Capital paid just $40 million for the 450,000-square- foot mixed-use lifestyle center, well under the $105 million seller Starwood Capital Group had paid in 2013. Brandes cited challenges with increased vacancies and expectations that there could be more to come if tenants weakened by the COVID-19 pandemic or other factors depart in the months ahead. Brandes and Charter will be tested as they seek to attract strong new tenants to Blue Back, where approximately 27% of the total square footage was available for lease as of May, according to Charter's website. Meanwhile, Charter is working to shore up an elevated vacancy rate at Evergreen Walk, where it recently unveiled plans to build a new Whole Foods supermarket. Nicholas R. Morizio N icholas R. Morizio is another long-time veteran of the region's commercial real estate industry. He's the president of Colliers' Hartford and New Haven offi ces and has been in the industry for 45 years. One of the biggest deals he's been involved in over the last year was representing ParkSite in a 12-year lease in a newly-built, 175,000-square-foot building in East Windsor. Over his entire career, Morizio has been in the middle of some of the largest deals in Greater Hartford, including the sale of three major offi ce buildings in Hartford: the former Bank of America tower at 777 Main St.; the "Stilts" building at 20 Church St.; and the Metro Center at 350 Church St. Aside from being a deal-maker, Morizio has been a leader in the industry, having been appointed a Counselor of Real Estate (CRE) and past president of the CT chapter, and past president of the CT Chapter of the Society of Industrial & Offi ce Realtors (SIOR). He was also a recipient of the UConn Lifetime Achievement Award In Real Estate in 2018, and in 2020 was inducted into the UConn School of Business Hall of Fame. Rohan Freeman R ohan Freeman, founder and president of engineering fi rm Freeman Cos. LLC, is inching closer to the debut of a $26 million project that will redevelop longtime blighted Hartford properties at the corner of Park and Main streets. When construction is completed, the mixed-use development will give rise to 126 apartments and retail space and provide a much-needed boost to Hartford's vibrancy and grand list. Freeman was also behind a $22.5 million mixed-use development proposed for the corner of Woodland Street and Albany Avenue in Hartford, but that project was shelved by city offi cials, who have said they want more market- rate apartments in the area. Freeman, a Jamaica native, in just over a decade has built one of Greater Hartford's largest minority- owned companies specializing in land development, engineering design and construction services. He founded Freeman Cos. in 2009 shortly after summiting Mount Everest. His development company is called 7 Summits Realty LLC. Freeman is a popular motivational speaker, and is or has been a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, U.S. Green Building Council, Construction Institute and Greater New England Minority their offi ce space post- COVID. "In the near term we expect many larger companies to adopt a fl exible workspace, which allows employees the fl exibility of remote working for one to two days per week," he said recently. "As a result, companies will have fewer people in the offi ce day to day and they will reduce their offi ce sizes accordingly." He continued: "Smaller fi rms in the area are already heading back to the offi ce while the larger local corporations are waiting until September 1 before they fully reopen. Many corporations are recognizing the need to return to the offi ce in order to maintain a culture of collaboration, which is diffi cult to fully reproduce through online meetings. In all likelihood, an exclusive work-from-home program will only be available to a small group of employees, while a fl exible schedule will be available to almost everyone." Chris Ostop Nicholas R. Morizio Rohan Freeman FOCUS Power 25 Real Estate Supplier Diversity Council. Larry Gottesdiener L arry Gottesdiener was once Hartford's biggest cheerleader, described in a 2007 New York Times article as "Hartford's Booster in Chief." He espoused the notion of turning the city into a "24-hour neighborhood" where people "live, work and play." He even expressed a desire to buy and bring back to Hartford an NHL franchise and lead development of a new downtown arena. His vision never fully came to fruition, derailed, in part, by the Great Recession, which contributed to Northland losing three of its Class A offi ce towers in downtown Hartford to foreclosure. Northland's main focus turned away from Hartford years ago, but the company is still a signifi cant landlord in the city, controlling key pieces of real estate. Gottesdiener, for example, Larry Gottesdiener stands in front of the Northland developed Hartford 21 luxury apartments. Paul Brandes' Charter Realty & Development fi rm recently purchased West Hartford's Blue Back Square. HBJ FILE PHOTO PHOTO | COSTAR still owns the Hartford 21 luxury apartments on Trumbull Street, which Northland built, and several smaller mixed-use offi ce buildings on Trumbull, Pratt and Allyn streets (Hartford Business Journal is a tenant of the Northland-owned building at 100 Allyn St.). Gottesdiener could also dictate the future development of two key, but underutilized pieces of real estate, including atrium space within the XL Center, which is being eyed as a sports betting venue, and the long- vacant former YMCA building on Jewell Street — both properties are owned by Northland. Paul Brandes

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