Hartford Business Journal Special Editions

7 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | NOVEMBER 15, 2021 DEAL WATCH Wonder Works has completed 17 developments at a combined cost of more than $773 million in New York since 2016, the company said. Klaynberg said he retains an ownership stake in about half of those projects. Wonder Works and Girona Ventures got their start in Hartford in 2012, buying a long-vacant, 250,000-square-foot hotel on Constitution Plaza for $500,000. It was remodeled into 193 apartments in a $23.6 million project that wrapped in 2016. Wonder Works and Girona subsequently remodeled two decaying Pearl Street office buildings into modern apartments. They also purchased and remodeled the former Trumbull on the Park apartment building. Klaynberg said he was drawn to Hartford by bargain prices. Lower purchase prices resulted in development costs of about $250 per square foot in Hartford versus $800 in New York City, he said. State and local governments have come through with loans, tax credits and tax breaks. Beyond that, officials have been extraordinarily accommodating, Klaynberg said. "Everyone was assisting in a great way," Klaynberg said. "The mayor when we came here for the first time – Mayor [Pedro] Segarra at that time – actually drove us around the city, showing us everything. It was really impressive." Klaynberg is bullish on Hartford's prospects, despite mixed signals coming out of COVID-19. Klaynberg said he still sees empty city buses, but restaurants have reopened, and apartment occupancy rates have rebounded. Retail spaces within Spectra buildings are also beginning to fill. A fitness studio has signed a lease for one of three retail spaces in one apartment building at 111 Pearl St. Another tenant has signed a letter of intent to put a coffee shop and liquor store in another. Michael Freimuth, executive director of the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA), said Klaynberg was "an early pioneer" for the Capital City's downtown. "He kind of set the mark, showed people how it could be done, that it could be done," Freimuth said. "He was part of the team that came in early. In one sense, his importance lies in seeing the opportunity early." The CRDA has lent $18.1 million to projects involving Wonder Works since 2016 and is scheduled to oversee $10.6 million in city redevelopment funds scheduled to assist in redevelopment of the firehouse and municipal building. Since its creation by state lawmakers in 2013, CRDA has lent out $137 million to help finance the creation of 2,375 apartments in Hartford's downtown, Freimuth said. By Greg Bordonaro gbordonaro@hartfordbusiness.com National lender KeyBank is trading spaces in downtown Hartford, the Ohio-based lender confirmed to Hartford Business Journal. The subsidiary of KeyCorp, which entered the Connecticut market in 2016 with its purchase of First Niagara Bank, said it has signed a new 10-year lease to occupy 7,265 square feet of space at Goodwin Square. It plans to move employees there by April 2022. The company will be vacating about 9,525 square feet of space it occupies at 100 Pearl Street and moving some business banking employees currently located in Manchester to Hartford, according to KeyBank spokeswoman Karen Crane. Crane said the "new buildout will support our return to office strategy KeyBank moving downtown Hartford office to Goodwin Square to accommodate a flexible workforce. The space will become a hub for the market by centralizing our consumer, middle market, business banking and private banking teams currently split between 100 Pearl Street and our office in Manchester into one location and providing new collaborative areas with improved technology for our employees to better serve our clients." Crane said the space is being designed to accommodate both dedicated and shared workspaces for mobile employees whose roles don't require them to be in an office five days a week, or who travel frequently between KeyBank locations. It could host anywhere from 20 to 35 people on any given day, plus will have conference space for larger gatherings, she said. In October, HBJ reported that law firm Updike, Kelly & Spellacy would also be moving from 100 Pearl Street, which is owned by prolific downtown Hartford landlord Shelbourne Global Solutions, to the 336,336-square-foot Goodwin Square, whose other tenants include Infosys and People's United Bank. Hartford HealthCare has become the anchor tenant of 100 Pearl, signing a 100,000-square-foot lease with plans to move 700 to 800 employees there, including its C-suite. Goodwin Square office tower in downtown Hartford. PHOTO | COSTAR Occupancy in those apartments dipped to "the mid- to high-80s" last year, Freimuth said, but has since rebounded to above 90%. There were roughly 1,000 apartments in downtown Hartford before CRDA's launch, and there are about 400 more in various stages of planning or construction, Freimuth said. But there is still plenty of room to grow. "We think we need about 5,000 to start driving retail and restaurants,'' Freimuth said. "So, we are still, by that math, about 1,500 units shy of reaching that threshold." Wonder Works' Spectra apartments include modern amenities and views of downtown Hartford. PHOTOS | CONTRIBUTED

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