Hartford Business Journal

HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | July 18, 2022 21 POWER 25 REAL ESTATE FOCUS NMLS #402928 When you partner with Chelsea Groton, you get the loan * AND customized support! *Subject to credit approval. chelseagroton.com/growthatbusiness or call 860-448-4295 Alan Lazowski & Martin Kenny Alan Lazowski and Martin Kenny are among downtown Hartford's biggest boosters and investors. Lazowski is best-known as a park- ing magnate but he's increasingly become a major player in downtown Hartford's real estate and economic development scene. Kenny is known as one of the most prolific apartment developers in Greater Hartford. Together Lazowski and Kenny have been a force in helping redevelop downtown Hart- ford and building new multifamily apartments in the suburbs as part of their Lexington Partners real estate development joint venture. Lazowski's corner office moved over a year ago to Hartford's Gold Build- ing at 1 Financial Plaza, which he and busi- ness partner New York realty investor Shelbourne Global Solutions pur- chased in 2019 for $70.5 million. He's also eyeing the potential conversion of his now- empty 15 Lewis Street office building into a boutique hotel. And in December 2020, Lazowski and Kenny acquired a 50% own- ership stake in four large Class A apartment buildings in downtown Hartford, known as the Spectra apartments. They contain a com- bined 554 mostly market-rate units. But the biggest project the duo is currently working on is the $100 million redevelopment of Hartford's Pratt Street corridor, which also involves a partnership with Shelbourne. Once fully complete, the partners say their ambitious redevelopment will count several hundred new or refurbished apartments; 45,058 square feet of retail on Trumbull/ Pratt/Main streets; and about 1,000 parking spaces for resi- dents and shoppers. Besides Hartford, Kenny has also built, or is building, multifamily developments in various nearby towns including West Hartford, Glastonbury, Windsor, Bloomfield and Wethersfield. Another major project the partners are involved in is the $100 mil- lion mixed-use development on a 12-acre Cromwell property formerly home to the Red Lion Hotel. Kenny including lower parking rates and discounted apartment rents, for new office tenants. Things haven't always been easy for Shelbourne in Hartford. This spring, Schlossberg warned of ruinous impacts from the city's recent reval- uation, which increased the market value on three of Shelbourne's four Class A office towers by more than $12 million combined, which could translate into a major tax increase. Alan Lazowski Martin Kenny Shelbourne Global Solution's Hartford holdings include the iconic Stilts Building at 20 Church St., which it bought in 2014 for $44.4 million. PHOTO | COSTAR plans to knock down the hotel to make space for 265 apartments, 24 townhomes and 30,000 square feet of retail. Lazowski and Kenny also aren't afraid to invest outside Connecticut. In April, they paid $71.2 million for 933 apartments in South Carolina and Tennessee. Benjamin Schlossberg Benjamin Schlossberg's New York- based real estate investment and development company Shelbourne Global Solutions has had the big- gest impact on downtown Hartford's commercial real estate market over the past eight years. Schlossberg's firm since 2014 has bought hundreds of millions of dollars in real estate down- town — includ- ing major class A office towers — becoming the center city's most dominant landlord. Its portfolio includes the iconic Stilts Building at 20 Church St., which it bought in 2014 for $44.4 million; the blue-windowed office tower at 100 Pearl St., purchased in 2015 for $36.9 million; and the Metro Cen- ter at 350 Church St., purchased in 2015 for $36.9 million Besides its dominant office space holdings, Shelbourne has been branching out to other property types. It plans to redevelop a portion of the former 12.5-acre Fuller Brush manufacturing campus in Hartford at 3580 Main St., into 153 mar- ket-rate apartments. That effort gained momentum in May when the Capital Region Development Authority signed off on an $8.5 mil- lion low-interest loan for the $36.2 million project. In June 2021, Shelbourne and Waterbury-based Axela partnered to acquire downtown Hartford's Red Lion hotel for $22 million, with plans to spend another $8 million convert- ing the remaining guest rooms into market-rate apartments. Finally, Shelbourne is also one of the partners in the ongoing mixed- use, $100-million redevelopment of Hartford's Pratt Street corridor, which will add hundreds of new or refurbished apartments. More recently, Shelbourne has been trying to find creative ways to bring people back to downtown Hartford. It created a new marketing video to promote the city and is offering significant discounts and perks, Benjamin Schlossberg

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