Hartford Business Journal

20 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | JANUARY 23, 2023 FOCUS: COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE restaurants — one seafood and another pizza — in New Jersey, and had managed a bar in Manhattan. He was attracted to Connecticut because his sister's family lives in the state. Khan said he and a business partner decided to open in Hartford — rather than Bridgeport, New Haven or elsewhere — because of the city's Hart Lift program, which offers matching grants of up to $150,000 to outfit spaces for new, ground-floor retail and restaurant ventures. Exit Hartford qualified for the maximum grant amount. Khan said he looks forward to the new sports betting lounge because the more dining and entertainment options available in the area, the greater the attraction. "We are just making a bet," Khan said of his investment. "It's a gamble. Hopefully we can bring some life and entertainment to the area." Across the street, the former home of the popular Up Or On The Rocks nightclub was put up for sale late last year as a potential redevelopment opportunity. The 8,800-square-foot, two-floor building at the corner of Allyn Street and Union Place is being marketed as a potential site for a restaurant/ bar, retail, medical office space or residential apartments. Filling the gaps Aaron Gill, an engineering consul- tant and developer who volunteers as vice chair of Hartford's Planning and Zoning Commission, recalled frequenting Allyn Street bars and clubs with his wife shortly after moving to the city from Chicago in 2008. Gill sees the surface parking lots peppered throughout the city as a challenge, especially on Allyn Street. They leave uninviting gaps. He'd like to see infill development bringing more apartments with first-floor retail. "That's one of the worst corridors to think of in the city as far as a waste of space," Gill said. "Surface parking lots are every bit of a blight on a city as a blighted building. And that neigh- borhood is inundated with them. So, until we can fill in those areas, there's naturally a drag on that whole block." Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin said he would like to see the surface parking lots replaced with mixed-use housing. "I think the key to activating Allyn is infill development that increases density and connects that corridor," Bronin said. The biggest surface parking lot in the area — the roughly 2-acre parcel being considered as a finalist location for the new federal courthouse — is jointly owned by Shelbourne Global Solutions, the city's largest land- lord, and Hartford-based business magnate Alan Lazowski. Shelbourne Chief Operating Officer Michael Seidenfeld said his company is looking to "maximize" the property's value, while also consid- ering the needs of the community. Shelbourne sees the lot as the stron- gest contender for the federal court- house, given its easy highway access and proximity to Union Station, which offers rail and bus service. It's a development that would help revitalize the area, Seidenfeld said. "We have previously explored other possibilities for the site, but at this point we are working with the federal government in their process," Seidenfeld said. Another Pratt Street? Lazowski is a major investor in Hartford real estate development and heads one of the largest parking empires in the nation. LAZ Parking manages the roughly 2-acre Allyn Street surface lot. Lazowski said he sees the sports betting lounge as a boon for activity on Allyn Street. He agrees the lot he co-owns should be developed, if not as a courthouse, then as a mix of apartments and retail. Depending on how much land the courthouse needs, it's possible there would be room for additional infill development, Lazowski said. He said the area should be revived like the historic Pratt Street retail district — a nearby brick- paved thoroughfare lined with new shops and upper floors either recently converted, or slated for conversion, into apartments. "That used to be in the mid-80s a very lively street with clubs and restaurants and things like that," Lazowski said of Allyn Street. "I think it could come back and more could be built. …That whole space from the train station to the XL Center should look and feel like Pratt Street." Michael Freimuth, executive director of the Capital Region Development Authority (right), points to the new sports bar and betting lounge under construction at the XL Center. HBJ PHOTO | STEVE LASCHEVER The Union Place apartments within the Allyn Street corridor in downtown Hartford were recently purchased by a New York investor who plans to make upgrades to the complex. PHOTO | COSTAR Remote work trend leads to rise in office sublease availability By Michael Puffer mpuffer@hartfordbusiness.com A move toward remote work has caused demand for office space to shrink dramatically in many markets, feeding into a notable rise in the amount of sublease space available in Greater Hartford and elsewhere. However, opinions about the magnitude of the trend differ among local experts. "If you look at downtown Hartford, there is almost half-a-million square feet of sublease and shadow space available," said Joel M. Grieco, executive director of office brokerage in Cushman & Wake- field's Hartford office. "That is dramatically higher than it has ever been." In the fourth quarter of 2019, about 0.7% of the 7.9 million square feet of office space in Hartford's central business district was available for sublease, according to a report prepared by brokerage firm CBRE. By the fourth quarter of 2021, that had jumped to 3% and it reached 4.6% in the third quarter of 2022, according to CBRE. Downtown Hartford office market snapshot (as of 3Q, 2022) CLASS A SPACE ALL DOWNTOWN SPACE # of buildings 15 39 Total sq. ft. 5.8M 7.9M Available % 29.8% 25.3% Vacant % 24.3% 21% Sublease % 6.3% 4.6% Avg. gross asking rent per sq. ft. $23.36 $22.30 Source: CBRE 3Q Greater Hartford office market report Joel Grieco

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