Hartford Business Journal

34 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | FEBRUARy 20, 2023 2023 POWER 50 fast-all-day The Place 2 Be restau- rants, tells her staff there are two essential things one can't recover — time and opportunity. And the 31-year-old restaurateur is wasting neither. Luari launched her first Place 2 Be restaurant at age 24, in Hart- ford's south end. The ambitious and energetic entrepreneur has expanded through the pandemic, and now has five locations: two in Hartford, one in West Hartford's Blue Back Square, one near Yale in New Haven and another at the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield. Luari has weathered the same supply chain delays, inflation and tight labor market that battered the broader restaurant industry, as well as a fire that put her downtown Hartford location out of commission for months. But she managed to build a busi- ness with a fun, playful and inclusive vibe, and harness its cool factor through a savvy devotion to social media marketing. That's allowed The Place 2 Be to grow its gross revenues from about $3 million in 2018 to a projected $20 million in 2023. In early 2022, Luari announced the formation of The Statement Group, a corporate banner for her TP2B restaurants and other concepts to follow. In 2023, Luari will begin an effort to tap into private equity to fuel her dreams of 50 to 100 restaurants nationally. Luari expects to open RAW, a raw seafood bar at 280 Trumbull St. in Hartford on Feb. 14, Valentine's Day. She expects to open a new bakery – The Bakery by TP2B – in West Hartford's Blue Back Square by early April. Luari plans to open a Dallas loca- tion in May and has signed a letter of intent to occupy a space for another restaurant in Houston. She is also working to secure a Storrs location for yet another The Place 2 Be. Luari hopes to launch two more restaurants in Hartford in 2023, under new concepts. Timing depends on the pace of the property owners' efforts to renovate their buildings. Her success having generated a lot of attention on social and traditional media, Luari has found herself the victim of imitation. Other restaurants are mimicking her aesthetic and even some of her standard fixtures — like clawfoot tubs filled with plastic ball-pit balls. She said she aims to expand her brand into new markets quickly — including Boston's Seaport District, Miami, Atlanta and else- where — before others offer a shallow imitation. "I definitely want to be a big brand," Luari said. "I see the risk in growing cial development in Connecticut in 2022. That is not a title the Massachusetts company is likely to relinquish anytime soon, as large-scale projects continue to move forward and more are slated to launch in 2023. The recession many fear will begin to bite at some point this year isn't going to slow Winstanley's plans, said Adam Winstanley, who runs the family company with his brother, Carter, and their father, David. "We don't use a lot of debt. We mostly use equity," Adam Winstanley explained. "Our investments are for the long term. We own our assets. A lot of the time, building during recessions is a good thing. You start construction in a recession and when you are done you are building into a better economy." Winstanley Enterprises recently leased the last remaining space in the 21-acre Plaza at Burr Corners in Manchester, a property it purchased in 2015. In July, the company launched a roughly $20-million road-building and utility infrastructure project at its 653-acre Great Pond mixed-use development site in Windsor. That set the stage for North- Point Development Group's launch last year of construction on a 530,000-square-foot indus- trial building on land leased from Winstanley. Target has already signed on as a tenant. Adam Winstanley said he plans to break ground in the second half of 2023 on a 188-home rental development in a 30-acre portion of the Great Pond site. This will include a mix of townhouses, duplexes and small- to medium-sized houses, all to be available for rent in a community offering a clubhouse and mix of amenities. Winstanley also hopes to begin construction on an 819,000-square- foot distribution center at 35 Bacon Road in Enfield. The project, to be sited on the former Hallmark prop- erty, was approved by local land-use boards but has been held up by a court appeal from residents who fear negative environmental impacts. Adam Winstanley anticipates that case resolving in the company's favor this year, he said. Gjinovefa "Gina" Luari Gjinovefa "Gina" Luari, founder of the hip, break- conversion of townhouses into 86 apartments along Temple Street in downtown Hart- ford, as well as the conversion of an office building at 99 Pratt St., into 97 apartments above 12,000 square feet of retail space. This year, Kenny expects to complete a $70-million development of 292 apartments at the former Sisters of St. Joseph of Chambery Convent on 22 acres in West Hart- ford. Avon-based Corridor Ventures is the primary investor in that project. The development, titled "One Park," at the corner of Park Road and Pros- pect Avenue, will have a rooftop deck, saltwater pool and community center, along with other amenities. In Cromwell, Kenny and Lazowski are partnered with California-based investment management firm M360 Advisors in a $100-million redevelop- ment of the shuttered and decaying Red Lion Hotel property. The plan is to knock down the hotel and replace it with a mixed-use development of 254 apartments, 20 townhomes and 30,000 square feet of commercial space. The property will offer numerous amenities, including, Kenny hopes, a high-end restaurant. Mouta has been investing in Hart- ford's Parkville neighborhood for decades. Where others saw down- trodden streets and blighted and abandoned factory buildings, Mouta has always seen opportunity. His portfolio of revitalized and repurposed properties include Pope Commons, 360 Main, the Hartford Design Center and the Design Center Lofts. Mouta's $5-million conversion of a former lumberyard building into the Parkville Market in 2020 has drawn widespread praise. The market's success has bolstered hopes for a neighborhood renaissance. The indoor food bazaar hosts rows of food stalls and has become a draw for the area. Mouta is currently working on a multimillion-dollar expansion of the market. He is also working to advance plans for a $72.8-million conversion of the former Whitney Manufacturing site on Hamilton Avenue into 189 apartments and about 86,000 square feet of commercial space. The Winstanleys From completing a 500,000-square-foot logistics center in Enfield to the construction launch of a 500,000-square-foot bioscience tower in New Haven, Winstanley Enter- prises remained a titan of commer- Last year, Salva- tore's RMS Cos. debuted a 270-unit apartment building on what had been a vacant parking lot next to Hartford's minor league base- ball stadium, the recently renamed Dunkin' Park. Salvatore hoped to quickly roll into the second phase of his larger North Crossing development that includes adding a 522-space parking garage and 528 apartments on a lot just southwest of the ballfield. But a lawsuit by Middletown-based Centerplan Cos., a developer previ- ously selected by the city to build both the ballpark and nearby apart- ments, has stalled those efforts. Centerplan contends it was unjustly fired by the city and that it still has legal rights to develop the lots. City officials have expressed confi- dence they will eventually prevail in court, allowing RMS to continue. Salvatore last year also partnered in a plan to rescue the faltering Hilton Hotel in downtown Hartford. Salva- tore is working on plans to transform the 12th through 22nd floors of the hotel into 147 apartments. The Capital Region Development Authority and state Bond Commission have signed off on $11 million in low-interest loans for the apartment conversion, which Salvatore esti- mates will cost up to $18 million. Despite the challenging environ- ment — which also includes pres- sures from rising interest rates, higher materials' costs and supply chain bottlenecks — Salvatore said he remains bullish on the city of Hartford. He said demand for his 270-unit apartment building next to Dunkin' Park has been stronger than anticipated, and the red-hot rental market has led to higher rents than budgeted. "If you build a great product they will come," Salvatore told Hartford Business Journal in December. "I was bullish before. Now we have actual experience telling us that demand has outpaced what I thought it would be, so I'm more bullish now than I ever was about Hartford." Martin J. Kenny & Carlos Mouta Martin J. Kenny and Carlos Mouta are two of Hartford's most prolific developers. Kenny, of Lexington Partners, has helped develop more than 2,000 apartments in 18 significant projects over three decades and shows no signs of slowing. The 66-year-old developer part- nered with his longtime friend and investor Alan Lazowski and real estate giant Shelbourne Global Solutions in the recent $9.1-million Randy Salvatore 38 39 40 Martin J. Kenny David Winstanley Carter Winstanley Gjinovefa "Gina" Luari Adam Winstanley Carlos Mouta

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