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30 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | JUNE 12, 2023 POWER 25 | REAL ESTATE the Sage Allen rental townhomes in downtown Hartford into 86 apartments, as well as conversion of nearby office buildings on historic Pratt Street into more than 100 apartments. Challenges have come in 2023, as borrowing costs surged and building supply delays continue globally. But Lazowski and Kenny are keeping busy. Lexington continues to recruit tenants and outfit first-floor retail spaces for the Pratt Street buildings, as well as its 554-unit downtown Hartford Spectra apartments portfolio. Kenny and Lazowski are partnered to transform a vacant historic courthouse off the scenic central green in down- town Litchfield into a 20-room boutique hotel, with an upscale restaurant. Lexington, with Lazowski's backing, is also working to move forward an estimated $100 million mixed-use redevelopment of a 12-acre former Red Lion Hotel property in Cromwell. Town officials had signed off on a plan to knock down the abandoned hotel building to make way for 265 apartments, 24 townhomes and 30,000 square feet of retail. Kenny said designers are revisiting plans to mitigate rising costs, delaying the project's start. Kenny said a tax abatement plan also needs to clear the town council. "We are just looking at ways to bring down the construction costs right now," Kenny said. "That's something we always do, now even more so." Michael Belfonti O ver three decades, Belfonti Cos. has owned and managed more than $2 billion in real estate. Today, it has some major projects ongoing or pending in Connecticut and elsewhere, including an estimated $60 million-plus redevelopment of the former Ames headquarters site in Rocky Hill, a long-awaited venture. Ames stopped operations there in 2002, and its 225,000-square-foot headquarters and distribution building for years went to ruin and decay. CEO Michael Belfonti has pushed forward with a plan to knock it down and build a mixed-use community on the 12.1-acre site, including more than 213 apartments in nearly a half-dozen buildings, along with thousands of square feet of mixed-use space. The project, recently dubbed "Nelson Row," has officially broken ground and will take 2.5 years to complete, Belfonti said. Belfonti has focused on Connecticut commercial and residential devel- opment but has strayed outside state lines. His company is currently partnered with global real estate firm Hines and Bridge Investment Group on a 209-unit, premium apartment development just outside Boston. Also in Connecticut, he's developed The Landon apartments in Cromwell and Hunter's Chase Condominiums in Litchfield. One of the company's latest poten- tial projects is a 500,000-square-foot medical and life sciences devel- opment called "HealthTech Park" planned for a 120-acre property bordering I-95 in Branford. Belfonti Cos. currently co-owns the land with A. Secondino & Son Inc., and the co-developers are Ryan Companies US Inc. and Connecti- cut-based Henrich Partners LLC. Michael Frisbie & Abdul Tammo D evelopers Michael Frisbie and Abdul Tammo grew up more than 5,000 miles apart in different corners of the world, but have formed a family-like partnership behind a rapidly evolving line of service stations set for explosive growth. Over the past decade, the partners have built or refurbished a dozen gas stations under their Hartford-based Noble Gas Inc. brand, aiming to offer clean and friendly service that is a cut above the competition. Now, they are building a new generation of larger service centers with more amenities, designed to accommodate future driving and consumption habits. The centers will blend traditional offerings with a high-end deli, quality coffee and ice cream shops, latest-generation electric vehicle chargers and more, with indoor seating and outdoor picnic areas furnished with aesthetic gas stoves. The first three developments — with a combined cost north of $30 million — are scheduled to open