Hartford Business Journal

HBJ112723

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HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | NOVEMBER 27, 2023 7 DEAL WATCH: BUYERS & SELLERS Salvatore seeks permit for 473- unit apartment development on RPI's former Hartford campus A s developer Randy Salvatore prepares to restart a multiphase development of roughly 1,000 apart- ments on city-owned lots around Hartford's Dunkin' Park baseball stadium, he is also laying the groundwork for an equally ambitious development nearby. Salvatore, on Nov. 8, submitted a special permit appli- cation to Hartford's Planning and Zoning Commission seeking to build 473 apartments in two buildings, as well as a 507-space parking garage, on the former Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute campus. He estimates a rough project cost of $125 million. A rendering included in his application for the 12.7-acre site on Windsor Street shows a possible full residential build-out that would eventually yield five apartment build- ings with a total of 1,232 units, along with three parking structures supplying 1,310 spaces. However, Salvatore said a full residential build-out is just one possibility. He is also contemplating a mix of commer- cial space and room for nonprofits. Those conversations are ongoing. Planning and complete redevelopment of the RPI campus will take years, he said. Salvatore said he expects to close on the purchase of the RPI campus within 30 days. A rendering showing the possible exterior view of one of the apartment buildings planned for the former RPI campus in Hartford. NEW HAVEN A plan to knock down vacant commer- cial structures and build a new apartment building on Grand Avenue in New Haven has been approved. The development will occur at 873, 887 and 897 Grand Ave. The developer, Moshe Feferkorn and JS Dorothy LLC of Airmont, New York, intends to build a new 112-unit residential building, Grand Avenue Apartments, at the site. It will have five stories of living space with ground- level parking, for a total of six stories. Plans show the new building will have a 1,000-square-foot retail space on the ground floor. Of the 112 units, there will be 66 studios, 38 one-bedroom and eight two-bedroom apart- ments in the 82,000-square-foot building. EAST HARTFORD Online home goods retailer Wayfair is seeking a tenant to sublease half of a 1.2-million-square-foot warehouse under construction at East Hartford's Rentschler Field. Massachusetts-based National Devel- opment broke ground on a 300-acre development site at Rentschler Field early this year. At a ceremony in March, the real estate development company confirmed that Lowe's Home Improvement signed a lease to occupy a 1.3-million-square-foot warehouse, while Wayfair would occupy the neighboring 1.2-million-square-foot building. However, broker CBRE began advertising up to 600,000 square feet of the Wayfair building for sublease in October, with a possible term of one to three years, sources confirmed to the Hartford Business Journal. Wayfair spokeswoman Susan Frechette confirmed the company is seeking to sublease a portion of its East Hartford space "as we grow into our operations in this location." Wayfair, a prominent name in online retailing, announced plans in January to cut 10% of its global workforce as part of a broader cost-cutting effort as persistently high inflation has put pressure on consumer spending, according to Reuters. The two massive logistics buildings at Rentschler Field are nearly complete and expected to receive occupancy permits in the first quarter of 2024. HARTFORD Redevelopment of the sprawling Fuller Brush Co. factory campus in Hartford's North End is set to begin, now that the developer has closed on project financing. Shelbourne Global Solutions has secured financing for the redevelopment's $42.1 million first phase, officials said. It will involve the gut rehab of three buildings on the 12.5 acre Fuller Brush Co. property, at 3580 Main St., which Shelbourne purchased in 2020 for $4.3 million. The first phase will yield 155 mostly one-bedroom apartments in two of the build- ings. The third building will be redeveloped into amenity space. Construction will take about 18 months to complete, officials said. Financing for the project closed on Nov. 9, according to Michael Freimuth, executive director of the Capital Region Development Authority. It includes $22 million in bank loans, $2.1 million in private equity, $6 million in state and federal historic tax credits, and a $1.1 million federal grant provided by the city, Freimuth said. CRDA is also providing an $8.5 million construction loan that will convert to a $6.5 million permanent loan, Freimuth said.

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