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32 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | JUNE 24, 2024 POWER 25 | REAL ESTATE Andrew Filler A ndrew Filler has been in the middle of significant Greater Hartford office sales and leases over the past year. Filler is a principal in the Hartford office of commercial real estate firm Avison Young, which is located in the Gold Building in downtown Hartford. Filler also represents Gold Building owners LAZ Investments and Shelbourne Global Solutions, and he's recently helped them land a number of new tenants that have taken over 60,000 square feet of previously empty space. That's boosted the 26-story, 621,900-square-foot Class A office tower's occupancy rate up to 78%. The new tenants include civil and environmental engineering firm Fuss & O'Neill (25,000 square feet), law firm Gordon Rees (14,000 square feet), CARMAC (11,000 square feet) and the Connecticut Health & Educational Facilities Authority (11,000 square feet). Filler also represented Hartford HealthCare in its $14.25 million purchase of a 133,500-square-foot office building in Farmington, at 9 Farm Springs Road, where the hospital system consolidated its nonmedical functions. He also brokered Landmark Partners/ Ares Capital's office relocation to West Hartford from Simsbury, and represented Gengras Auto Group in the $3.15 million sale of its former 30,000-square-foot East Hartford Volvo dealership, at 300 Connecticut Blvd., to Freightliner of Connecticut. Overall, Filler said the post-pan- demic office market remains status quo, "as back to work has been slower than anyone could have anticipated," and there's been an acceptance that a hybrid work week is here to stay. "The trend seems to be for most tenants to take less space and try to move to locations that have easy access to amenities for their employees, like West Hartford Center, where rents continue to rise," he added. "I am hopeful more suburban tenants begin to see the value of being in downtown Hartford and take advantage of the value and amenities we have in the city. I think the opportunity is as the number of people living downtown continues to grow, and UConn has a residence hall in the central business district, that will begin to attract employers to see that Hartford is indeed a vibrant city again." Daniel Klaynberg, Matthew Levy & Evan Levy U pstart developer Daniel Klaynberg has quickly made a name for himself in Hartford, where he and partners are involved in a number of key redevelopment projects. The latest is the potential rede- velopment of a 33,000-square-foot office building near the northern edge of Hartford's Pope Park into 47 apartments. Klaynberg is under contract to buy the 1930-vintage building at 30 Laurel St. from the United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut. The building currently hosts a handful of nonprofits, whose leases expire this year. The project, if it moves forward, is an example of the office-to- apartments conversion trend that has become more popular coming out of the pandemic as companies shrink their office footprints with the embrace of flexible work models. Klaynberg, president of Spectra Construction and Development, learned the construction business at the side of his father, Joseph, a prominent developer in New York City and a partner in the transformation of several Hartford office buildings into apartments. In Hartford, Daniel Klaynberg has partnered with Matthew and Evan Levy, members of a family that has real estate holdings across Connecticut and Massachusetts. Their father, Coleman Levy, is a prominent attorney long involved in Greater Hartford development. Together, Daniel, Matthew and Evan are redeveloping a former downtown Hartford firehouse on Pearl Street and an empty municipal building on Main Street into a mix of apartments and restaurant/retail space. The trio is building 42 apartments in the municipal building at 525 Main St., and 35 inside the former firehouse at 275 Pearl St., with both buildings featuring first-floor retail. The development team is also designing an apartment building for the parking lot next to the municipal building, at 17-21 Wells St. (From left to right) Evan Levy, Matthew Levy and Daniel Klaynberg. HARTFORD BUSINESS JOURNAL SECOND ANNUAL REAL ESTATE FORUM OCTOBER 9 | AQUA TURF CLUB VISIT OUR WEBSITE FOR MORE INFORMATION HARTOFRDBUSINESS.COM