Hartford Business Journal

6 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | JANUARY 27, 2025 DE AL WATCH DE AL WATCH | BUYERS & SELLERS The empty office building at 15 Lewis St., in downtown Hartford, is being eyed for a hotel conversion. PHOTO | COSTAR for the former Red Lion Hotel at 50 Morgan St., near Dunkin' Park. The plan was to spend about $8 million to complete the property's conversion into 260 apartments, a process that had stalled under the prior owner. The Millennium building was placed on a list of properties to be auctioned by the city in mid-2023, with authori- ties saying the landlords owed about $1 million in back taxes. The property was quickly pulled off the auction list. Shelbourne and Axela paid the city $1.85 million on Dec. 26, 2024, settling its property tax debt on the Millennium building, according to a city official. Zach Feldberg, Shelbourne's chief financial officer, said the develop- ment firm and Axela paid more than $2 million to the city with the close of the loan. That included $253,000 for the taxes due this January, he noted. Feldberg also said the conversion of floors four-through-18 into apartments has been completed. Conversion of the second and third floors is expected to be completed by the end of January, as will repairs to an associated garage. More than $19 million in equity has been dedicated to the conversion of the hotel into apartments prior to the new loan, Feldberg said. The part- ners now have sufficient funding to complete the project, he said. Whitney Manufacturing redevelopment Rising construction costs and financing delays have held up by about two years Hartford developer Carlos Mouta's massive effort to transform the former Whitney Manufacturing building in the city's Parkville neighborhood into hundreds of apartments mixed with commercial space. Now, CRDA officials are pushing for a nine-month hold on interest payments for a $4 million loan to Mouta to help finance the project. The money has already been spent on demolition and environmental cleanup at the languishing project site, at 237 Hamilton St. CRDA Executive Director Michael Freimuth said Mouta had anticipated rolling the CRDA loan into permanent financing much earlier. Financing delays mean Mouta is paying interest out of pocket. "The developer has kind of screamed uncle and said we didn't expect the loan to run this long and asked for a break," Freimuth said. Mouta said he's confident of locking down financing in time to launch the redevelopment's first phase this year, perhaps as early as June. Mouta said he's dropped plans to tap state and federal historic tax credits. Those funding sources, he said, would have precluded him from using energy efficient heat pumps and reduced the use of solar panels. Carlos Mouta They would also have forced him to rebuild a rotten wooden-frame portion of the building. Eliminating historic tax credits and their associated requirements cut out about $30 million from the project budget, which now stands around $70 million, Mouta said. Mouta said he has increased the project's apartment count from 235 to 260, and cut back on the planned commercial and amenities space from 80,000 square feet to 45,000 square feet. West Hartford synagogue to undergo $27M transformation into apartments W est Hartford's Housing Authority recently broke ground on a $27 million project to transform a shuttered synagogue into 49 apartments. The Housing Authority, through its Trout Brook Realty Advisors Inc. subsidiary, in December purchased the 28,200-square-foot synagogue, at 1244 North Main St., for $1.6 million. Previously approved redevelopment plans for the former Agudas Achim synagogue call for major demolition and reconstruction, while also leaving the street-facing facade in place. The new building will result in 24 one-bedroom, 23 two-bedroom and two, three-bedroom apartments. Ten units will be rented at market rates. The remainder will rent at various affordability levels. The project — dubbed the Elle at North Main — is being funded with financing from the state Housing Finance Authority, Department of Housing, Town of West Hartford, Department of Economic and Community Development, M&T Bank and Eversource. Construction is expected to be completed by spring 2026. A rendering of the Elle at North Main apartments, at 1244 North Main St., West Hartford. MYSTIC West Hartford-based jewelry store chain Lux Bond & Green plans to open a new store in the seaside village of Mystic in early 2026, following its recent $2.95 million purchase of a downtown property. Lux Bond & Green in November bought two attached retail buildings, totaling 6,742 square feet, at 49-53 West Main St., in Mystic, a village in Groton. The property most recently hosted bookstore Bank Square Books, which moved to a nearby location. Lux Bond & Green launched 127 years ago in Waterbury. Today, it has locations in Glastonbury, Westport, West Hartford, Mohegan Sun and Wellesley, Massachusetts. The Mystic location is a "significant step" in a careful expansion throughout New England, according to Lux Bond & Green. John J. Cafasso, principal at Colliers, represented Lux Bond & Green in the purchase. SOUTH WINDSOR Florida manufacturer HEICO Corp. last summer purchased two divisions of South Windsor-based defense contractor Capewell Aerial Systems. About four months later, in December, HEICO followed up with a nearly $4.2 million purchase of Capewell's headquarters. HEICO bought the 53-year-old, 46,342-square-foot light industrial building on 4.5 acres at 105 Nutmeg Road South. The seller, Arizona-based real estate investment trust Store Capital, paid $3.12 million for the property in 2019. Capewell, according to its website, makes parachutes, descent platforms and other equipment used for airborne and quick-re- lease drops of U.S. and allied military personnel and equipment. It also makes emergency descent devices for cargo and wide-body aircraft. HEICO, in August, announced its flight support group acquired Capewell's aerial delivery and descent devices divisions from Pennsylvania-based Argosy Private Equity. WINDSOR About a month after selling its Enfield facility, window-and-door manufacturer Marvin has opened a new distribution center in Windsor. The Minnesota-based company said its new 185,600-square-foot logistics center, located at 205 Baker Hollow Road, employs 65 people. Marvin said the new space will enhance the efficiency of its distribution network, while providing four times the operating footprint of its previous Enfield facility. In December, Marvin sold its former 48,105-square-foot Enfield property, at 1 Niblick Road, for $5 million. Marvin said it has an expansive dealer network and customer base in the Northeast, and the new Windsor distribution center will serve as a central hub where the company's products will be consolidated, shipped and delivered to customers along the East Coast. Braintree, Massachusetts-based Condyne Capital Partners LLC is the developer behind the logistics building at 205 Baker Hollow Road. The building is part of a larger Condyne Logistics center campus in Windsor. 2025 Projects Continued from page 5

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