Hartford Business Journal

36 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | APRIL 7, 2025 POWE R 50 40 Randy Salvatore R andy Salvatore grew up knowing he wanted to be in real estate, and closed his first rental property purchase before graduating from high school. Today, Salvatore is one of the busiest multifamily developers in Connecticut. In the past few years he's brought his two adult sons, Brandon and Kyle, into the family business to help run Stam- ford-based RMS Cos.' efforts in the hotel and multifamily sectors. As of last November, RMS listed 34 properties in its portfolio, including five boutique hotels in Stamford, Norwalk, Danbury, New Haven and Hartford; as well as an upscale college dormitory in Stamford. RMS has ongoing multifamily projects in Stamford, New Haven, Norwalk and Hartford, along with one more in White Plains, New York. In January, RMS paid $16 million for a 123,000-square-foot downtown Stamford retail building that it plans to knock down to make room for a 280-unit apartment development. RMS' efforts in Hartford have been critical to city leaders' hopes for an economic revival in and around the downtown. Early last year, Salvatore's company finished a $29 million conversion of the top 11 floors of the 22-story downtown DoubleTree by Hilton Hartford hotel, at 315 Trumbull St., into 147 apartments. That followed a 270-unit apartment building RMS completed in 2022 next to Hartford's Dunkin' Park. It was the first phase of a broader North Crossing development intended to add about 1,000 apartment units to city-owned lots around the minor league ball field. RMS is underway with North Crossing's second phase, a 237-unit apartment building and associated parking garage. Salvatore, in 2023, also bought the shuttered 12.7-acre former Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute campus just north of the ballfield, and is working on plans for a large, mixed-use redevelopment. 44 Mike DeLuca M ike DeLuca oversees Connecticut's largest news media company, Hearst Connecticut Media, which has aggressively grown its presence in the state in recent years. DeLuca has held the title of group 41 Max Kothari M ax Kothari, owner of Hartford-based kitchen furnishings maker Express Kitchens, has been making moves. His most recent came in early March, when he purchased a massive and empty manufacturing complex in downtown Bristol for $6.2 million to serve as a distribution hub for his growing business. Kothari bought the 15-acre property, at 18 Main St., from Bristol-based aerospace manufac- turer Barnes Group. It includes a 58,804-square-foot office and ware- house building, and a 224,977-square- foot, one-story manufacturing facility. Kothari plans to use the vacant Bristol campus, which will employ about 50 people to start, as a distri- bution site, with "high-tech" manu- facturing and corporate offices for his Express Kitchens and New Direct Cabinets businesses. He said he also plans to open a roughly 10,000-square- foot retail outlet on-site. Kothari — who also chairs the Hart- ford Chamber of Commerce board of directors — grew his company signifi- cantly in 2023 when he acquired New Jersey-based Direct Cabinet Sales, a deal that also included New Jersey- based Seifer Kitchens and Brook- lyn-based Golden Reiss Kitchens. The acquisition added five show- rooms in New York and New Jersey to Express Kitchens' network of 12 showrooms in Connecticut and Massachusetts. It also added a 165,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Dayton, New Jersey. Today, Express Kitchens and Direct Cabinet Sales have 17 retail locations in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey. In addition to its own retail loca- tions, Express Kitchens supplies cabinets to Home Depot, as well as directly to large developers, including Toll Brothers and Winn Management. 42 Erik Clemons E rik Clemons' company, ConnCORP, is building an ambitious, $200 million, 8-acre economic development project that's designed to do no less than combat poverty in New Haven's Dixwell neighborhood. For Clemons, the move into economic development as a means of uplift was the natural exten- sion of his 20 years of work in the nonprofit sector. He is the leader of ConnCAT, the Connecticut Center for Arts and Technology, currently based at Yale's Science Park. ConnCAT's mission is to inspire, motivate and prepare youth and adults for educational and career advancement through job training and youth programs. It has run highly successful job training programs in phlebotomy, medical billing, lab technician work and, with an 8,000-square-foot professional kitchen, culinary arts. A new headquarters for ConnCAT will be the anchor property in the Dixwell Avenue development. It will also feature a child mental health/family center and day care; 186-unit, mixed-in- come apartment tower; grocery store; and food hall for local restaurants. The second phase is expected to bring a 350-seat performing arts center, 60,000-square-foot office building and up to 15 townhomes. The project has attracted a $16 million grant from the state of Connecticut, a $10 million loan from the William Caspar Graustein Fund and is in the process of closing on a significant bank loan. It has also received donations and philanthropic dollars. Clemons and his team are continuing to fundraise. Clemons is originally from Norwalk, and after a career at the post office, completed his bachelor's degree at Southern Connecticut State University. 43 Jason Sobocinski J ason Sobocinski has been creating food — and restaurant concepts — for many years, but he shot to prominence in the busi- ness world in 2024. Haven Hot Chicken, the New Haven-based fast-casual chain he partnered on, was ranked No. 160 on that year's Inc. 5000, the annual list of the fastest-growing private compa- nies in America. That made the company No. 7 nationwide in the food and beverage category, and No. 1 in the state of Connecticut. Haven Hot Chicken — which Sobocinski created with his brother Tom Sobocinski and Rob LaTronica, Craig Sklar and Etkin Tekin — was also featured on Guy Fieri's "Best Bite in Town" on the Food Network, and was the winner of The Perfect Pitch concept competition at the 2023 Fast Casual Executive Summit. His first entrepreneurial venture was a cheese shop with adjoining restaurant, Caseus Fromagerie & Bistro in New Haven. He has since been involved in Black Hog Brewing, Olmo Bagels, cocktail bar Ordinary and Continuum Distilling. In 2011 Sobocinski starred in the Cooking Channel show "The Big Cheese" and continues to work with the Cooking Channel on cheese specials. Sobocinski holds a bachelor's degree in marketing from Providence College, and a master's degree in gastronomy from Boston University. To see this content on the web, visit: www.HartfordBusiness.com

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