Hartford Business Journal

HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | DECEMBER 1, 2025 7 DE AL WATCH www.borghesibuilding.com 2155 East Main Street Torrington, Connecticut 06790 860.482.7613 Check out our new website! Renovating? Renovating? THE VILLAGE | HARTFORD When quality finishes and an aractive, functional interior are requirements, Borghesi Buildings & Engineering Co., Inc.'s fine crasmen provide the ultimate details. provided Pennrose with a knowledge- able, well-connected entry point into the state. "As a developer we can't be from every- where," Pennrose CEO Timothy I. Henkel said. "So, one of the best ways for us to come to know different territories and regions and states is to see it through a relationship with a partner." Persistence pays off An initial bid from Cloud and Pennrose for the Hartford Housing Authority proj- ects failed. Other potential early projects eyed by the pair also fell through. The partners' first major win came with Jefferson Heights, a 70-unit afford- able senior housing development in New Britain. Completed in 2013, the project was funded with a mix of low-income housing tax credits, developer equity and grants from the city and state. "Slowly, we started to hit some signals and develop a presence," Henkel said. A two-phase, mixed-income develop- ment in Meriden followed. Seventy-five apartments were completed in 2018 and 76 more the following year. Meanwhile, the Hartford Housing Authority reopened the bidding for the 40-acre Westbrook Village redevel- opment and ultimately selected the Pennrose/Cloud proposal. A ceremo- nial groundbreaking was celebrated in June 2019. "It's a great feeling, serving the community in which I was born and raised," Cloud said. Cloud's family moved to Westbrook Village in 1952, when he was 8. They were one of the first families to move into what, at the time, was a newly built community. For Cloud, it was a "wonderful" place to grow up. He learned to play basketball on the Westbrook courts. He pitched for a Little League team drawn from the complex. He fished in, and skated on, the nearby Park River — known to locals then as "Hog River." By the time the Pennrose/Cloud team was picked to redevelop the Westbrook Village site, much of the complex had fallen into extreme disrepair. Only about a quarter of the 360 apartments were inhabited. The Pennrose/Cloud team has since demolished Westbrook Village's 80 build- ings and completed the first five phases of the redevelopment, adding 318 units. Another 77 units in two additional phases are nearing completion. The developers are also seeking commercial tenants for a planned 100,000-square- foot retail component along Albany Avenue, where they hope to land a grocery store as the anchor, Cloud said. Busy pace Cloud and Pennrose continue to advance new development efforts across Connecticut. In May, the partners began a $52.8 million redevelopment of two vacant, century-old former state office buildings in downtown Hartford, just off Bushnell Park near The Bushnell Performing Arts Center and state Capitol. The project is slated for completion in early 2027 and will create 104 apartments, including 21 designated as "affordable." It took nearly four years to assemble a financing package for the redevelop- ment, resulting in a mix of public and private funding, developer equity and multiple grants. KeyBank provided a $9.5 million loan. In late October, the two companies broke ground on another major project: an approximately $80 million develop- ment on a 7-acre former industrial site in downtown Naugatuck. Plans call for 180 apartments and 7,000 square feet of commercial space. A second, 45-unit phase is also in the pipeline. Pennrose has created a New England-focused development team in recent years, but Henkel said the company expects its collaboration with The Cloud Co. to continue into the fore- seeable future. While Pennrose often partners with local firms when entering new markets, its relationship with Cloud stands out for its longevity. Elements of loyalty and friendship help cement the partnership, Henkel said, and The Cloud Co. continues to play a significant role in their joint work. "They are still longer experienced in Connecticut than we will ever be," Henkel said. "And there's real capacity there. They are not a big company, but they know what they are doing, and we really rely on one another in really positive ways. We believe in our history together, and I think that has resulted in a commitment to our future together." A rendering of a mixed-use development Pennrose and The Cloud Co. are building in downtown Naugatuck. Timothy I. Henkel

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