Hartford Business Journal

HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | FEBRUARY 9, 2026 5 Deal Watch Adam Stark, president of Stark Office Suites, in his company's downtown Hartford office building at 750 Main St. HBJ Photo | Michael Puffer Selective Recovery Downtown Hartford's Stark Building rebounds as small tenants drive leasing activity brokerage efforts. "There's all of these different factors that come into play," Stark said. More street-level activity Downtown Hartford's office vacancy rate has improved incremen- tally since the pandemic, even as it remains stubbornly high. According to Cushman & Wakefield's fourth-quarter 2025 market report, vacancies in the central business district's roughly 7.6 million square feet of office space stood at 31.9% at the close of last year, down about a percentage point from the year-ago period. That's much higher than Greater Hartford's 20.4% overall vacancy rate. Even still, leasing activity picked up last year, with demand in downtown Hartford increasing more than 75% year over year. Total annual leasing across the Greater Hartford market reached 609,000 square feet in 2025, a 14.3% increase from 2024, with higher-tier Class A properties accounting for nearly 68% of deals, Cushman and Wakefield said. City and state officials have directed significant resources toward downtown in recent years in an effort to strengthen the district. State-backed, low-interest loans distributed by the Capital Region Development Authority have supported the creation of more than 3,300 new apartments over the past 12 years. The downtown Peoples- Bank Arena is undergoing a $145 million renovation, and the city has used federal pandemic-relief funds to support the creation and expansion of restaurants and shops. Stark and other downtown property owners say they have seen more street-level activity in recent months as some employers require workers to spend more time in the office. Jolie Swanson, who runs tax, accounting and payroll service firms headquartered in the Stark Building, said she has noticed more activity down- town — including fuller parking garages. For the first couple years after moving into the building in 2021, Swanson said she could typically find a parking space By Michael Puffer mpuffer@hartfordbusiness.com S tark Office Suites paid $4.3 million for a prominent, 17-story office tower in downtown Hart- ford in 2017, marking the company's first property acquisition and pushing its small office suite leasing business beyond New York. In the Empire State, Stark leases space, fits it out and subleases it to small companies. The 130,547-square-foot office tower at 750 Main St. — originally built in 1922 for the Hartford Trust Co. — was the company's first, and so far only, venture into ownership. Adam Stark, president of Stark Office Suites, said the building's historic character and central down- town location were key factors in the purchase. Then COVID-19 hit, accelerating remote work and battering office markets nationwide. Occupancy at the Stark Building fell from 78% to below 60%. In the years since, the building has regained ground, with occupancy climbing from 58.5% to 72.5% over the past two years. The recovery, Stark and other experts say, reflects a narrower slice of today's office demand: smaller tenants seeking flexible, move-in-ready suites, even as much of Hartford's downtown office market continues to face elevated vacancies and weak demand for larger blocks of space. NAI Lexington Commercial, which handles leasing at the Stark building, has helped secure 18 tenants, including a security firm, law offices and nonprofit organizations, most occupying less than 2,000 square feet, said Kevin Kenny, president of the brokerage. "There are just so many folks who had larger office footprints who were looking for something centrally located where they could downsize a bit," Kenny said. Stark said leasing momentum has been supported by the build- ing's quality condition, flexible suite sizes and lease terms, as well as Jolie Swanson Continued on next page GREATER HARTFORD OFFICE MARKET DIRECT SUBLET OVERALL AVG ASKING RENT AVG ASKING RENT SUBMARKET INVENTORY (SF) VACANT (SF) VACANT (SF) VACANCY RATE ALL CLASSES (PER SF) CLASS A (PER SF) Hartford Central Business District 7,635,439 2,391,463 40,340 31.9% $22.69 $23.85 Hartford non-CBD 1,997,451 113,184 0 5.7% $19.11 $23.37 Western Greater Hartford 6,450,741 717,749 82,968 12.4% $18.16 $21.90 Southern Greater Hartford 2,618,533 268,608 33,079 11.5% $22.77 $23.98 Eastern Greater Hartford 3,013,938 388,681 4,093 13% $21.48 $23.26 Northern Greater Hartford 3,643,682 1,107,985 32,602 31.3% $20.49 $20.52 GREATER HARTFORD TOTALS 25,359,784 4,987,670 193,082 20.4% $21.41 $22.99 Source: Cushman & Wakefield

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