Hartford Business Journal

HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | SEPTEMBER 7, 2026 19 West Hartford Mayor Shari Cantor stands in West Hartford Center, where shops, restaurants and other amenities have helped fuel strong demand for nearby office space. HBJ Photo | Steve Laschever Center Appeal West Hartford's amenities fuel strong office demand amid broader market slump rebounded from the pandemic, aided by demand for space near the town center's shops, restaurants and other amenities, experts say. West Hartford has about a 3.9% office vacancy rate as of the third quarter, down from 10.1% in 2022 and 6.8% in 2019, according to real estate data firm CoStar. The town has roughly 2 million square feet of office space and recorded about 57,000 square feet of net absorption over the past year, meaning more space became occupied than was vacated. By comparison, the nearly 27-million- square-foot Greater Hartford office market had an 18.5% vacancy rate at the end of June, according to Cushman & Wakefield's second-quarter report. The rate was even higher in Hartford's central business district, where 25.1% of office space was vacant. Greater Hartford lost about 17,600 square feet of occupancy during the first half of the year. Downtown Hartford alone lost nearly 19,500 square feet, with gains elsewhere partially offsetting that decline, the report shows. Two recent property sales further illustrate the divide between West Hartford and downtown Hartford. The 23-story, 420,000-square-foot Stilts Building in downtown Hartford, which was facing foreclosure and had a 55% vacancy rate, recently sold to a group of investors for $8.25 million, or roughly $20 per square foot. By comparison, the AAA office in West Hartford, located about 4 miles away, traded for about $140 per square foot. Real estate experts caution that the comparison is not apples to apples, given the differences between the prop- erties and the broader markets. Down- town Hartford has more than 8 million square feet of office space, about four times West Hartford's inventory. Beyond property sales, West Hart- ford's appeal to major employers was underscored in July, when Fortune 500 company Otis Worldwide announced it will relocate its headquarters from Farmington to West Hartford. The elevator and escalator manu- facturer next year will occupy a 31,790-square-foot space in the 184,995-square-foot Town Center Building, at 29 South Main St. Finding that much available space in the town center was a bit like finding a unicorn, joked Joel Grieco, an execu- tive director at Cushman & Wakefield. Grieco said he spent more than a By Michael Puffer mpuffer@hartfordbusiness.com A pair of West Hartford inves- tor-developers recently paid $3.8 million for a 27,114-square-foot office building less than a mile from the town center. The purchase of the 1966-vintage AAA Club Alliance building at 815 Farmington Ave. is another sign of an unusually strong office market in and around West Hartford Center, in contrast with much of Connecticut. Real estate investor David Raisner, who bought the three-story brick building with Ronald Webber, said he was attracted to the property's location on a central artery in a relatively affluent town, as well as the familiarity people already have with the address. Many have visited the property over the years for passports, drivers' licenses and other services through AAA, he noted. The strength of the town's office market was another big factor. "The market is extremely strong in West Harford," Raisner said. "There are not a tremendous amount of vacancies. And there are some great corpo- rations who have been attracted to everything West Hartford offers." Chris Ostop, a managing director at real estate services firm JLL, repre- sented AAA in the sale. He said the deal is another example of West Hart- ford's strong office market, supported by the densely populated suburb's highly educated workforce. AAA occupied only the ground floor and is not in the business of being a landlord, Ostop said. AAA is leasing back the ground floor, allowing the organization to maintain its longtime branch while the new owners lease the two upper floors. "It's a terrific transaction and AAA is happy to be a tenant in West Hartford," Ostop said. Finding a unicorn West Hartford's office market has Continued on next page WEST HARTFORD OFFICE VACANCY RATE 12% 10% 8% 6% 4% 2% 2014 2017 2020 2015 2018 2021 2016 2019 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 Q3 Note: The West Hartford office market consists of about 2 million square feet of space. Source: CoStar, West Hartford Office Submarket Report, Rent & Vacancy table; report dated Aug. 28, 2026. VACANCY RATE Otis Worldwide plans to relocate its headquarters to the Town Center Building at 29 South Main St. in West Hartford next year. Photo | CoStar Chris Ostop

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