Hartford Business Journal

16 Hartford Business Journal • July 13, 2015 www.HartfordBusiness.com Suburban Hfd.'s rising rent tide lifts landlords' boats By Gregory Seay gseay@HartfordBusiness.com C onnecticut's a p a r t m e n t landlords are back in the driver's seat. Not only are this state's newly built or converted urban and suburban mul- tifamily units filling as fast as they debut, but rents for existing units, for the most part, are climbing faster than inflation. Monthly market lease rates for unsubsi- dized apartment buildings with 100 or more units in five eastern Connecticut counties — Hartford, Middlesex, New London, Tolland and Windham — rose 5.43 percent in the past 12 months to an average $1,127.50 for a one-bedroom, one-bath unit, according to multifamily adviser-broker Sunrise Manage- ment & Consulting, of Albany, N.Y. M e t r o p o l i t a n New York apartment rents rose an aver- age 5.4 percent in the period, while aver- age lease rates for suburban Westches- ter County, N.Y., were up 6.95 percent, said Sunrise President Jesse Holland. But when Con- necticut's average apartment rents are tracked back to 2011, the period when the state, regional and U.S. economies were still climbing out of recession, Middlesex County landlords stand as clear winners. Rents in Middletown, Meriden and other county communities with apartments large enough to be tracked were up 14.85 per- cent, to an average $1,330 a month in June vs. $1,158 in June 2011, Sunrise's analysis shows. Hartford County, however, saw its average rents fall 2 percent in the same period, to $1,201 vs. $1,226. The rate drop reflects competition from newer suburban apartments that have come on line in recent years, Holland said. That decline won't last long, Holland added, citing the growing supply of newly converted offices-to-apartments down- town. The 63 apartments at 179 Allyn St., above Black Bear Saloon and Club NV, debuted in late June with all but a handful of the units leased and occupied. "We would expect Hartford County's aver- age rent to start to rise as newer units start to come on line,'' he said. Many suburban landlords, however, aren't waiting. In Rocky Hill, the 144-unit Alterra luxury apartments on Brook Street that debuted in spring 2014 is notifying expiring leasehold - ers that their rent is going up, said Fred Petak, regional man- ager for Alterra's New Jersey owner Conti- nental Properties. So far, Petak said, most of Alter- ra's tenants are resigned to the new rent. "They're absorbing it,'' he said. "We're absorbing it. The market is good for us. Hopefully, it will continue.'' Rising rents are an incentive to land- lords to maintain or upgrade existing apart- ment properties, even build new. Continen- tal broke ground in February on its second Connecticut apartment community, a 228- unit complex in Shelton. n Average Apartment Rents in CT Rents Jun-11 Rents Jun-15 % change Middlesex $1,158 $1,330 14.85% Hartford $1,226 $1,201 -2.04% New London $1,243 $1,365 9.81% Tolland $1,295 $1,412 9.03% Windham $846 $940 11.11% S O U R C E : S U N R I S E M A N A G E M E N T & C O N S U L T I N G Alterra-Rocky Hill apartments in Rocky Hill. P H O T O | H B J F I L E ▶ ▶ Not only are this state's newly built or converted urban and suburban multifamily units filling as fast as they debut, but rents for existing units, for the most part, are climbing faster than inflation. Order today and get 20% off! Subscribe online: HartfordBusiness.com/hbjdelivers or call: 845-267-3008 and provide discount code HH15DB Offer expires 8/31/15 Delivering Business. When you need information to grow your business, we deliver! Subscribe today to receive weekly issues in print and digital, plus special publications and full online access! G r e at e r H a r t f o r d ' s B u s i n e s s n e w s w w w. H a r t f o rd B u s i n e s s . c o m for more B2B news visit March 31, 2014 Volume 22, number 19 $3.00 subscribe online June 5, 2014 Only 10 weeks until C T B E x p o . c o m Index ■ Reporter's Notebook: PG. 5 ■ Week in Review: PG. 6 ■ The List: PG. 10 ■ Deal Watch: PG. 11 ■ Nonprofit Notebook: PG. 19 ■ Opinion & Commentary: PG. 20 Faces oF Business Main Street Mainstay Manchester's Bray Jewelers has survived for almost 100 years. Read about the family business' secrets to success and what makes customers keep coming back. PG. 3 Focus: economic DeveloPment Social Entrepreneurship Hartford business accelerator aims to nurture socially conscious businesses. PG. 8 Music copyright lawsuits cost restaurants unexpected thousands By Matt Pilon mpilon@HartfordBusiness.com A few years ago, nine songs were played inside Shelton's Vazzy's Cucina restaurant that ended up costing owners John Vazzano and Vincent L. Noce $18,000. That's because an agent of licensing giant Broadcast Music Inc., which represents the artists who owned the tracks, attested to being present when the tunes were played and sued Vazzano and Noce for copyright infringement, claiming the restaurant's music qualified as a public per- formance. Under federal copyright law, that meant the restaurant had to pay for the rights to play the songs, BMI said. Vazzano said he thinks a private party actually played the tunes. Broadcast Music Inc. • Founded in 1939 • Represents more than 600,000 songwriters and publishers with more than 8.5 million songs. • Distributed 85 cents of every dollar in licensing revenue in royalties — that amounted to $814 million in fiscal 2013. By Gregory Seay gseay@HartfordBusiness.com B y late May, the Corporation For Independent Living (CIL) expects to have in its hands title to the derelict Capewell Horse- nails factory in Hartford's South End in a bid to convert the idle eyesore into 72 apartments and an adjacent parcel into 24 affordable townhomes. If it does, it will open another fruit- ful chapter for a South End nonprofit that has leveraged — and exported — its talent as a group-home developer to shelter a diverse swath of central Connecticut's population. It, too, will be one of the final swan songs before the yearend retirement of its first and only chief executive. Since its launch in 1979 to finance, build, lease out — then ultimately give away — supportive shelter for thou- sands of the state's physically and mentally disabled, CIL has invested $458 million to construct or convert 2,205 dwelling units into shelter for 7,200 residents in Connecticut and Massachusetts. For at least a dozen years, CIL has applied that same skill set to its expand- ing for-profit realty development opera- tions that include Capewell, and a neigh- boring nonprofit-office-space cluster. In February, CIL announced it bought and will resume work on the $3.34 mil- lion Depot Crossing mixed-use project John Vazzano, owner of Vazzy's Cucina in Shelton, was upset when his restaurant had to pay $18,000 to settle a music copyright lawsuit. P h O t O | P a b l O R O b l e s Continued on page 16 Continued on page 15 Martin "Marty'' Legault, president and CEO, Corporation For Independent Living (CIL) With Legault, developer CIL soars as landlord Sued for a ong

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