Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com • April 23, 2018 • Hartford Business Journal 15 Movers & Shakers Randall B. Gonzales has been appointed executive vice president and chief financial officer of Manchester- based Lydall Inc., which manufactures specialty engineered products for the thermal/acoustical and filtration/separation markets. Gonzales joins Lydall from his position as senior vice president, CFO and treasurer of Progress Rail Services Corp., a global supplier of railroad and transit system products and services and a wholly owned subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc. Kimberly Walsh has joined Cheryl Newton Architects (CNA) in Glastonbury as business development manager. Prior to joining CNA, Walsh worked as the marketing manager for Consulting Engineering Services in Middletown. Walsh has more than a decade of architecture, engineering and construction industry marketing experience that includes lead generation, graphic design, photography, writing, social media and website management. Nadine Barletta has been named vice president of loan administration and operations at Windsor Federal Savings. Barletta brings nearly 20 years of commercial lending and operations experience to Windsor Federal, most recently at United Bank, where she focused on commercial and residential loan servicing in northern Connecticut. Gregg D. Vaillancourt has joined KeyBank as vice president, senior payments and solutions adviser in its enterprise commercial payments (ECP) group. Vaillancourt will establish and deepen business banking relationships through customized treasury and payment solutions for clients' cash management needs. He is located in Key's Manchester office and will serve business clients throughout Connecticut and western Massachusetts. Joseph Santoro Jr. and Michael Wheeler have joined Gateway Financial Partners as advisers at the independent national provider group headquartered in Glastonbury. Wheeler has been an investment adviser since Feb. 2010 and has worked with myriad clients, advising them on financial planning, investment management and wealth management. Santoro Jr. brings more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry and specializes in assisting clients with education funding, retirement planning, investment management and estate conservation strategies. Michael Wotorson and Carin Buckman have joined the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving as senior officers in its community investments, and communications and marketing departments, respectively. Wotorson has held multiple leadership positions in the Republic of Liberia. Formerly the executive director of the Campaign for High School Equity and a national education director with the NAACP, Wotorson is responsible for ensuring that the foundation's program resources are effectively invested and monitored. Buckman has held positions in the nonprofit and corporate arenas, most recently as director of marketing and communications for Leadership Greater Hartford. Drs. Hassan Minhas, Sabooh Mubbashar and Naomi Libby, and registered nurse Concepcion Cortes have joined the expanded multidisciplinary clinical team at the Autism Center at the Hospital for Special Care in New Britain. Minhas, who holds a specialty certification from the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, has been appointed medical director of outpatient services at the Autism Center. Mubbashar, board certified in child, adolescent and adult psychiatry, has been appointed medical director of the autism inpatient unit. Libby, board-certified in psychiatry, joins as a psychiatrist; and Cortes, board-certified family nurse practitioner and psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, joins as a psychiatric nurse practitioner in the outpatient Autism Center. Kimberly Walsh Michael Wotorson Carin Buckman Dr. Hassan Minhas Dr. Naomi Libby Nadine Barletta Gregg D. Vaillancourt Bedding LLC, for example, recently relocated production from Agawam- Springfield to a larger plant in Wind- sor Locks, where many of its more than 240 workers transferred from its Massachusetts facility. More employers generates more demand for suitable housing. According to the state Department of Economic and Community Devel- opment, which tracks the Census Bu- reau's monthly survey of homebuild- ing permits issued in 104 cities and towns, multifamily housing — apart- ments, condominiums and town- homes — continues to pace housing construction of all types dating back at least the past three years. Manchester, Vernon and West Hartford, too, are among Hartford subur- ban communi- ties experienc- ing an uptick in new apartment construction. For example, the 54-unit 616 New Park apartment complex in West Hartford is set to debut in May. Walkability was on the minds of Heirloom Flat's developers when they chose to redevelop a Bloomfield tract of previously derelict homes along Tunxis Avenue into apartments, said Montelli, who has built multifamily housing along the Atlantic seaboard, including in Boston, Providence, and Washington D.C. "That site has some urban aspects to it that we really love,'' he said of Heir- loom. "You're within a five-minute walk to seven or eight restaurants. There's a movie theater. The library is within a five-minute walk. There's a CVS and a Rite Aid. There are a lot of convenienc- es within walking distance.'' Stalls and starts Not all suburban multifamily de- velopment has gone as planned. The long-anticipated construction of at least 100 apartments within the 600- acre, master-planned Great Pond Vil- lage development off Day Hill Road in Windsor, announced in Dec. 2010, has yet to break ground. In New Britain, the planned $35 million conversion of a former brass millworks and appliance factory on El- lis Street into 150 loft condominiums, broached in Oct. 2015 by a New Jersey investor, has been delayed, a city economic-development official said. Meantime, downtown Hartford continues to undergo conver- sions of surplus office space into apartments, including the 60-unit "Teacher's Corner'' devel- opment at Asy- lum and High streets. Hart- ford developer Jose Ramirez is creating eight condominiums atop the former Mayor Mike's Restaurant space at 283 Asylum St. And New York's Girona Ventures and Wonder Works Development and Construction Corp. are doing a $50-million conversion of long- vacant buildings at 101-111 Pearl St. into 258 apartment units. Kenny, who in April sold his 100- unit Trumbull On The Park and 610-slot parking garage next door to 101-111 Pearl to the Girona-Wonder Works partnership, says his subur- ban apartments satisfy two impor- tant tenant demographics: young Millennials who covet the financial and personal flexibility from rent- ing rather than owning. The other is Baby Boomers at or close to retire- ment, who no longer relish mowing, raking and snow clearing, he said. "There are so many people out there who are renters by choice,'' Kenny said. 2018 Multifamily Real Estate Outlook Realty Adviser Marcus & Millichap recently published a report with its 2018 forecast for apartment vacancy rates and rents in Connecticut. Here's a breakdown of their projections: County Vacancy Rate Effective Monthly Rent Year-Over-Year Change Fairfield 5.4% $2,235 0.3% New Haven 4% $1,407 3.4% Hartford 3.9% $1,315 3.1% Source: Marcus & Millichap Hartford Apartment Rents Source: Marcus & Millichap Monthly eective rent Year-over-year change Monthly rent Y-O-Y rent change $1,300 $1,100 $900 $700 $500 8% 6% 4% 2% 0% 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Sketch of Dakota Partners' Brook Hill Village apartments in Suffield. RENDERING | CONTRIBUTED

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