13-05-2025
New CT apartment project is helping boost redevelopment area that saw a big setback
To the rear of two historic, office buildings being converted to apartments across from the state Capitol, there was noise competing with applause at a nearby groundbreaking ceremony for the $52 million project.
Demolition debris from the back of 18-20 Trinity St. in downtown Hartford was hitting a dumpster with a thud, a sound that showed that the redevelopment of the former state office building is already well underway.
At the event, Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam said redevelopment, which borders Bushnell Park and also includes the neighboring 30 Trinity St., is not just about the creation of 104 units — 20% of them affordable — and bringing back to life long vacant structures.
'It is about the large vision for where Hartford is going,' Arulampalam said. 'This is another key component in Bushnell South, which will stitch together our downtown, this beautiful park that is the centerpiece of our city — our Central Park — with the neighborhood.'
Bushnell South is a major redevelopment area for the city and includes about 20 acres surrounding The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts that are dominated by parking lots targeted for new development. The Trinity Street buildings are on the northwestern corner of Bushnell South.
Bushnell South has seen some early progress with the conversion of the former state offices in the historic 55 Elm St. into apartments. But recently there was a major setback, with the preferred developer of the largest parking lot withdrawing from the project after two years.
Developers Philadelphia-based Pennrose LLC and The Cloud Co., of Hartford, first spotted the two historic structures — built in the early years of the last century for insurance companies — nearly four years ago. The partners, already active in development elsewhere in city, decided they wanted to pursue an apartment conversion and saw potential in the wider Bushnell South vision.
Charlie Adams, Pennrose's president, said Tuesday that the company's chief executive has a saying that 'every deal is a miracle. And the 10 years that I have been here, and if you had to rank deals that were a miracle, this would be at the top of the list.'
Financing was complicated by a dozen different components, including a $6.5 million, low-cost, state-taxpayer-backed loan from the Capital Region Development Authority. In addition, there was a $6 million state grant from the Urban Act grant program, state and federal historic tax credits, plus private financing. The state's deadline for purchasing the properties had to be pushed back while components of the financing were made to fit together.
'It was a very challenging deal because this wasn't a deal that was in a box,' Adams said. 'It was outside of a lot of programs so it took a lot of courage and a lot of will for folks to do it.'
The groundbreaking was marked by officials posing with hand-held sledge hammers with heads painted gold.
Gov. Ned Lamont said the complex financing deals such as those for the Trinity Street buildings are getting even more complicated: 'We've got some headwinds. You've got interest rates that are bouncing around, you've got tariffs on timber coming in from Canada — it's getting tricky right now.'
The first apartments in the Trinity Street buildings are expected to become available in March, 2027. The monthly rents for the market-rate units are now projected to range from $1,700 to $2,500.
The unit mix includes 29 studios, 27 studios, plus den, 39 one-bedrooms, 4 one-bedrooms, plus den and 5 two-bedrooms.
The apartments will be mixed-income, with 20% reserved as 'affordable' for tenants that restrict rents and limit income to less than 50% of the area median income. Parking will be nearby in the $16 million, state-financed Bushnell South Parking Garage.
Lamont said the broad cross-section of housing projects in Hartford provides clear evidence that people want to live in the city.
'This is a good thing,' Lamont said. 'This city was 30 or 40% bigger a couple of generations ago. And it's coming back. This is how you get young people here, vibrancy here, housing projects just like this where young people can get a good start and come over and work for state government if you want to.'
Kenneth R. Gosselin can be reached at kgosselin@
