New York-based Grunberg Realty bought the 29-story Class A office building at 280 Trumbull St. in Hartford from New Boston Fund in August. The $65 million deal was the second-largest office building sale in the city’s downtown area in 15 years.

Physical progress on Hartford’s long-talked-about downtown revitalization began, a search for a Norwich Hospital developer got under way and investment sales took off during 2004.

Construction began this year on Hartford 21 – a mixed-use project in downtown Hartford that will include a luxury apartment tower, retail space and the city’s new Civic Center – and on other retail and residential projects around the city.

“I think a lot of things are happening in Hartford rather than just talk,” said Bill Fenn, vice president at New Boston Fund, a real estate investment company that owns properties in Hartford and Fairfield counties.

Hartford has long had a downtown that falls asleep after the bankers and executives leave at the end of the workday, but the new projects aim to change the city into a 24-hour destination. One of the centerpieces is Hartford 21, which is being built by Newton, Mass.-based Northland Investments.

The Capital City Economic Development Authority, the state agency that oversees parts of Hartford’s downtown revitalization, hit a snag in August when the agency parted ways with the developer originally slated to build a section of the riverfront complex Adriaen’s Landing. The Landing will include a convention center and hotel, which are set to open in July. CCEDA hopes the Front Street section of the project – the section the original developer pulled out of after disagreements over how much money the state would contribute – will include entertainment, retail and apartments or condominiums.

CCEDA turned down four proposals for the space in October because of some shortcomings, but is now in the middle of a new selection process, according to Dean Pagani, a spokesman for CCEDA. The selection should be complete in three to six months, he said.

But other downtown projects – like a couple of apartment buildings and the civic center – are on schedule, Pagani said.

‘A Really Great Year’

This year also saw several large commercial transactions. New Boston Fund sold seven assets in Connecticut, totaling $100 million, Fenn said.

“2004 was a banner year for New Boston Fund,” he said.

The sale of one building formerly owned by New Boston Fund was one for the record books. New York-based Grunberg Realty bought a 29-story Class A office building for $65 million in August, making it the second-largest office building sale in downtown Hartford in 15 years.

New Boston Fund sold the building, located at 280 Trumbull St., to Grunberg Realty for $97 per square foot.

“It’s a very large sale for Hartford,” said Jay Wamester of the Office Leasing Team at Colliers Dow & Condon, who represented Grunberg Realty, in August.

Office leasing also is strong at the properties still owned by New Boston Fund, according to Fenn.

“Our occupancy is the highest it’s been,” he said.

The company’s signature Connecticut property, an office building at 100 Pearl St. in downtown Hartford, is about 70 percent leased by tenants like Sovereign Bank and Robert Half Financing & Accounting, according to New Boston Fund.

Woodbridge-based Levey Miller Maretz also has had a successful 2004, said owner Steve Miller. The firm brokers all types of commercial transactions.

“Generally, the past year has been a really great year,” Miller said.

Investment sales have been particularly strong in 2004, he noted. Normally, the company sees almost equal activity in sales and leasing, but 2004 saw an increase in sales and a decrease in leasing, Miller said. Low interest rates and a volatile stock market have spurred many people into buying, he added.

“It pushed our sales abnormally high,” Miller said. “People have been investing in real estate.”

Plans continued in 2004 for the site of the former Norwich Hospital in southeastern Connecticut. The state owns the 470-acre site, which straddles the border between Preston and Norwich and is still dotted with boarded-up buildings from its days as a mental health facility.

But the state offered to sell the land for $1 to the two towns last September and, since then, the towns have been looking for a developer and have hired a New York law firm to conduct the search.

As of late November, one potential candidate was Utopia Studios, a company that would build a Universal Studios-style theme park and movie studio on the hospital land. The town has until the middle of 2005 to decide whether to take up the state on its offer.

West Hartford saw some commercial activity, as well. Residents in October voted in favor of a mixed-use development known as Blue Back Square. The development will incorporate residences, shops, restaurants, entertainment, a hospital’s wellness center and parking into about four city blocks.

The project will be done nearly from scratch. The key components to the development are two buildings that could house up to 100 luxury condominiums and a health club; the Hartford Hospital Wellness Center, an up-to 100,000-square-foot space that will employ about 400 people and which already has reached an agreement with the developer; office space; medium-sized retail and boutique shops; and sidewalk-oriented restaurants.

“It really is a new neighborhood,” said Richard Heapes of Blue Back Square LLC, the developer.

The company that runs the nearby Westfarms Mall opposed the controversial development. Bloomfield, Mich.-based Taubman spent money on advertisements and mailers encouraging West Hartford residents to vote against Blue Back Square. Nonetheless, 59 percent of eligible voters came to the polls on Oct. 12 and voted in favor of the project, 13,680 to 9,072, said West Hartford Town Clerk Norma Cronin in October. They also voted to approve a referendum for the appropriation of town money – which will pay for public improvements associated with the project such as a library expansion, new Board of Education offices and parking garages – 12,037 to 8,769. “Obviously we were happy to hear [about the vote],” Heapes said in October. “We are right now planning on construction starting in the spring of 2005.”

Meanwhile, power woes continued this year in southwest Connecticut. A plan to bring more reliable power to the region generated controversy in October after some officials in affected towns found out their proposal to put 300-foot buffers on either side of new 345-kilovolt transmission lines would necessitate the taking of about 740 buildings – mostly houses – by eminent domain.

The best solution for the lack of power transmission in the area would be to put the line between Middletown and Norwalk. The line would help provide more reliable power to southwest Connecticut, where power transmission currently does not meet national reliability standards.

But health concerns prompted locals to request the 300-foot buffer zone. The taking of homes is unlikely, some officials said in October. The information came about after the Connecticut Siting Council, which would approve or deny the project, asked the power companies involved to investigate the outcome of the buffer zone. Related hearings will continue into next year.