A historic Hartford office tower is adding a splash of color to the city’s skyline as part of a million-dollar capital improvement program.

The new Philips LED lighting mounted near the roof line of 750 Main St. enables building ownership to activate various themes with the tap of a smartphone.

“It’s a beautiful building that sometimes gets lost in the skyline,” said Adam Stark, owner of 750 Main St. and president of Rye Brook, New York-based Stark Office Suites. “This makes it prominent.”

Armonk, New York-based lighting consultants Brightcore worked with Stark on the project, which included installation of energy-efficient LEDs throughout the building’s interior. It’s among the most prominent updates to the 17-story brick-and-limestone tower, which was built in 1921 for Hartford Trust Co.

Stark bought the property in late 2017 for $4.3 million and launched a maintenance program including new elevators, updated HVAC and plumbing systems, a remodeled lobby and artwork in common areas.

“(The building) had been maintained to keep going rather than fully modernized, so we’ve spent the last year investing a lot of time and money to get the systems working property,” Stark said. “At the same time, there are a lot of interior cosmetic things that needed polish.”

The updates also include a new fiber-optic backbone enabling Stark to provide bundled phone and internet service directly to tenants as part of their lease agreements.

With 102 office suites – some of which have been combined for larger tenants – 750 Main St. is offering lease terms as short as one year. Asking rents range from $16 to $20 per square foot on a gross basis, Stark said. Some 650 square feet of ground-floor retail space is available.

Stark has reserved two floors in the building for his Stark Office Suites program, which offers spaces as small as single desks along with access to its other Connecticut locations in Danbury, Greenwich and Stanford.

Since taking ownership in December 2017, Stark has negotiated more than 43,000 square feet in leases, renewals and expansions to tenants ranging from law firms to TakeOut7, a startup which provides point-of-sale systems to restaurants. The results have validated the decision to make the firm’s first acquisition in the Hartford market, Stark said.

“There’s definitely a new energy and you can feel it and see it with the residential conversions and the UConn students walking on the street,” he said.