Hartford-based Crosskey Architects is drawing up plans for an apartment complex development as part of the Bushnell South district near the Bushnell performing arts center. Image courtesy of Spinnaker Real Estate Partners
A Norwalk development firm that specializes in historic preservation and Hartford officials’ ambitious plans for a cluster of parcels near The Bushnell performing arts center are intersecting with plans for hundreds of apartments at an Elm Street site.
Spinnaker Real Estate Partners is seeking financial support from the Capital Region Development Authority for the $63 million project, as it seeks to convert a pair of former state-owner buildings into apartments. Additional multifamily housing could be built on the adjacent parking lots, where economic development officials envision a mixed-use district called Bushnell South.
“We’ve done a few historic rehabs and we thought the buildings were worth saving,” said Clay Fowler, CEO of Spinnaker Real Estate Partners. “We know it’s in a critical location for rejuvenation of the Bushnell South area.”
Spinnaker acquired the 55 Elm St. property, which includes a pair of office buildings totaling 220,000 square feet and surface parking, in 2020 for nearly $8 million. In addition to apartments, Spinnaker considered devoting a portion of the redevelopment for approximately 70 hotel rooms, an element that may be shelved because of the pandemic’s effects on the hospitality market, Fowler said. The buildings also would contain street-facing ground floor retail space and possibly office space.
Norwalk-based Beinfeld Architecture is drawing up a master plan for the 4.5-acre site, including 164 apartments in the existing buildings and another 150 to 200 units of new construction, with buildings in the 60- to 80-unit range, Fowler said. The site includes a parking lot between West and Hudson streets owned by CRDA, which Spinnaker has an option to purchase during 2021.
Approximately 20 percent of the units would be income-restricted, while market-rate units would rent for the low- to mid-$2 per square foot range, Fowler predicts. Units would range from 400 to 1,000 square feet.
Hartford-based Crosskey Architects is working on building designs for the 55 Elm St. project.
A proposed financial agreement with the CRDA would provide Spinnaker with $13.5 million toward the $63.3 million project. CRDA funding would include a $7 million permanent construction loan and a $6.5-million historic bridge loan. Historic tax credits would contribute another $16.5 million, while the remainder would be provided by $7.3 million in Spinnaker equity and a $32.5 million conventional mortgage.
A Link to Downtown
The CRDA has focused on parcels near the Bushnell as a potential home to a potentially transformative mixed-use development known as Bushnell South. The available parcels span approximately 40 acres including two garages, surface parking and state-owned buildings, of which approximately 20 acres is available for redevelopment, said Michael Freimuth, executive director of the CRDA.
At the same time, the CRDA is working with Boston-based architects Goody Clancy on a master plan for the entire 40-acre site, which was listed as one of 10 priority redevelopment locations in the city’s 2020 master plan.
“The idea is to bring together an arts and entertainment district working off the Bushnell, and creating a new neighborhood linking downtown to the south,” Freimuth said.
Pending final CRDA approval, funding for the project would be subject to approval by the state bond commission.
Spinnaker also is developing 126 units of mixed-income housing in Hartford at a project called Park & Main, where rents will average under $2 per square foot, Fowler said.
