Image courtesy of Shelbourne Global Solutions
Another hotel-to-apartments conversion is in the works in Connecticut, this time for Hartford’s former Red Lion Hotel.
The downtown property at 50 Morgan St. was bought last week by New York City-based Shelbourne Global Solutions and Waterbury-based Alexa Group for $22 million, plus the previous owner’s back taxes, after a previous plan by the former owners using financing from the Capital Region Development Agency fell apart. The current deal is privately financed, Shelbourne said in its announcement.
Rick Chozick and Tom Boyle of the Hartford offices of Chozick Realty represented both the seller, DW Capital, and the buyers.
Shelbourne and Alexa plan to finish converting the 18-story building from a 150-key hotel to 164 studio, one and two-bedroom market-rate apartments and rebrand the property to The Millennium Apartments. The top eight floors – 96 rooms – were renovated by the previous owner and are currently occupied, limiting the necessary work to the eight lower floors and building amenities, which Shelbourne said “will soon begin.”
Planned amenities include a pet wash station, game room, fitness center, coworking space, movie theater, touchless entry and a second-floor roof-top patio overlooking Hartford’s new Dunkin’ Donuts Park.
Shelbourne has grown into one of Hartford’s largest commercial property owners since 2014 and owns several downtown office towers including 100 Pearl, 20 Church St. and The Gold Building.
“Our goal is to acquire and revitalize properties to rejuvenate and better connect downtown to surrounding neighborhoods,” COO Michael Seidenfeld said in a statement. “Pratt provides a walkable connection to the XL Center, the North Crossing development and Dunkin’ Donuts Park. Our plans have long included adding 1,000 apartments over the next few years, and our purchase of 50 Morgan Street will enable us to do that. Our plans for the building also complement the redevelopment underway at the north end of downtown.”
Built in the 1970s, the property for years was run as a 350-room Crowne Plaza and later a Radisson hotel. It became the Red Lion in 2018, but cost overruns, construction delays, and the COVID-19 pandemic doomed the project. The building was purchased in foreclosure by DW Captial in 2019. The appraised value of the property is $20.2 million, according to public records.
“This property is an important piece of the revitalization puzzle coming together in downtown Hartford,” Axela Group Vice President Yitz Rabinowitz said in a statement. “We are thrilled to be partnering with Shelbourne to revitalize and repurpose this building and to be contributing our expertise developing and managing residential and commercial properties in support of Shelbourne’s vision of a walkable, interconnected downtown where people can work, live and enjoy their free time.”
The Morgan Street property will bring dozens more apartments to Hartford’s emerging DoNo, or Downtown North, neighborhood. The area is undergoing over $200 million in redevelopment thanks to RMS Cos., which broke ground on its first phase in October. That project will bring 270 apartments with 11,000 square feet of restaurant, retail and entertainment space to the ballpark. Over 1,000 apartments are planned for the area.
