After decades of disuse, the former Pirelli-Armstrong Tire Co. building in New Haven is being repurposed as a boutique hotel by Westport architect and developer Bruce Becker. Photo by John Woike | Samara Media
New Haven’s vacant former Pirelli-Armstrong Tire Co. office building was a bleak economic indicator visible to Interstate 95 travelers for decades.
Westport developer and architect Bruce Becker saw a real estate opportunity in the Brutalist edifice at 500 Sargent Drive, which will reopen next winter as the 165-room Hotel Marcel under the Hilton Tapestry brand.
“It was always in the back of my mind that the building should be redeveloped,” said Becker, who studied various potential adaptive reuses before settling on a boutique hotel. “It was another midcentury modern building of similar vintage, and I’d become enamored with that. And symbolically, it was not good for the region or Connecticut having such a visible building that was vacant and underutilized.”
It’s the second recent rescue mission for Becker involving a Nutmeg State landmark that had seen better times. His firm, Westport-based Becker + Becker, previously redeveloped the former Hartford National Bank and Trust office tower in the state capital into 285 apartments which opened in 2017.
Designed by architect and furniture designer Marcel Breuer, the concrete facade building in New Haven’s Long Wharf neighborhood was originally completed in 1969 as offices for Armstrong Tire, but was shuttered in the late 1980s. Swedish furniture retailer IKEA purchased the property and completed a superstore on another portion of the property in 2004.
Looking for his next venture following the 2017 opening of the 777 Main St. project in Hartford, Becker approached IKEA and convinced executives to sell the property for a future use that wouldn’t interfere with their retail operations.
“There were quite a few efforts by different hoteliers and other users, but over 20 years they had not been presented with a captivating proposal,” Becker said.
Historic Incentives for Redevelopment
That the Becker offer was accepted and the project received timely financing is a reflection of the property’s unique architecture – which qualified for historic tax credits – and Becker’s vision for using sustainable designs including Passive House principles.
Construction crews led by Milford, Massachusetts-based Consigli are installing triple-glazed windows and additional insulation to provide a tight building thermal envelope, along with an all-electric utilities system including variable refrigerant heat pumps. The building had previously been gutted on the lower floors, providing a clean slate for new utilities. Over 1,000 solar panels will occupy a rooftop array.
Becker’s firm acquired the property in January 2020 for $1.2 million. Liberty Bank granted $25 million in financing in the form of a construction-to-permanent loan.
“We were lucky we had gotten our commitments in place just before the pandemic, and Liberty Bank, like us, had a long-term view,” Becker said. “They stood by our side. The hotel market seems to be rebounding just when we need it to.”
He anticipates the hotel and its 7,000 square feet of meeting space will generate business from visitors to Yale University and local health care and life science companies.
The property’s longtime inclusion on Connecticut’s Register of Historic Places enabled the project to receive $12 million in state and federal historic tax credits.
While the historic designation helped with the financing, it placed some added burdens on New York architects and branding specialists Dutch East Design, which handled the Hotel Marcel interior plans. Modernist ceiling acoustic tiles and hundreds of light fixtures were retained.
The new ground floor will incorporate flexible amenity spaces and meeting rooms and sunken lounge area. The penthouse level will include four meeting rooms, ballroom space and an open-to-the-sky courtyard using space previously occupied by air handling equipment. Guest rooms were designed with autumnal tones and soft materials to create a welcoming hospitality environment.
“Our goal was to provide an approachable and warm response to what the general public may regard as a severe Brutalist piece of architecture,” Dutch East Design Partner Dieter Cartwright said. “We have a great fondness for Brutalistm, but we were just trying to open doors to see what a soft underbelly this building could have under a hard exterior.”
