Hartford's iconic "Stilts Building" went into foreclosure in 2022, in part, to the region's troubled office market. Photo courtesy of the city of Hartford
Hartford’s well-known “Stilts Building” is facing foreclosure from lender Wells Fargo.
The property at 20 Church St., owned by New York-based Shelburne Global Solutions, was built in 1981 and consists of a multi-story concrete podium surmounted by 394,352 square feet glass-enclosed floors of office space that float over the podium on a series of concrete struts.
Shelburne paid $44.42 million for the property in 2014, according to city property records, in part using a $30.75 million mortgage from Cantor Commercial Real Estate Lending which it promptly sold to Wells Fargo. The loan came with a 4.5345 percent interest rate and matures April 6, 2023 according to court documents.
According to Wells Fargo’s foreclosure filing, Shelburne stopped making its monthly payments on the mortgage Feb. 6. Just under $25.73 million is still owed on the loan.
Richard P. Weinstein, Shelburne’s lawyer in the case, told The Commercial Record the property fell into default because of “softness in the market, tax obligations, maintenance obligations – the same things that go into operating an office property.”
The Greater Hartford office market has struggled substantially in recent years, with several downtown office landlords opting to convert their properties to housing instead.
Weinstein said Shelburne hopes to resolve the issue through negotiations and avoid a foreclosure.
A Shelburne spokesperson told the Hartford Business Journal, which first reported the story, that the foreclosure case would not affect its many other development projects in downtown Hartford.
