Photo courtesy of the city of Hartford
The owners of a prominent Hartford office complex appear to be gaining a lifeline in the form of a Lamont administration economic development move.
Gov. Ned Lamont announced last week that the state was directing $20 million from a new, $100 million “innovation clusters” economic development fund to support a big, new workforce training institute to be dubbed “Hartford Innovation Center.”
The center will take 100,000 square feet of space in the State House Square complex at 10 State St in downtown Hartford, Lamont’s office said.
Owned by companies controlled by New York City real estate investment firm Cammeby’s and the family office of the New York City-based Fruchthandler family, according to public records, the 437,000-square-foot building appears to be largely vacant. A CBRE listing page for the property notes a little over 315,000 square feet is available in the two-tower complex, including several contiguous, multi-floor blocks.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether a lease had been signed for space in the 1978-vintage State House Square complex. The Hartford Business Journal reported that the Innovation Center was originally slated for a city-owned plot near Dunkin Park, but quoted Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam as saying the move will help chip away at the city’s enormous inventory of unoccupied office space.
Quarterly CBRE research found the office vacancy rate across the entire capitol region had dropped to 21.7 percent by June 30, but 2.28 million square feet of the 9.81 million-square-foot downtown office market was vacant or available.
The Hartford Innovation Center currently occupies 7,000 square feet at 10 Constitution Plaza in its pilot form, but at full build-out the center will “be a dynamic environment where residents, youth, startups, corporate partners, and higher-education researchers develop real-world solutions and accelerate responsible AI adoption across Connecticut industries,” Lamont’s office said. Faculty will come from the 21-school Connecticut AI Alliance, and private employers will also have unspecified “academic support and reliable environments to test new tools, and the skilled workers to deploy them.”
“Today’s investment signals our commitment to accelerating economic growth in Hartford while ensuring workers and employers alike benefit from cutting-edge innovation,” Lamont said in a statement. “This project stands at the center of our broader strategy to bring new workforce opportunities into the region and strengthen connections between communities and the state’s most dynamic industries.”
Fiscal oversight and operational stewardship will be provided by the Trustworthy AI Network (TWAIN), a nonprofit yet to be established but expected to be launched “later this year.” It’s unclear how much more the center will need to expand, on top of the $20 million state investment.
“By transforming a vacant downtown space into a hub for learning, collaboration, and opportunity, we are putting Hartford residents first to ensure that nobody gets left behind,” Arulampalam said in a statement provided by Lamont’s office. “This investment will bring something truly transformative to Hartford: a space where our residents, students, businesses and innovators can learn, create, and solve real-world problems. The Hartford Innovation Center at State House Square will build on the talent already here in Hartford, giving residents, students, employers, and entrepreneurs a place to connect, collaborate, and create new opportunities in our city.”
