Plan to add 100 apartments and restaurant near CT city’s downtown park on track for $6.5M state loan
HARTFORD — A $45 million apartment project planned for two historic but difficult to convert buildings near downtown Hartford’s Bushnell Park is close to securing state funding crucial to construction starting within a year.
A $6.5 million state taxpayer-backed loan for the project — planned for the structures at 18-20 and 30 Trinity St. — is all but assured to be approved when the State Bond Commission meets Friday.
The buildings are located near the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts and on the northwest corner of the Bushnell South redevelopment area where more than 1,000 residential units may be built in the next decade, many of them on surface parking lots. The conversion of the two historic buildings would provide a boost to the effort, alongside 55 Elm St. on Bushnell South’s northeast corner, already being converted to apartments in a $67 million effort.
Developers Philadelphia-based Pennrose LLC and The Cloud Co., of Hartford, plan 108 residential rentals in the two Trinity Street buildings, plus a restaurant in 30 Trinity and a rooftop lounge atop the neighboring 18-20 Trinity. A landscaped plaza in between would visually connect the two converted structures, both built early in the last century.
The apartments, mostly studios and one-bedrooms, would be mixed-income, with 20% reserved as “affordable” for tenants that restrict rents and limit income to less than 50% of the area median income. Parking would be nearby in the new, $16 million, state-financed Bushnell South Parking Garage.
The state has agreed to sell the properties to the developers for $1.1 million, and the purchase must be completed by Feb. 12.
Charlie Adams, regional vice president at Pennrose, said Tuesday he is confident all the financing will be in place by that deadline.
“This is a major step to moving us on a path to getting these buildings closed and under construction,” Adams said. “We’re excited. These are great buildings, it’s a great location, it’s going to be a great asset. There is interest in the restaurant, and there are real synergies being across from the Capitol building with some co-working type of space. And it’s a historic asset that is being repurposed.”
The conversion would take 18-24 months to complete.
The project’s financing is expected to include up to $6 million in a state grant from the Urban Act grant program. The program seeks to promote development and improve the lives of urban residents.
The redevelopment also faces significant challenges, including a wall in 18-20 Trinity that is structurally unsound and will need to be completely replaced, a costly endeavor. Also, the layout of the buildings leave much space that cannot be converted to apartments.
Despite those obstacles, supporters say the buildings are integral to the overall development of Bushnell South that includes a jumble of parking lots next to The Bushnell.
“Like 55 Elm, these buildings give us an opportunity to bring housing to the park and will advance the Bushnell South effort one more step,” Michael W. Freimuth, executive director of the Capital Region Development Authority, said, in a text. The authority is seeking the loan for the project through the bond commission.
Both 55 Elm and the two Trinity Street properties were part of a consolidation of state offices into the renovated State Office Building at nearby 165 Capitol Ave. that left the buildings vacant and ripe for redevelopment.
The preferred developer of the largest surface lot in Bushnell South area, which is bisected by Capitol Avenue, has preliminary plans for a $100 million development. The plans call for 233 rentals, including 84 studio, 125 one-bedroom and 24 two-bedroom units.
In addition, townhouses that would be offered for sale also are planned in the future on the site.
Pennrose and The Cloud Co., headed by businessman Sanford J. Cloud, are partners in the sprawling Village at Park River, a redevelopment of rundown public housing in Hartford’s North End. But a conversion of the two historic structures would be Pennrose’s first project downtown.
Although Village at Park River is new construction, Pennrose said it often focuses on converting historic structures for housing throughout its broader Northeast market.
Kenneth R. Gosselin can be reached at kgosselin@courant.com.
