Three buildings on Broadway in Norwich to be renovated for commercial, residential use

Connor Linskey, Norwich Bulletin
·2 min read

The purchase of the Fairhaven building as well as the two buildings on either side of Billy Wilson’s Ageing Still last Thursday marked a key moment in the Lower Broadway Project in Norwich.

This project entails the revitalization of Broadway in front of Norwich City Hall. More specifically, the Norwich Community Development Corporation aims to fill the street’s vacant buildings and develop Jubilee Park, the city’s only downtown green space.

“Nothing’s really been done with it for a long period of time,” Kevin Brown, president and executive director of the Norwich Community Development Corporation, said regarding Jubilee Park.

Brothers Alfred and Ernest Tollja played a big role in advancing the Lower Broadway Project when they purchased the Fairhaven building located at 26-28 Broadway and the buildings at 51-53 Broadway and 59-61 Broadway for $810,000 last week. All three buildings have been left vacant and blighted for years.

The building at 51-53 Broadway in Norwich.
The building at 51-53 Broadway in Norwich.

The brothers, who own more than 100 apartment units in Norwich, will use all three buildings for both residential and commercial purposes. Each building has commercial space on the ground floor and residential properties above.

“Between Norwich and New York [City], they’ve done a lot of stuff like this,” said realtor Kyle Schrader of Seaport Real Estate Services, the brokers who represented the seller in the sale to the Tollja brothers. “They’re very experienced and old hands at this kind of work.”

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Schrader said that work on the building at 51-53 Broadway has been completed and the Tollja brothers are expected to begin renting units out to tenants next week. After repairs to the building at 59-61 Broadway are finished, the Tolljas will rent those spaces out before refurbishing and finding tenants for the Fairhaven building.

This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: Tollja brothers buy three buildings on lower Broadway in Norwich