Processing Your Payment

Please do not leave this page until complete. This can take a few moments.

September 19, 2024

CRDA head Freimuth, key player in Hartford-area redevelopment, announces plans to step down

PHOTO | MICHAEL PUFFER Former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin and Michael Freimuth, executive director of CRDA.
By Michael Puffer

Michael Freimuth, a champion of redevelopment efforts in Hartford and East Hartford, announced Thursday he will step down as executive director of the Capital Region Development Authority next June.

Freimuth, 69, has led the quasi-governmental agency since its launch in 2012, playing a pivotal role in creating an impactful engine of economic development in Hartford.

Under his guidance, the agency has provided low-interest gap financing and tax breaks that have led to the construction of about 3,300 new downtown Hartford apartments, with more than 2,500 in the pipeline. He has been the steady, affable and widely respected hand at the helm of a 12-person agency with an outsized impact.

“My mission, years ago, was to knit back together a connection between the city and state on development, with a focus on downtown housing,” Freimuth said. “Since then, I think we have achieved a lot of that.”

The agency’s role has expanded to include work on housing developments across Hartford -- not just in its center -- as well as in East Hartford and, to a smaller degree, in Newington and Wethersfield, Freimuth noted. It manages the XL Center arena and Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford; the stadium at Rentschler Field in East Hartford; and 17,000 parking spaces.

The agency’s efforts have helped transform vacant and deteriorating office buildings into in-demand market-rate apartments. It has supported construction of a 270-unit apartment building on a parking lot next to the minor league Dunkin’ Park baseball stadium in the city’s north end, with more apartment buildings slated for other lots around the stadium. The CRDA is also advancing plans to build a 1,200-household neighborhood, complete with retail and restaurants, on about 20-acres of vacant and parking lots south of Bushnell Park.

“Our task now is to cobble together resources to get projects done and oversee them as they get started,” Freimuth said. 

Freimuth’s career in finance and economic development stretches back about four decades. He headed economic development efforts in Stamford under then-Mayor Dannel P. Malloy before taking a job as commissioner of development in New Rochelle, New York. After two years, Malloy, then governor, recruited Freimuth to apply for leadership of the newly created CRDA.

Freimuth said a few factors are feeding into his retirement decision. There’s a desire to move away from the daily grind. He has also seen two friends in their 60s die shortly after retirement. So, Freimuth has decided to take a break and spend more time with family and on hobbies.

 “Hopefully, I will have a little sabbatical,” Freimuth said Thursday. “I think I just need to reset my bearings.”

The CRDA Board of Directors, on Thursday, approved a nine-month extension of Freimuth’s contract, which was to expire Oct. 1. That is meant to allow enough time to find a successor and to bring them up to speed before Freimuth departs, said CRDA Board Chairman David Robinson, who is also executive vice president and general counsel for insurer The Hartford.

"I think Mike's done an outstanding job of leading the CRDA from its inception in 2012," Robinson said. "I just think he and the team here at CRDA have made an extraordinary contribution to the city, East Hartford and the capital region."

Finding someone to match Freimuth's wealth of experience and prowess at navigating politics around development will be a challenge, Robinson acknowledged. But the outgoing executive director has built a "very strong" team capable of supporting his successor, he said. 

Freimuth, who lives in Fairfield, said he plans to spend more time with his three grandchildren, as well as on carpentry and hiking. He said he might even take up golf again. He expects he will take up part-time consulting on development within a year. 
 

Sign up for Enews

Most Recent

Most Recent

0 Comments

Order a PDF