Ex-E. Hfd. Sheraton hotel redone as Holiday Inn

Photo | Contributed The revamped, reflagged Holiday Inn Hartford-East at 100 East River Drive.

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The former Sheraton East Hartford Hotel has undergone a multimillion-dollar renovation and now flies the Holiday Inn flag, authorities say.

The Procaccianti Group owns the 215-room hotel at 100 East River Drive, overlooking the Connecticut River and downtown Hartford's skyline.

Ralph V. Izzi Jr., TPG marketing director, said Tuesday the Holiday Inn rebranding follows about six to eight months of the lodging operating under the generic sobriquet — Hartford Plaza Hotel — while undergoing extensive interior and exterior renovations.

Holiday Inn Hartford-East is the 39-year-old hotel's new name. TPQ shed the Sheraton flag around the time work began, Izzi said.

TPG's Providence, R.I., affiliate, TPG Construction, oversaw the renovations and conversion. Izzi would only say that it was a “multimillion-dollar'' project. Another affiliate, TPG Hospitality, will manage the hotel.

The hotel's general manager, Johan Liebenberg, said rooms feature new carpets and wall coverings; furniture and fixtures, including flat-screen TVs and high-speed Internet; and renovated bathrooms.

In addition, its public areas saw renovations to the main lobby, registration desks, indoor pool, expanded fitness and business center. The hotel has more than 8,500 square feet of function space that also has been updated with new audio-visual equipment

TPG acquired the hotel in 1999 for $6 million, then sank another $5 million into renovations to convert it from a Ramada Hotel to an upscale Sheraton, The Hartford Courant reported at the time.

Although they share names, the East Hartford hotel doesn't compete directly with a Holiday Inn Express, across from Union Train Station in downtown Hartford.

TPG has 60 hotels with some 18,000 guest rooms in 24 states, Izzi said.

• • •

Farmington Bank opens East Hartford branch

Farmington Bank has opened its newest branch at 957 Main St. in East Hartford — it's first in that town.

The 2,000-square-foot office is located on the corner of Main and Governor streets, part of the Gateway Square Project for the East Hartford downtown revitalization. It will house five employees.

The bank owns the building yet leases the land beneath from landlord Merchants East Hartford III LLC, officials said Tuesday.

Bristol's S. Carpenter Construction was contractor. Hartford's Tecton Architects is designer. No building price tag was disclosed.

Michael Costa will run the branch as vice president and manager. Costa was previously with Banco Santander. He received a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Connecticut. He is president of The Portuguese Foundation Inc., a Connecticut cultural and scholarship nonprofit.

Farmington Bank has 21 branches in central Connecticut, six of those opening in the last two years. It has two other branches east of the Connecticut River, in Glastonbury and South Windsor.

Deal Watch wants to hear from you. E-mail it, along with contact information to: gseay@HartfordBusiness.com.

Greg Seay is the Hartford Business Journal News Editor.

• • •

North Haven adds beer warehouse

A Massachusetts beer distributor is entering the Connecticut market and has taken 12,637 square feet of warehouse-office space at 352 Sackett Point Road in North Haven.

The Craft Beer Guild Distributing of CT LLC division of distributor L. Knife & Son Inc., of Plymouth, Mass., is the tenant.

Their business is storing and distributing craft beers in 18 warehouses in seven other Atlantic stores and Wisconsin, according to L. Knife's homepage. Ryan Wells is the Craft's general manager.

The landlord is Sackett Point IP Holdings LLC.

The Geenty Group, Realtors was Craft's broker. CB Richard Ellis represented the landlord.

Deal Watch wants to hear from you. E-mail it, along with contact information to: gseay@HartfordBusiness.com.

Greg Seay is the Hartford Business Journal News Editor.

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