Lamont, others mark launch of $52.8M project to transform former state office buildings in downtown Hartford into apartments
Michael Puffer
Gov. Ned Lamont, surrounded by other state and local officials, holds up a hammer to commemorate the start of a conversion of former state office buildings on Trinity Street in downtown Hartford into apartments.
After four years knitting together a complex package of funding sources, developers and government officials on Tuesday marked the imminent launch of a $52.8 million redevelopment of two vacant, century-old former state office buildings just off Bushnell Park at one corner of downtown Hartford.
“We look forward to bringing back to life these historic buildings in a new use for fixed-income housing and commercial activity and to be a part of making the vision of Bushnell South a reality, enhancing this neighborhood into a greater part of our beloved city,” said Sanford “Sandy” Cloud Jr., chairman and CEO of Hartford-based developer The Cloud Co.
The project, which is expected to launch within weeks, will transform the two buildings at 18-20 Trinity St. and 30 Trinity St. – right across from the state Capitol – into 104 apartments.
Cloud is teamed up on the project with its frequent partner, Philadelphia-based multifamily developer Pennrose.
Twenty-one units will be set aside for households earning 50% to 60% of the area median income. The project is expected to be completed in early 2027.
During a ceremony held Tuesday to commemorate the start of the project, speaker after speaker noted the complexity of the funding package needed to pull the development off.
According to a summary from the Capital Region Development Authority, funding sources include a:
- $9.5 million loan through KeyBank
- $8.2 million in federal historic tax credits
- $10.6 million in state historic tax credits
- $6.5 million CRDA loan
- $3.7 million in federal low-income housing tax credits through the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority
- $6 million from a state Urban Act grant
- $850,000 from the Federal Home Loan Bank
- $987,000 state brownfield grant
- $4 million in equity and developer fee deferrals
- $2.5 million loan from the Connecticut Department of Housing
“These projects are so complicated,” Gov. Ned Lamont said. “The number of alphabet-soup of layered cake that goes into making this happen. We have more building permits out there than we have had in a decade or so. A lot of our cities are coming back to life. We have to turn that back into housing. That takes the skill set you see right here.”
Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam said the Trinity Street project was emblematic of the city’s broader apartment development push.
The city, with the help of private developers, federal and state funding and the CRDA, has added thousands of new market-rate apartments over the past decade.
That includes ground-up apartment construction around the Dunkin’ Park minor league baseball stadium to the north of downtown. There is also a push to redevelop underused buildings and vacant lots around Bushnell Park. The state office conversions on Trinity Street are part of the broader Bushnell South redevelopment plan.
Officials hope to see these projects and others revitalize the city and better connect the downtown with outlying neighborhoods.
“We are building one seamless city,” Arulampalam said. “You see it happening with the development in Downtown North and right here as we put the first bricks in Bushnell South. Brick by brick, development by development, this city is becoming one larger city in which every neighborhood feels a part of where we are going.”
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments