Owner seeks future for his old Hartford office bldg.

HBJ PHOTOs | Gregory Seay Attorney Peter S. Gersten is the second-generation owner of downtown Hartford's 234 Pearl St., once home to his family members' law practices. Inside, Gersten in what was his office building's law library. Goodwin Square office tower looms over 234 Pearl.

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As downtown office buildings go, the one at 234 Pearl St. has seen better days.

The turn-of-the-20th-century structure was once a social hall for Italian-Americans, state offices, and later home to a family of attorneys, who bought it in the 1950s to house their practices. Outside, its white-washed brick façade fronting Pearl is barely noticeable, except for the “for sale or joint venture'' sign mounted above the doorway.

Inside, the dusty spaces look caught in a time warp: A library packed with books; offices with desks, chairs, even window air conditioners still in place.

What the building lacks in tenants and amenities it makes up for being located on the fringe of downtown's day- and night-life.

But to West Hartford attorney Peter S. Gersten, second-generation of his family to own the approximately 12,000-square-foot, three-story building, it has plenty of potential. If only, Gersten says, he can figure out — with help from the market and investors — its potential. There is no pricetag for the property.

“It's a good building. It's got a great location,'' Gersten said, taking a visitor recently on a flashlight tour of his property. To save costs and potential hazards, the building lacks electricity.

Towering directly behind 234 Pearl is the Goodwin Square office skyscraper, sold recently in foreclosure for about $17 million to Wilton investors. Goodwin even shares an easement with 234 Pearl, in the form of an enclosed pedestrian corridor linking the Goodwin's parking garage to Ann Uccello Street.

Next door is Bin 228 Winebar, itself part of the ground-floor retail space for the Goodwin Hotel property that wraps three sides of the Goodwin office tower.

Gersten says Capital Region Development Authority executive director Michael Freimuth toured 234 Pearl and came away impressed before the agency funded its first batch of office conversions. Freimuth confirms his tour.

But Gersten says he hasn't followed up with CRDA about re-developing his building. He says he's wary that maybe the downtown market will be flooded with too many living units, and that taking that route now could expose him and his property if demand tapers.

However, a fresh tenancy survey for the converted offices-to-apartments already available shows demand so far outstrips supply.

Another idea Gersten has for the building borrows a page from the growing trend in places like New York City of so-called “work lofts,'' where loft residents who are entrepreneurs or professionals share communal work space in the same building.

Gersten says he has been approached by real estate “bottom feeders'' to folks with lofty ambitions for the property but very little financial backing. He is prepared to wait, he said, for the right offer or opportunity.

Town Line tenant

Florida civil contractor Middlesex Corp. leased 5,855 square feet in Newington's Town Line Business Park, brokers say.

RPG II LLC is landlord for the four-building park at 48 Christian Lane.

Reno Properties Group was sole broker.

Founded in 1972, Orlando-based Middlesex provides construction services for civil, heavy construction, bridge, marine, rail and road projects in New England and Florida.

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