Partners behind 1,000-apartment East Hartford redevelopment acquire another property for $1.5M
Costar
50 Founders Plaza, East Hartford
Investors behind a roughly 1,000-unit apartment, mixed-use redevelopment of an aging riverside office park in East Hartford announced in early October they had secured the last private property needed for the ambitious effort.
Now, they’ve decided to incorporate at least one more.
A limited liability company tied to the “Port Eastside” team recently paid $1.5 million for a 51-year-old, 25,392-square-foot office building on 1.5 acres at 50 Hartland St.
The property, also known as 50 Founders Plaza, sits amid several larger buildings that Port Eastside already secured for the project.
GLK Realty LLC – whose principals are Kirk S. Lucas and Nicholas Totonis, both of Glastonbury – sold the property in a deed signed Oct. 30.
The buyer, 50 Hartland St. LLC, lists Bruce Simons as principal in state business records. Simons is a principal of West Hartford-based Simons Real Estate Group, as well as a member of the Port Eastside development team.
The Port Eastside partnership did not respond to a request for comment on the purchase.
The Port Eastside team had come close to purchasing 50 Hartland St. earlier this year, but backed away from a deal, according to O,R&L Managing Partner Jay Morris, the listing broker. That prompted the seller to put it on the market in August.
Negotiations reopened and Port Eastside was able to close after the seller agreed to finance a portion of the sale, Morris said.
The buyer signed a mortgage in favor of seller GLK Realty for $1.09 million, at an annual 5% interest, according to a filing in town land records. The note is due Oct. 31, 2029.
Harris Simons – brother to Bruce Simons –signed the mortgage, which is dated Oct. 31. Harris Simons is listed as manager of 50 Hartland Street LLC on the document. He is also a principal of Simons Real Estate and a partner in the Port Eastside development.
“There was a lot of interest in (the property), but this was the simplest because they’ve already been down the road, they know the property and they were able to close quickly once they decided to,” Morris said.
Port Eastside’s plan, as outlined in early October, is to transform 28 acres of the Founders Plaza office park along the Connecticut River into a mixed-use development blending 1,000 housing units with a transportation center, 6.1-acre greenway and 400,000 square feet of entertainment, restaurant and retail space. Most of the housing will be apartments, but there will be a small number of condos.
The first tangible signs of the redevelopment will begin with demolition of an office building and parking garage. That work, funded with a $6.5 million state grant funneled through the town, is expected to move forward in the first quarter of 2025.
Other properties acquired for the Port Eastside project include:
321 Pitkin St. – 5.7-acre parking lot purchased in late September for $1.75 million.
323 Pitkin St. – (AKA 111 Founders Plaza) 19-story, 270,106-square-foot office tower and 126,000-square-foot garage on 3.46 acres; was secured after Port Eastside acquired a mortgage on the property – held by M&T Bank – with a $17.49 million balance, and then foreclosed.
20 Hartland St. – (AKA 99 Founders Plaza) Port Eastside paid $4 million for the 182,890-square-foot former Bank of America office building on 7.34 acres in a sale recorded Sept. 1, 2023.
300 East River Drive – Port Eastside paid $7 million for a 70,350-square-foot “flex” office building on 6.5 acres.
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