Prolific Hartford landlord Gottesdiener airs frustration, optimism for city

PHOTO | Steve Laschever Larry Gottesdiener is the founder and chairman of Northland Investment Corp.

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Northland Investment Corp. CEO Larry Gottesdiener sat down recently with the Hartford Business Journal for a rare, wide-ranging interview, discussing myriad issues, including why he chose Hartford (his grandfather was a mailman here), to invest in office space (his biggest mistake), and build apartments (Hartford 21 is his crowning achievement despite an admission it was over-designed and over-engineered).

He held back few punches, saying Hartford’s and the state’s economies have floundered over the years from a lack of vision and focus on job creation and from government leaders who largely assume an adversarial stance toward business.

“Hartford could be on the verge of a very exciting period now,” Gottesdiener said. “For better or for worse, Hartford has been bailed out. It’s on fairly solid (financial) ground. It has all these new amenities. Where is the vision to pull all this together?”

Check out this four-part story series:

Larry’s Take: Hartford’s most prolific landlord airs his frustration, optimism for the city

Hartford 21: The tower that Northland got right

Northland’s ‘adjacency’ strategy key to Hartford footprint

Gottesdiener’s multifamily outlook