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September 26, 2022

Sons of prominent developer, lawyer take control of major downtown Hartford developments

HBJ PHOTO | GARY LEWIS Brothers Evan and Matthew Levy (pictured left to right), along with their brother Dean (not pictured), are partnered with Daniel Klaynberg (right) on several Hartford development projects including the rehab of a former firehouse at 275 Pearl St. in Hartford (pictured here) as well as a former municipal office building at 525 Main St.
HBJ PHOTO | GARY LEWIS
By Michael Puffer

Before he was 10, Daniel Klaynberg was spending a portion of his weekends answering phones in the Manhattan office of his father’s company, Wonder Works Construction.

As a teen, Klaynberg began tidying up job sites as a laborer. But Wonder Works founder Joseph Klaynberg quickly moved his son into administration, working with financial records, record keeping and event management at job sites.

By the time he was 23, Daniel Klaynberg was helping lead construction of a 163-unit apartment development in Manhattan.

Now 36, Klaynberg is stepping into the forefront of a company that has created more than 550 market-rate apartments in downtown Hartford over the past decade, and many more in New York City.

Daniel Klaynberg has been the company’s face in Hartford for about a year, meeting with city officials and putting his name to loans and agreements on pending projects.

“It’s a little bit of a natural progression,” said the younger Klaynberg, who has been CFO for Wonder Works since 2016. “I’ve been working with Wonder Works and my father for a long time.”

The transition, Klaynberg concedes, may have been accelerated by financial troubles that hit his father in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, as one New York condominium project failed. The building was completed, but Wonder Works was unable to show units at the pandemic’s outset, Klaynberg explained.

Joseph Klaynberg

Joseph Klaynberg filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February in the Southern District of New York. According to Klaynberg’s filing, he has $5.2 million in assets and $121 million in liabilities, which includes his debt guarantees for prior Hartford projects.

“It sure has made changes in our lives and made us have to go about securing deals differently,” Daniel Klaynberg said.

Klaynberg said he took on increasing responsibilities and ownership of projects even before his father’s financial troubles.

“It’s possible I would have been at the forefront and the guarantor anyway,” he said.

Klaynberg said operations at the four Hartford apartment buildings his father helped develop have not been impacted by the bankruptcy filing.

Hartford a good bet

Wonder Works got its Hartford start in 2012, when it partnered with another New York developer — Girona Ventures — to buy a long-vacant hotel on Constitution Plaza for $500,000. The 250,000-square-foot building was remodeled into 193 apartments in a $23.6 million project that wrapped in 2016.

Wonder Works and Girona subsequently remodeled two decaying Pearl Street office buildings into modern apartments. They also purchased and remodeled the former Trumbull on the Park apartment building.

The buildings — operating under the “Spectra” banner — feature premium amenities including a theater, fitness center, rooftop deck and more. Any amenity in the four buildings is open to all Spectra tenants.

HBJ PHOTO | GARY LEWIS

These projects made Wonder Works one of the most prominent players in the city’s ongoing efforts to grow its downtown residential population and create a more thriving restaurant/retail culture.

That has become all the more crucial as the pandemic emptied corporate office buildings and taught companies that much of their workforce can effectively work from home.

Daniel Klaynberg said Hartford remains a great investment. He praised city staff as responsive to everything from inspection requests to road closures, which has saved considerable time and development expense.

Even so, the Spectra apartment buildings were shaken by the pandemic. As occupancy declined in 2020, Girona sold its half-share in those buildings to local parking mogul Alan Lazowski and prominent developer Martin Kenny. Occupancy quickly bounced back into the 90s, Klaynberg said.

New projects, new partners

Now, Daniel Klaynberg is teamed up with new partners for mixed-use redevelopments of a former fire station at 275 Pearl St., and a former municipal building at 525 Main St.

In November, the Hartford City Council signed off on a tentative deal to sell the buildings to Wonder Works for $785,000. Under the terms, Wonder Works was to lease the parking lots adjacent to the municipal building for $32,000 yearly, with an option to buy at any point for $162,000.

Klaynberg is partnered with Matthew, Evan and Dean Levy — sons of prominent Hartford-area attorney Coleman Levy — on the redevelopment.

The plan is to build 40 apartments at 525 Main St., and 36 rental units inside the fire house, with retail on the first floors of both buildings. Daniel Klaynberg said he has secured financing through Massachusetts-based PeoplesBank.

Klaynberg said he plans to redevelop parking lots associated with the municipal building into about 80 apartments with parking on lower levels of a six- to eight-story building. That work could begin in a couple years, he said.

Officials and Klaynberg say they are on the cusp of finalizing legal agreements for the sale and redevelopment of the firehouse, municipal building and associated lots.

The municipal building already hosts a deli and shoe repair shop. Klaynberg said both are welcome to stay. A convenience shop operator has signed a lease to move into a roughly 500-square-foot space as well, Klaynberg said.

At the fire station, Hartford restaurant entrepreneur Gina Luari plans to open a 4,500-square-foot pizzeria.

Coleman Levy

Coleman Levy had provided legal counsel to Joseph Klaynberg since his arrival in Hartford. Daniel Klaynberg said Levy’s local knowledge and banking connections proved crucial to prior efforts.

Matthew, Evan and Dean Levy, as well as their mother, Judie, are principals in Levy Properties. The company is a legacy business from Judie Levy’s side of the family. It has focused on redevelopment and leasing of Greater Hartford retail centers of up to about 65,000 square feet.

Matthew Levy said it was “mutual respect” between his father and Joseph Klaynberg that paved the way for the sons’ partnership. He said his family’s expertise in retail will help keep the first floors of the redeveloped buildings filled with quality tenants.

“Daniel and I have a very nice working relationship,” Matthew Levy said. “They are good people. We have primarily been in retail strip centers, so this is a nice opportunity to diversify into multifamily with retail.”

As with virtually all market-rate apartment developments in Hartford, the Capital Region Development Authority is lined up to provide a portion of financing. CRDA Executive Director Michael Freimuth said Daniel Klaynberg has represented the Wonder Works side throughout the latest deal.

Freimuth said all of the necessary finances and legal agreements for the redevelopments are “pretty close” to being completed.

“It’s really been Dan, not Joe,” Freimuth said. “This is really a whole new creature. We’ve been dealing with Dan and his banks and his investors. The transition is relatively smooth.”

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