Bolstered by an impending $6.5 million in low-interest state loans , a prominent developer is proposing 150 apartments on the riverfront — the town’s third large-scale residential project.
Simon Konover Co.’s $47.5 million Commerce Center in East Hartford would be a complex of three-story buildings about a half-mile south of the massive Port Eastside project at Founders Plaza, and could revamp much of East Hartford’s riverfront.
“This is music to my ears,” Mayor Connor Martin said after a Capital Region Development Authority committee endorsed the loan request. “We have so much momentum and investment going into that area. This is leveraging some of the most prime real estate we have in town.”
Konover’s plan would use part of its property at 341 East River Drive, an undeveloped 35-acre tract bordered by the Connecticut River to the southwest and the Hockanum River to the southeast. Just a few hundred feet to the south is the Charter Oak Bridge.
The town has assessed the land at a little more than $1.1 million, and Konover has owned it for decades with plans to build office space just south of the large Founders Plaza office park.
“With changing workforce dynamics and the supply-demand imbalance for apartments in Greater Hartford, the highest and best use shifted towards housing,” according to a CRDA memo.
Konover began floating the idea of a roughly 130-unit project there last year, but is now proposing 150 with a heavy emphasis on two-bedroom apartments. Tentative plans are for five three-story buildings with 19 studio units, 36 one-bedrooms, 75 two-bedrooms and 18 three-bedrooms.
There would be an outdoor pool and deck along with grilling stations, and a clubhouse with a fitness center, work-from-home spaces, a cafe area and a community room, according to CRDA documents. The management office would also be in that building.
Konover has been talking with East Hartford officials about an eight-year phased-in property tax break. CRDA documents indicate the company would put up $7.75 million including the land, and bank financing would provide another $33.25 million. The rest of the $47.5 million cost would be covered by CRDA’s 10-year loan of $6.5 million at 3% annual interest.
Just this week, Port Eastside’s development partnership announced it had completed acquiring the four key properties at Founders Plaza that it needs for a planned mega-development of up to 1,000 apartments along with retail, restaurants, a transportation center and more.
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At the same time, developers Brian Zelman and Avner Krohn are moving forward with plans for 300 to 400 apartments in a new project they’re calling Concourse Park at the site of the former Showcase Cinemas along Interstate 84. The company plans to close on the purchase of the property before the year ends and begin construction in 2025.
The wave of residential development started under Mayor Mike Walsh and is continuing in Martin’s administration.
“It continues to contribute to the message that 2024 is our year, and 2025 will be our year too,” Martin said. “It shows the energy around economic development here.”
Konover manages apartment buildings in Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine, Pennsylvania and Illinois, and its portfolio lists 45 Connecticut complexes ranging from Eno Farms in Simsbury and Greenfield Village in Rocky Hill to The Residences at Wash Brook in Bloomfield and Cove in West Hartford.
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