Benjamin Schlossberg’s New York-based real estate investment and development company Shelbourne Global Solutions has had the biggest impact on downtown Hartford’s commercial real estate market over the past eight years.
Schlossberg’s firm since 2014 has bought hundreds of millions of dollars in real estate downtown — including major class A office towers — becoming the center city’s most dominant landlord.
Its portfolio includes the iconic Stilts Building at 20 Church St., which it bought in 2014 for $44.4 million; the blue-windowed office tower at 100 Pearl St., purchased in 2015 for $36.9 million; and the Metro Center at 350 Church St., purchased in 2015 for $36.9 million
Besides its dominant office space holdings, Shelbourne has been branching out to other property types.
For example, last year it paid $4.3 million for the former Fuller Brush Co. property in Hartford’s North End at 3580 Main St., which it hopes to upgrade to a better office/flex/warehouse space.
In June, Shelbourne and Waterbury-based Axela partnered to acquire downtown Hartford’s Red Lion hotel for $22 million, and plan to spend another $8 million converting the remaining guest rooms at the recently foreclosed property into market-rate apartments.
Finally, Shelbourne is also one of the partners in the ongoing mixed-use, $100 million redevelopment of Hartford’s Pratt Street corridor, which will add hundreds of new or refurbished apartments.