HARTFORD, CT — Downtown Hartford’s largest commercial landlord plans to expand on plaza improvements already underway at the corner of Trumbull and Pearl streets with the $2.35 million purchase of a neighboring office building where the Trumbull Kitchen restaurant has been a longtime tenant.
Shelbourne Global Solutions LLC of Brooklyn, N.Y., acquired the six-story 1909 structure at 150 Trumbull St. Friday, which is just to the north of the 100 Pearl Street complex, which Shelbourne acquired in 2015.
Shelbourne and Hartford HealthCare, a major tenant in next door 100 Pearl, are working together on a $24 million renovation of the complex. Those renovations include upgrades at the corner of Pearl and Trumbull streets -- including a new landscaped plaza with an enclosed seating area, posts that are illuminated at night and the repair of a clock tower that hasn’t worked in years.
Michael Seidenfeld, Shelbourne’s chief operating officer, said Tuesday that the improvements at the corner will connect well with the plaza area in front of Trumbull Kitchen.
“We just see this corner of downtown as one of the gateways into the core of downtown,” Seidenfeld said. “What we realize is, that one of the main ingredients necessary for a vibrant downtown is a big pedestrian experience.”
Seidenfeld said it is critical to keep connecting the walkable vibe throughout downtown. He pointed to the $100 million, mixed redevelopment project that includes the south side of Pratt Street that seeks to both add apartments but also to create pedestrian vibrancy. Shelbourne and two other partners are pursuing that redevelopment.
“Obviously, we believe that to be true on Pratt Street and that’s why we’re doing what we’re doing on Pratt Street,” Seidenfeld said. “But Pratt Street is meant only to be a starting point, an igniter to have a ripple effect and to influence all downtown. If we have the opportunity to bring that kind of vision, that kind of energy in other areas of the downtown, it certainly aligns with our whole vision.”
The improvements at Pearl and Trumbull also include the installation of a glass “cube” patterned after Apple’s On Fifth Avenue in New York City, intended to signal Hartford HealthCare’s commitment to innovation. The health system is the parent of Hartford Hospital and six others in Connecticut.
The 50,000-square-foot building at 150 Trumbull originally housed the Shoor Brothers Furniture Co. Today, the structure’s major tenant is the Siegel, O’Connor, O’Donnell & Beck law offices. Seidenfeld said the upper floors will remain office space.
City records show the property last sold for $880,000 in 1993. The most recent assessed value of the property is $1.65 million, according to city records.
The seller of the property was 150 Trumbull Street Associates Limited Partnership. State records show the agent for the limited partnership is John W. Beck.
