Garyb Oconnor News Today

Walking through some Connecticut malls today can be a depressing experience: vacant storefronts, shuttered anchor stores, rundown exteriors and empty parking lots abound. The shift to e-commerce, accelerated and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, has turned some of these once bustling centers of commerce into shadows of their former selves. But can these one-time seemingly invincible retail titans be brought back to life, even in the face of the growing popularity of Amazon and other online c...

Groton — The town said it is giving Respler Homes 30 days to fulfill obligations outlined in the development agreement for the Mystic Education Center — or the town will consider terminating the agreement with the developer. Attorneys for the town and for Respler Homes recently exchanged letters and are at odds over each other’s responsibilities for the proposed redevelopment process outlined in the development agreement for the former Mystic Oral School property. Respler Homes’ attor...

Downtown Hartford’s major office buildings remain relatively deserted compared to pre-pandemic times, which creates potential problems for building owners. “It makes it harder to lease additional space because it looks like a ghost town,” said Gary B. O’Connor, a commercial real estate attorney at Pullman & Comley. “[Owners] want the tenants to come back.” Image Gary B. O’Connor Hartford’s largest office landlord, Shelbourne Global Solutions, certainly wants its tenants to start...