Jeffrey Chera News Today

A few dozen Greater Hartford area real estate brokers gathered in the expansive lobby of the Atrium at Gillette Ridge in Bloomfield Wednesday for a first look at renovations to, and available space in, the 548,301-square-foot office building.

The buyers of the colossal former MetLife office building in Bloomfield have scored their first new tenant with international contractor Permasteelisa. The company provides engineering, manufacturing, project management and installation of building structures and interior systems. Permasteelisa will occupy 21,500 square feet of the 548,301-square-foot former MetLife building at 1300 Hall Blvd. New York-based real estate investors Harry Tawil and Jeffrey Chera bought the building from MetLife for...

Three decades ago, a 548,301-square-foot office building at 1300 Hall Blvd. in Bloomfield hosted thousands of Cigna workers. Today, the building leases to several companies with a combined workforce of about 1,000. But only about 200 people actually work there on any given day, according to the building owners. Real estate investors Harry Tawil, 36, and Jeffrey Chera, 32, have plans to turn that around.