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.”
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Gary B. O’Connor
Hartford’s largest office landlord, Shelbourne Global Solutions, certainly wants its tenants to start beckoning workers back to the workplace as soon as possible, said Benjamin Schlossberg, managing member of the New York-based realty company.
“We need to keep our buildings full, occupied and vibrant and it’s hard to do if people aren’t at work,” Schlossberg said. “For us it’s a real urgency.”
At State House Square, one of downtown Hartford’s major Class A office properties, David Jakubowski keeps a close eye on parking garage traffic reports, eager to see concrete signs of greater employee activity as COVID-19 vaccination rates rise.
However, Jakubowski, who manages the three-building property on behalf of its owners, has observed only a slight increase over the past few months. Inside, there’s still just a sliver of normal employee activity levels.
“We were hoping at this point we might have 25% of the normal population back to work,” Jakubowski said. “I see a few more people I haven’t seen in the last year, maybe one or two days a week.”
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Downtown Hartford’s Pratt Street will host live music every Thursday and Friday evening and Saturday morning from early June through mid-October., the Hartford Business Improvement District announced.
The so-called Pratt Street Patio Music Series, which begins June 3, is meant to promote shopping and dining on the brick-lined Pratt Street and other parts of downtown. The three-day schedule represents an expansion from prior series over the past three years, which hosted more than 100 musical acts.
The schedule of musical acts is not yet available, but will be released on Hartford.com
“We are very excited to bring back live music in a safe setting to the City of Hartford,” Chip McCabe, BID’s events director, said in a statement. “This series has consistently showcased artists from all over the state and we take a lot of pride in how eclectic the music has been. We are very grateful to have a beautiful space like Pratt Street that we can activate with local, original music
A residential conversion of the former office building on Pulaski Circle and the second phase of the Pratt Street redevelopment, both in downtown Hartford, are expected to win public financing at the upcoming State Bond Commission meeting.