Old Site To Play New Role

Condos Planned For Capitol Ave. Building

August 12, 2005
By JEFFREY B. COHEN, Courant Staff Writer

Toolmakers, tire sellers, candy makers, upholsterers, printers, insurers, engravers, grocers, and office suppliers have all called the long red brick building at the corner of Capitol Avenue and Flower Street home.

And for its next act, the building most recently the headquarters of Hartford Office Supply will be home to condominium owners.

The not-quite-downtown building near the state Capitol and The Hartford Courant sold earlier this month for $2.65 million, city records show. Henry M. Zachs, whose father bought the building in 1939, decided the time was right to part with the property.

"The reason I decided to sell the building was that the state was not interested, The Courant was not interested ... and I had talked to various nonprofit institutions about using it, and none of them really had the dollars to make it a place for artists," Henry Zachs said.

The buyer is Capitol Ave. Tarragon LLC of New York, a company affiliated with Tarragon Corp., Zachs said. That company plans to bring condos to Capitol Avenue, he said.

Saul Spitz, an executive vice president with Tarragon, confirmed the project will turn the factory into condos, but he said it was too early to discuss the number, size and price for the units.

His company owns roughly 3,500 apartment units throughout the state, but this is its first venture into the Hartford real estate market, he said. "The property itself is a building that lends itself to what we feel will be a very comfortable and attractive conversion and recycling for residential use," he said. "And I like the location."

Spitz added that the downtown condo market is "currently totally underserved." Also, he believes the type of condominium the building will house will be different from anything the city has to offer.

"And it's close enough to still capitalize on the downtown buzz," Spitz said. "We certainly have a strong potential clientele to pull from."

According to its website, Tarragon was founded as a real estate company in 1973, has offices in New York City, Connecticut, Florida, Tennessee and Texas.

The city's most recent assessment of the roughly 115,000-square-foot building and associated land was in 2004 and was for $1 million - a fair market value of $1.44 million.

John F. Palmieri, director of development services for the city, said he was pleased to hear the news.

"I think it's noteworthy and it goes to this whole matter of spinning off some of the positive things happening downtown," Palmieri said.