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Affordable Housing Coming To Downtown

By Sean O’Leary

June 09, 2008

A 1920s building overlooking Bushnell Park is the latest downtown Hartford project set for an overhaul.

HBJ Photo/Diane Weaver Dunne

Common Ground is converting a former office building into 70 apartments

Common Ground, a New York-based developer of affordable housing, has begun construction on the $22 million restoration project at 410 Asylum St.

The upper floors of the former office building will be converted into 70 affordable mixed-income apartments. Plans also call for the restoration of the street level storefronts, comprising of 13,000 square feet.

Common Ground recently announced that financing for the project has been finalized. Funding will come from a number of public sources, including low-income housing tax credits, federal and state historic tax credits, the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority and the city of Hartford.

Street-Level Storefronts

The 1926 building, known as the Capitol Building, has been vacant for several years. It was donated to Common Ground in 2003 by the Hollander family, and the building will be renamed the Hollander Foundation Center.

About 80 percent of the apartments at the center will be rented to those with incomes below 60 percent of the area’s median income. Rents will start at $765 per month. The remaining two-bedroom units will be rented at market rate, $1,400 per month.

Construction is expected to be complete in the summer of 2009.

Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez, in a statement, described the project as “an incredible opportunity” for the city to provide affordable housing.

“This development will increase the feet on the street, adding to the vibrancy of our great city,” Perez said.