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New Residential Plans For Old Office Building

By Jeff Cohen

April 03, 2012

A vacant 26-story office tower in downtown Hartford may get a new life. As WNPR's Jeff Cohen reports, a Fairfield developer has plans before the city to turn the old Bank of America building into nearly 300 apartments.

The project is in the early stages, and the city says there's no public or private financing committed to it yet. But it's worth noting the ambition -- the building at 777 Main Street has nothing happening inside of it, and developer Bruce Becker has an idea: He wants to build 286 apartments and a bunch of retail space near Hartford's State House Square.

Becker declined to comment. David Panagore, the city's chief operating officer, says the plans call for "mixed-income" units that he hopes could jumpstart the city's housing market.

"The largest by far, I believe, in terms of number of units, is one bedrooms, followed by studios, and just ten percent are two bedrooms."

Should the deal go through, Panagore says Becker would buy the building from its current owner, Michael Grunberg. The plans call for no exterior changes to the former office building.