Developers are running out of time to bid on UConn’s former satellite campus in West Hartford, which was recently put up for sale after New York-based fintech Ideanomics pulled out of a planned $400-million development for the site.
A final call for purchase offers has been scheduled for Oct. 30, according to John Cafasso, a broker for Colliers International Group in Hartford, which is spearheading the property’s sale.
A listing shows Colliers is seeking buyers for the roughly 58-acre site where Ideanomics once hoped to create more than 300 jobs at 1700 and 1800 Asylum Ave. There is no asking price.
Cafasso said a number of offers from third-party developers have already been made on the property, some seeking to develop the entire site or just parts of it. He wouldn’t provide further details on those bids.
The goal is to have a buyer finalized by the end of the year, said Cafasso who added that the property is ideally suited for multifamily, medical office, retail, recreational and/or open space use for the community.
“I think all of that would be some type of vision for a big developer,” he said. “It’s just a question of how it gets developed over time.”
The Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development had originally pledged a $10-million forgivable loan for the so-called West Hartford Fintech Village project, but the development was put on ice earlier this year after Ideanomics said it wanted to focus on its core business in the electric vehicle sector.
Ideanomics acquired the former UConn property in late 2018 for $5.2 million.
Colliers’ property listing says the Asylum Avenue site is the largest to come to market in West Hartford in the last two decades. It currently houses four buildings totaling 157,662 square feet that were previously used as academic buildings by UConn.
“The campus is located in the northeast section of West Hartford, the most desirable submarket of Central Connecticut, and has excellent access to West Hartford Center and Downtown Hartford,” the listing says.
Ideanomics first disclosed to investors in March that it had classified Fintech Village as a non-core asset that it would seek to divest. HBJ was first to report the development.
Joe Cooper contributed to this story.