A developer is seeking approval to convert most of an industrial building at 20-28 Sargeant St. in Hartford’s Asylum Hill neighborhood into a self-storage facility.
A developer is seeking Hartford Planning & Zoning approval to convert most of an industrial building at 20-28 Sargeant St. in Hartford’s Asylum Hill neighborhood into a self-storage facility, under the city’s new adaptive reuse zoning provisions.
The special permit application calls for renovating the former Veeder-Root property and converting roughly 85% of it into personal storage. The filing lists 20 Sargeant Street LLC — controlled by Max Kothari, founder and CEO of Express Kitchens — as the property’s owner, and GB Realty Acquisitions LLC as the applicant and pending purchaser.
Global Storage Partners is listed as the development representative. According to its website, the firm specializes in converting underutilized properties into self-storage and commercial facilities, with holdings in eight states.
In Hartford, the company is proposing to redevelop the Sargeant Street building into a modern, mixed-use facility anchored by a Class A, climate-controlled, multi-level self-storage operation totaling about 95,000 net rentable square feet, intended to serve both residential and business customers.
The project would also retain space for other permitted uses, such as office or training space, including the potential retention of Our Piece of the Pie as a long-term tenant, documents said.
In 2025, Kothari listed the Veeder-Root property for sale and said he was seeking development partners to pursue more creative uses, including potential community and nonprofit concepts.
Kothari had acquired control of the property through a tax-lien deal with the city that ultimately concluded in 2022, records show.
The proposal is scheduled to be discussed at a joint Planning & Zoning Commission and Inland Wetlands Commission meeting on Jan. 27.
