Hartford’s usually active apartment development market is set to take a pause in 2021.
For the first time in several years, the quasi-public Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) has no new multifamily projects coming online.
Several projects began leasing over the summer and fall, and the next batch of new rental units — including in Downtown North near Dunkin’ Donuts Park and on and around Pratt Street — are expected to debut in 2022.
“We’re not really putting anything on the market next year,” said CRDA Executive Director Michael Freimuth.
That’s mostly a good thing, Freimuth said, because it will provide time for the city’s apartment market to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic and absorb vacancies that persist at several recently completed projects.
CRDA’s multifamily portfolio, which has 24 apartment buildings containing nearly 2,000 units, experienced challenges over the spring and summer due to some projects running into pandemic-related construction delays. Also, leasing activity slowed and vacancies increased at some properties.
As a result, three CRDA-backed apartment developments last month were granted loan modifications or payment deferrals, while another recently completed project — the $21-million, 66-unit Hartford Carriage House apartments on Allyn Street — was granted a deferral on interest payments.
Increased vacancy rates in CRDA’s mostly downtown multifamily portfolio have come down in recent months, Freimuth said, and for the most part, CRDA-backed properties are holding up fairly well.
“Most of our rental levels are holding steady and most of the buildings are coming out of whatever funk they were coming into,” Freimuth said. “What we saw on Oct. 1, when we did a quick inventory and survey of our stock, many buildings have come back above 90% [occupancy] again.”
He attributes that to a mix of pent-up demand, people adjusting their behavior after living through more than seven months of a still-ongoing pandemic, and the fact that leasing activity tends to pick up in the fall.
Landlords have trimmed their rates for building amenities and parking, in some instances, but Freimuth said few have reduced asking rents.
