Massachusetts affordable-housing developer Dakota Partners, with its first Hartford housing conversion under its belt, is now focused on its next big Capital City housing project.Dakota, of Waltham, Mass., recently unveiled 179 Allyn St., its $15 million redeveloped retail-apartment building adjacent to Union Station downtown. All but a handful of the 63 units are already leased […]
Massachusetts affordable-housing developer Dakota Partners, with its first Hartford housing conversion under its belt, is now focused on its next big Capital City housing project.
Dakota, of Waltham, Mass., recently unveiled 179 Allyn St., its $15 million redeveloped retail-apartment building adjacent to Union Station downtown. All but a handful of the 63 units are already leased and most of the tenants have moved into the six-story building that houses Black Bear Saloon and Club NV on its ground floor.
Lease-up took two months less than the six-month timetable that Dakota had envisioned, signaling that its mostly single, young professional tenants aged early 20s to early 30s find the one-bedroom rents ranging from around $1,000 to $1,300 a month very attractive, said Managing Principal Roberto Arista.
Now, Arista said, his company is focusing its next redevelopment, the makeover of the former Hartford Office Supply building, at the corner of Capitol Avenue and Flower Street.
According to Arista, reconstruction will start almost as soon as the developer closes in mid- to late-July on the building purchase, as well as on public and private financing, including state and federal tax credits, totaling more than $33 million. Bank of America has pledged to fund an $18 million construction loan, and $5.3 million in permanent financing.
Meanwhile, Dakota continues to seek, Arista said, other opportunities to build or rehab apartment buildings in or outside Connecticut. It is building now in Brookfield, New Milford and Waterbury. In Suffield, Dakota is vying for a multi-phase development of townhomes and apartments and has petitioned the state housing department for funding assistance, he said.
— Gregory Seay
