Developer Randy Salvatore on Thursday showed off his latest downtown Hartford project, debuting sleek new apartments in space that formerly served as hotel rooms inside the Hilton Hartford hotel.
The $29 million redevelopment included converting the top 11 floors of the 22-story building on Trumbull Street into 147 modern apartments.
“The Revel” apartments include a mix of studios and one- and two-bedroom units, with panoramic views of the city. The building’s bottom floors are now home to a DoubleTree by Hilton Hartford hotel, which has 170 guest rooms.
The former Hilton hotel, which struggled financially for years, especially during the pandemic, had 393 guest rooms.
Leasing for the apartments will begin in about two weeks, Salvatore said, while the hotel has remained open during the conversion.
Salvatore partnered on the project with the Waterford Group, which owned the Hilton hotel since 2005.
Len Wolman, chairman of Waterford Group, said the partnership, which included support from the state, city, Capital Regional Development Authority (CRDA) and Hilton, saved the building from closure.
Salvatore, president and CEO of Stamford-based RMS Cos., was joined by Gov. Ned Lamont, Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam and William Fortier, Hilton’s senior vice president for development in the Americas at a press conference Thursday morning.
Salvatore and others described the complicated nature of converting the hotel into apartments, and that he was excited to “transform a dated building into a vibrant mixed-use property in the center of downtown Hartford.”
“Looking ahead, I could not be more optimistic about Hartford’s future,” Salvatore said.
Preserving city’s image
Losing money and dependent on soon-to-end federal COVID-19 relief funds for survival, the Waterford Group in late 2021 brought plans to the CRDA to convert more than half of the Hilton hotel’s guest rooms into apartments.
A year earlier, in 2020, an effort to auction the troubled hotel failed to turn up any offers.
Salvatore said he got involved in the conversion because he feared the loss of a prominent downtown hotel would be a blow to the city’s image and his nearby North Crossing development, which includes plans to build about 1,000 apartments in mostly parking lot space around Dunkin’ Park.
In 2022, Salvatore debuted his first 270-unit apartment building in North Crossing, known as “The Pennant.” Work is now underway on North Crossing’s next phases.
The CRDA provided $11 million in loans to help finance the Hilton hotel conversion.
