City officials in New Britain and developers held a ribbon cutting Wednesday for the completed renovation of the Berkowitz Building, long an eyesore located at the gateway to the city’s Little Poland neighborhood.
The renovated building, city officials said, will include retail space on the first floor with 24 market-rate apartments above it. Those apartments are a mix of one- and two-bedrooms and studios.
The historic 25,000-square-foot building, which was originally erected in 1915, is located at 618 Main St., near the CTfastrak station. Units are expected to become available for occupancy in January.
The city purchased the building back from a developer in 2012 for $22,0000, after forgiving $60,000 in liens and fees in order to make the purchase happen; but renovation efforts failed.
Mayor Erin Stewart and the city then sold the building to developer Doug Bromfield in 2015 for $65,000. Bromfield, city officials said, spent about $5 million renovating the building.
In addition, the city of New Britain recently sold Bromfield an adjoining parcel on Main Street also for $65,000 to be developed into 28 brownstone apartments.
