A former downtown Hartford hotel that closed and shifted to apartment rentals last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic could be getting a $1 million facelift.
Paul Khakshouri closed his 116-room Homewood Suites by Hilton property at 338 Asylum St. last March, roughly two weeks after COVID-19 was first detected in Connecticut, as occupancy plummeted.
Khakshouri later began offering the hotel rooms, which contain kitchens, as short-term rentals.
Now, he has asked the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) to approve a refinancing arrangement that would allow him to renovate the building facade and lobby.
Renderings Khakshouri provided to CRDA show a proposed second entrance added on the left front side of the two-tower property and a lobby designed to resemble the original lobby of the Hotel Bond when it was built a century ago.
Khakshouri, who didn’t respond to a request for comment Monday morning, has proposed to fund the upgrades through a refinancing of his adjacent property, the 66-unit Hartford Carriage House apartments at 103-21 Allyn St.
That property was renovated using $6.6 million in CRDA financing. Leasing began last fall, and the property is now 93% occupied, according to CRDA, which has not previously provided funding to the Bond.
CRDA Executive Director Michael Freimuth said Monday the proposed renovations are still in the early underwriting stage and that $1 million is a rough estimate of the cost.