🔒Prolific Hartford area developer Kenny will debut, kick-start major apartment projects in 2023

Long one of Connecticut’s most prominent multifamily developers, Martin J. Kenny and his business partners in 2023 will deliver hundreds of apartments in West Hartford and begin work on hundreds more in Cromwell.

Kenny, owner of Hartford-based real estate investment and development group Lexington Partners, has had a hand in developing more than 2,000 apartments in 18 significant projects over a career spanning more than three decades.

Now, the 66-year-old developer is working with two of his adult sons — Patrick and Kevin Kenny — and is ready for additional ambitious projects, he said.

“I worked for my father and now I have both of my sons working with me,” Kenny said. “All of the sudden I got rejuvenated.”

Also by his side is his longtime business partner and friend Alan Lazowski, head of the LAZ Parking empire and a prominent investor. Lazowski has invested in each of Kenny’s multifamily projects since 2006.

Recent successes

Kenny and Lazowski stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal and other dignitaries on Nov. 10 for a ribbon-cutting celebrating completion of a $9.1-million conversion of 42 rental townhouses in downtown Hartford into 86 apartments.

Kenny and Lazowski partnered with Shelbourne Global Solutions — the city’s largest landlord — on the project, dubbed the Sage Allen Apartments.

The three were also partners in a conversion of office buildings on nearby historic Pratt Street. They transformed 196 Trumbull St. into 32 apartments with 6,000 square feet of first-floor retail space in a project completed in 2021. A similar conversion of 99 Pratt St., into 97 apartments above 12,000 square feet of retail space, is just now wrapping up.

A far larger project will come to fruition in 2023 as Kenny completes a $70-million development of 292 apartments at the 22-acre Sisters of St. Joseph of Chambery convent in West Hartford. Avon-based Corridor Ventures is the primary investor in the project.

Kenny said he anticipates finishing conversion of the century-old convent building into 92 apartments around late March. A roughly 46,000-square-foot section of this building has been reserved for 70 nuns remaining with the order. Kenny has a right of first refusal should they decide to sell.

The remaining 200 apartments, expected to be completed in June, are being added in a modern building nestled against the historic convent.

The development, titled “One Park,” at the corner of Park Road and Prospect Avenue, will have a rooftop deck, saltwater pool and community center, along with other amenities.

Meanwhile, Kenny has two other projects ready for launch in 2023.

In Cromwell, Kenny and Lazowski are partnered with California-based investment management firm M360 Advisors in a $100-million redevelopment of the shuttered and decaying Red Lion Hotel property.

The plan is to knock down the hotel and replace it with a mixed-use development of 254 apartments, 20 townhomes and 30,000 square feet of commercial space, Kenny said. The property will offer residents numerous amenities and could include a high-end restaurant.

The Cromwell project has passed through local land-use boards. After securing approval from the State Traffic Commission and a tax-abatement agreement with the town, the project should be ready to launch with hotel demolition in the first quarter of 2023, Kenny said.

After that, he’s hopeful to begin construction mid-year and finish 18 to 24 months later.

The first few months of 2023 could also see Kenny launch an $11-million conversion of a 20,000-square-foot former courthouse in quaint Litchfield into a 20-room micro hotel. A limited liability company controlled by Kenny and Lazowski will own 90% of the venture. The remaining 10% will be vested with Salt Hotels, which will also manage hotel operations.

“It’s a really great group,” Kenny said of Salt. “They have people that follow them and go to their hotels all over the country.”

Kenny expects to begin the courthouse redevelopment in early 2023 and finish 15 months later.

Kenny said he has other projects under consideration that could launch in 2023.

A varied career

Kenny’s father, Maurice, was an electrical contractor turned developer. Maurice and Maureen Kenny moved their family from Long Island to Glastonbury when Martin was 11.

After high school, Kenny attended Boston University — just a year behind Howard Stern. After graduation in 1978, Kenny went to work in politics, starting with a Massachusetts gubernatorial campaign, then for a Connecticut congressman, then a U.S. senator from Florida.

He ended his political career and went to law school at the University of Bridgeport after working on a failed Connecticut gubernatorial campaign.

While in law school, Kenny said he began helping his dad work on long-term land leases and legal agreements that bound investors. After graduation in 1983, he worked for the Society for Savings Bank in Hartford. He joined his father’s development firm, the Lexington Co., full time in 1985.

From his time in politics, Kenny had learned how to connect with political decision-makers as well as gauge and respond to public sentiment — useful tools for a developer whose projects often require approval from local boards that also listen to resident concerns.

At the Society for Savings, Kenny learned how commercial real estate deals were constructed and investment pools developed. He also saw first-hand how deals could stumble.

At the time Kenny went to work with his father, Maurice Kenny was partnered with Simon Konover Co. on a renovation of the former G. Fox retail tower in downtown Hartford into a mixed-use office building and 1,200-space parking garage.

Kenny was charged with helping find a parking operator. Most observers expected the job would go to Hartford’s dominant parking operator at the time, Schwartz Parking.

But Kenny and his father were ultimately sold by the persistence and energy of a young up-and-comer, Alan Lazowski, who, as Kenny put it: “Could sell ice to the Eskimos.”

But the decision wasn’t made on faith alone. Lazowski had to come up with a $5 million letter of credit to close the deal, Kenny said.

“For him to come up with a $5 million letter of credit was a big ask and it stressed him out,” Kenny said. “He had to do some scrambling. He had some benefactors help him out. Ultimately, it was a home run for him and his career took off.”

Kenny and Lazowski became friends. In 2006, they partnered on a $12-million conversion of a former textile mill in Glastonbury into 55 apartments. The partnership went so well that Lazowski has been an investor and partner in all of Kenny’s subsequent multifamily construction projects.

The pair also share controlling interests in Lexington Property Management and InnoConn Construction Management.

Kenny said Lazowski’s deep pockets, banking relationships and financial savvy allow the partnership to tackle larger projects. Kenny provides a wealth of experience and development expertise.

“He has a great vision,” Kenny said. “He and I play off each other. I think he and I make each other better.”