🔒Steuber charts CRDA’s next chapter as redevelopment challenges grow

Preparing a shuttered, 80-acre trash-to-energy plant site in Hartford for redevelopment will take years and as much as $333.9 million, according to a study released in early 2025. The effort to reposition the former Materials Innovation and Recycling Authority campus could erase a polluted eyesore along the banks of the Connecticut River, freeing up valuable land for economic development. It will also be an immensely complicated undertaking. That challenge is now part of the expanding portfolio of the Capital Region Development Authority, the quasi-public economic development agency that has compiled a long record of high-profile successes over its 12-year existence. In the spring, the MIRA Dissolution Authority voted to hand off responsibility for the South Meadows closure and redevelopment to CRDA. State lawmakers later approved the transfer, adding the project to an already extensive portfolio overseen by CRDA’s 15-member staff. At the time, CRDA was led by longtime Executive Director Michael Freimuth, whose reputation as a skilled dealmaker made the decision straightforward, said David Steuber, then a senior state economic development official and member of the MIRA Dissolution Authority board. “The answer was obvious, we will just punt it over to Mike and let him figure it out,” Steuber joked at Freimuth’s Dec. 12 retirement party. “Everybody took a look at each other and said: ‘Of course, that’s what we should do. That’s a great idea.’” What Steuber didn’t realize at the time was that he was effectively volunteering himself for the job. Shortly after lawmakers approved the transfer, Steuber was encouraged to put his name forward as a candidate to replace the retiring Freimuth. He stepped into the executive director role Oct. 31. Freimuth agreed to remain with the agency until the new year to assist with the transition. Now leading CRDA on his own, Steuber is responsible for overseeing the MIRA closure while managing a slate of complex redevelopment initiatives — inheriting both one of the state’s most challenging environmental projects and the expectations built by more than a decade of CRDA-led successes.

Stretching public dollars

Over the past 12 years, CRDA’s arsenal of tax incentives and low-interest financing has allowed the agency to close financing gaps and spur the creation of roughly 3,300 apartments in downtown Hartford, with hundreds of additional units in the pipeline. That track record has brought expanded responsibilities. CRDA oversees Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field, PeoplesBank Arena, the Connecticut Regional Market and Connecticut Convention Center. It is also managing a $145 million renovation of the PeoplesBank Arena and a $60 million renovation of Pratt & Whitney Stadium, both of which are ongoing. Steuber’s task now is to keep the agency operating smoothly while delivering a steady pipeline of viable development projects in a market that often requires intricate layering of state, federal and private funding — all while maintaining several large venues critical to the region’s economic and cultural life. Steuber, who lived in Hartford for more than a decade and served two and a half years as chief of staff to former Mayor Luke Bronin, is closely familiar with the city’s challenges, opportunities and political dynamics. He also brings deep ties to state government. Before taking the CRDA post, Steuber spent nearly two years as chief of staff and director of strategic initiatives at the state Department of Economic and Community Development. Prior to that, he worked 19 months as a senior program manager at Connecticut Innovations/CTNext, the state’s venture capital arm. Earlier in his career, Steuber spent a decade in the state legislature as a press aide, policy analyst and senior aide to the Senate’s presiding officer, where he played a key role in shaping the fiscal “guardrails” credited with helping move Connecticut from chronic deficits to record surpluses. “To me, it’s more about the work and just making the maximum impact in the public interest,” Steuber said. “It’s been my privilege to work alongside a lot of elected leaders in different capacities through the course of my career and help them achieve their goals and tackle problems. And so, I’ve worked on issues from energy and the environment, to state finance, to management of the city.” Steuber said he’s not planning sweeping changes at CRDA. “I’m not coming in the door with any major aspiration of empire-building or expanding out,” he said. “I think that we’ve got quite a lot on our plate, and I want to make sure that with the things that we’re already entrusted with, that we are doing them well and to a high degree.” A central focus, he said, is stretching public dollars as far as possible, using limited subsidies to catalyze private investment. “We want to be maximizing how we leverage private investment and all of our real estate deals, as well as entertainment facilities and venues to try and drive them as near as possible to profitability so that we’re building and fostering a sustainable, robust economy,” Steuber said. He views continued downtown residential development as essential to addressing one of Hartford’s most pressing issues: persistently high office vacancy rates. An expanding residential base, he said, can support street-level retail and restaurant activity and help make the city a more attractive destination for visitors and employers alike.

‘Higher degree of urgency’

CRDA has already surpassed its original goal of adding 3,000 apartments to downtown Hartford, Steuber said, and he believes the city can absorb significantly more. Demand, he said, has shown little sign of slowing, with completed projects leasing quickly and maintaining high occupancy. “Pre-pandemic, the strategy for Hartford was to build up the residential density,” Steuber said. “The pandemic came and it went and now we have this office vacancy crisis. And I think the solution to that is the same prescription as before, just with maybe a higher degree of urgency.” Steuber said at least one large Class A office tower could be converted, in whole or in part, to residential use — an idea that has long-drawn skepticism as developers have focused on smaller, more easily adaptable buildings. “We shouldn’t shy away from looking at Class A buildings,” Steuber said, pointing to the successful conversion of a 26-story former bank headquarters at 777 Main St. more than a decade ago. A $50 million “Greyfields” program approved by lawmakers as part of the fiscal 2026-27 budget could make such conversions more feasible. The initiative is designed to subsidize redevelopment of large, largely vacant and obsolete office and retail properties. Steuber noted he helped design the still-untapped program during his time at the state Department of Economic and Community Development. “So, this is a problem that I’ve been thinking about for quite some time before I had any inkling of coming over here (CRDA),” he said. “It was certainly, in part, designed with the office vacancy problem in Hartford, as well as other parts of the state, in mind.”