Downtown Hartford’s One Financial Plaza, best known as the Gold Building, has been refinanced for $35 million, with a three-year, adjustable-rate mortgage.
People’s United Bank refinanced the 26-story building at 755 Main St., located at the corner of Main and Pearl streets, and an adjoining eight-story, 1,100-space parking garage, according to Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP, the broker involved in the deal.
Holliday Fenoglio represented the building’s owner, Talcott Realty Investors LLC, in the transaction. Terms of the previous mortgage weren’t disclosed.
The Gold Building is a Class A office building that is home to such major corporate tenants as United Technologies Corp., Travelers, and People’s United Bank.
Talcott Realty, a landlord with about 3.6 million square feet of rentable space across the United States, and law firm Conning, Reid & Riege also are tenants in the building that is 99 percent leased.
Shopping For 450 Columbus Tenants
The downtown Hartford office building that houses 2,500 employees of UnitedHealthcare is in the market for tenants.
Landlord Connecticut River Plaza Trust, owner of 450 Columbus Blvd., is shopping for one or more companies to occupy the 556,000 square feet of space in two towers, which adjoin Interstate 91 and overlooking the Connecticut River.
Citigroup currently holds the master lease to the building and subleases space to UnitedHealthcare and Travelers Cos., which occupies all but about 50,000 square feet, said broker Shawn McMahon, senior vice president of Jones Lang & LaSalle Inc., which was hired to market the property.
“It’s the largest block of space available in Connecticut,’’ McMahon said. “We’re optimistic.’’
It also competes with about 400,000 square feet of unfilled space in CityPlace I, formerly occupied by MetLife, he said.
The lease also is being marketed in Boston and New York City, McMahon said.
Connecticut developer Richard Gordon built 450 Columbus in 1985, with Travelers originally holding the master lease. Not long after, Connecticut River Plaza Trust bought the building, McMahon said.
Through mergers and acquisitions over the years, Citigroup eventually acquired the lease, which expires in August 2010, he said. UnitedHealthcare has occupied the building since 1994.
The landlord is prepared to invest millions of dollars on renovations and upgrades to the towers to attract or retain a major tenant, he said.
School Bells Ring For Kaestle Boos
New Britain architect Kaestle Boos Associates has been chosen to develop design options for a $14 million high school renovation in the New England Patriots’ hometown of Foxborough, Mass., where Kaestle Boos has a regional office.
The firm was hired to draft recommendations on how to refresh, and possibly expand the 37-year-old Foxborough High School.
Foxborough is well-acquainted with Kaestle Boos’ work. The firm designed the town’s $15.1 million, 39,000-square-foot public safety building, housing the police and fire departments and the local Emergency Management Center. The building opened in 2007.
The project’s first step, according to CEO Charles Boos, is to review the existing school layout, then come up with recommendations for modernizing the building’s infrastructure, such as electrical and heating, ventilation and air conditioning, and other features.
Kaestle Boos focuses on designing elementary and secondary school buildings, along with municipal facilities, such as police stations and firehouses.
Greg Seay is the Hartford Business Journal’s Web editor.
