🔒Tower signage a growing need for Hartford area tenants

Doosan Fuel Cell America moved roughly 200 of its non-manufacturing employees to East Hartford’s Riverview Square office complex last summer, but you may not have noticed it.

That will change in May when the South Windsor-based company’s name is posted atop the seven-story tower at 101 East River Dr., where it now occupies 36,000 square feet. Amica Mutual Insurance Co. is also getting signage at the Class A building following recent town approval.

Doosan and Amica, two of Riverview Square’s newest tenants, are eligible to join Bank of America and Cyient Inc. in owning a share of signage rights because they leased large-enough spaces at the two-tower office park overlooking the Connecticut River and downtown Hartford, according to landlord The Fremont Group.

Jonathan Keller, founding partner and president of the West Hartford-based real estate investment firm, said there are no exclusive signage rights at the 340,000-square-foot office complex in an effort to share branding opportunities with several anchor tenants.

“We are very conscious that we don’t want to give signage at the expense of others getting signage,” Keller said. “Where we are in East Hartford, we have visibility to” Interstates 84/91 and Route 2, “so it was important for a lot of people.”

While signage has always been sought after by large office tenants, local real estate experts say a growing number of small-to-midsize employers in the Hartford area are demanding some level of exterior branding.

That’s part of the reason downtown Hartford has seen more signage in recent years on many of its large office towers.

Each landlord has their own guidelines for signage rights that often include the length of a lease and whether a tenant occupies a significant portion of a building. Meantime, some tenants request exclusive signage rights or agree to share branding space, realty experts say.

Others don’t want a sign. That includes the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center (CCMC), which has administrative offices at Hartford’s silver-maroon clad “Candy Cane” building at 10 Columbus Blvd.

CCMC did not want parents bringing their children to the office instead of its pediatric hospital on Washington Street due to misleading signage, according to real estate sources.

It’s those many factors that often play a critical role in landlord-tenant negotiations, realty experts say.

“In our market, it’s a ‘throw in’ and a critical piece of [lease] negotiations,” said Christopher Ostop, a managing director/broker of Jones Lang LaSalle LLC (JLL). “It’s definitely an issue landlords are trying to delicately manage without impacting the long-term leasing of the building.”

Landlords will grant signage to secure a big tenant, but the potential downside is that it could eliminate that company’s competitors from leasing space there, Ostop said.

For example, UnitedHealthcare has had exclusive signage rights since it moved to CityPlace I, downtown Hartford’s tallest building, in 2010 because it occupies about half of the 38-story tower. Another healthcare provider might be reluctant to bring administrative operations there, brokers say.

IT firm HCL Technologies, which is looking to expand in downtown Hartford, may also pass on leasing space across the street at the 30-story Goodwin Square office tower because competitor Infosys has new signs on the building to mark its 56,000-square-foot presence.

“With Infosys being at Goodwin Square, it’s difficult, not impossible, for a competitor to want to go there,” said Ostop, adding that it’s somewhat unusual for Goodwin to have signage for both Infosys and United Bank, which was purchased last year by People’s United Bank. “But good for Goodwin’s ownership to negotiate non-exclusive rooftop rights for both of those tenants.”

Jeff Auker, head of technology and innovation at Infosys’ Hartford hub, said the India-based IT and outsourcing provider was seeking tower signage when it was shopping for office space downtown in early 2018. Infosys eventually decided on leasing three floors at Goodwin Square in fall 2018, and had two signs added to the building in recent months, Auker said.

Today, two rooftop Infosys signs can be seen facing those traveling on Interstates 84/91, and a third eighth-floor sign faces the intersection of Ford/Asylum/Pearl streets. Design and sign placement played a part in lease negotiations, he said, and were later reviewed and approved by local zoning and historic preservation officials.

Auker said the three signs are a big source of pride for Infosys’ 500-plus employees in the state.

“It’s a statement about us being one of the anchor tenants in Hartford and our commitment to being here in the long haul,” he said.

Deal roundup

A New York-based provider of translation and language interpretation technology has more than doubled its footprint in East Hartford’s tallest office building, brokers say.

TransPerfect Translations International Inc. recently signed a lease that will increase its presence at 111 Founders Plaza from 958 square feet to more than 2,100 square feet. The company plans to move into its new space during the second quarter.

TransPerfect began operating at Founders Plaza in Feb. 2019.

Broker Sentry Commercial and Real Broker LLC said they represented TransPerfect, and real estate advisory firm Goman+York Property Advisors LLC represented the landlord, Merchants 99-111 Founders LLC, in the deal.

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Pilot Air Freight LLC has signed a lease renewal at a 16,320-square-foot commercial building in East Granby.

The full-service transportation and logistics solutions company has occupied the Airport Business Center at 25-27 Kripes Road since 2000. The complex, owned by 29 Kripes Road Associates LLC, also houses several other tenants.

Sentry represented the landlord and Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) represented the tenant in the transaction.

Joe Cooper is HBJ’s web editor and real estate writer.