The parent company of moving and storage rental giant U-Haul has paid $1.1 million for the longtime Hartford home of Capitol Archives and Record Storage.
According to property records, Arizona-based Amerco Real Estate Co. bought the highly visible 618 Capitol Ave. and a smaller adjacent property at 139 Laurel St. on March 31 from owner Frank Valente, proprietor of Capitol Archives, which was founded in 1981.
Neither Valente nor Amerco responded to requests for comment about the sale.
The Capitol Avenue property owed $468,786 in back taxes, which were paid to the city on March 25, according to Hartford Tax Collector Nancy Raich.
The brick exterior warehouse properties butt up against I-84, and in 2015 faced the threat of eminent domain as state officials weighed design options for replacement of the I-84 viaduct that runs through the city. The future of the highway configuration remains up in the air today.
Amerco also owns the U-Haul Moving & Storage of Hartford-Brainard located 40 Brainard Road. As of the end of 2019, the company operated more than 2,000 U-Haul retail centers in North America, according to its securities filings.
