It’s not every day that an apartment owner wrings livable space from well-situated but underused inventory. Yet one New Jersey landlord is doing just that with its conversion of ground-level space at its 174-unit multifamily property in West Hartford.
Three years after buying Westgate Apartments, The Solomon Organization recently leased the first of 12 new apartments being built in two of Westgate’s four buildings at 1248 Farmington Ave., near the West Hartford Reservoir. The two-bedroom, two-bath unit with 1,050 square feet runs $1,595 a month. Rents for the new units run to $1,745.
Solomon paid $19.1 million for the 7.5-acre property in fall 2009, near the bottom of the Great Recession sparked in good part by the price collapse of U.S. real estate.
“For us, it’s not atypical to try to maximize the space, if the demand is there,” said Solomon Managing Director Andrew Rosen.
“West Hartford has been very good to us,” said Rosen, who regularly travels up from Summit N.J. headquarters to visit. “West Hartford has rebounded pretty strongly.”
On the ground floor of a pair of Westgate’s “garden-style” apartment buildings, Solomon is converting space previously used for storage, or idle, into livable units of about 1,000 square feet each, Rosen said.
Seven new apartments are being outfitted in one building; five in the other, Rosen said. Westgate’s other two buildings are mid-rise and don’t easily lend themselves to reconfiguration. The complex is about 96 percent occupied. Rents for the other studio, one- and two-bedroom units range from $1,215 to $1,895.
Two typical renter profiles are evident at Westgate, he said. One is a younger, professional tenant with a couple of kids. Newcomers to West Hartford, they rent while sizing up opportunities to buy a house locally.
The other, Rosen said, is a “renter by choice,” one who is either downsizing from a larger home, “tired of shoveling snow,” or both.
Solomon’s other Connecticut apartment holding is the 265-unit Merritt Station, formerly Meetinghouse Village Apartments, in Meriden, which it acquired in 2011 and subsequently invested about $4 million on improvements and upgrades.
Solomon also owns or manages about 10,000 apartments in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
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G+Y leases
Jefferson Radiology is keeping its administrative headquarters in East Hartford’s 111 Founders Plaza office tower.
One of Connecticut’s biggest private radiology practices renewed its 24,000-square-foot lease in the skyscraper overlooking the Connecticut River.
In the same building, Beacon Hospice has leased 2,500 square feet.
In Windsor, consultants L+R Benefits signed for 7,000 square feet at 100 Northfield Drive.
Goman + York Property Advisors brokered all three transactions.
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Manchester Green’s $3.9M refiÂ
The 72-unit Manchester Green Apartments has gotten $3.9 million in refinancing, part of which will fund capital improvements to the four-building complex at 167 E. Center St., a lender says.
Rhode Island lender Washington Trust says it recently provided financing to Green’s owner, Taymil Ivy Manor LLC, of Framingham, Mass.
According to Taymil’s homepage, it has 10 other Connecticut multifamily properties, including Arbor Commons, Pinney Brook and Stonebridge, all in Ellington; and Fox Hill Commons in Vernon.
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Greg Seay is the Hartford Business Journal News Editor.
