🔒Watertown landlord finds niche converting underused medical offices into small-business suites

As Connecticut’s traditional office market continues to struggle with high vacancy rates, Watertown property owner Normand “J-R” Laliberte Jr. has found a way to fill space by catering to a specific niche — small business owners and solo professionals seeking affordable, ready-to-use suites. Laliberte, 64, launched his redevelopment brand Focus Spaces LLC in September 2021, at the height of the pandemic. Alongside his wife, Luciene, he converts underused commercial buildings — often former medical offices — into compact spaces for entrepreneurs, personal service providers and independent practitioners. Their model responds to a broader shift in the office market, where vacancies remain high in many cities. In Hartford, for example, a study released in July concluded that roughly 41% of downtown office space was available or soon would be. In contrast, as large companies downsize and remote work persists, small business owners have created steady demand for smaller, private workspaces. That has kept Laliberte’s portfolio of more than 40 commercial properties over 90% leased, he said. “We found that a lot of these smaller medical buildings that weren’t easily rented out again fit our needs perfectly,” Laliberte said, noting that they typically have reception areas and small rooms, which his tenants prefer. Laliberte has owned two other businesses for decades — Union Flooring Installations, which he formed in 2000, and The Dover Benedict Group, a commercial property management and leasing firm he founded in 2003. Both are based in the same building at 40 Callender Road in Watertown. While the flooring company is his primary business, Laliberte and his wife use profits from it to acquire and renovate commercial real estate. Luciene oversees renovations and contractors, managing a staff of eight. The idea for Focus Spaces took root years before the brand officially launched, when Laliberte began dividing larger offices into smaller units for massage therapists, counselors and salon operators. The pandemic accelerated demand for those types of spaces as many professionals discovered that working from home wasn’t ideal, Laliberte said. “That’s where the name ‘Focus Spaces’ came from, because you’re working from home and realizing (you) can’t really focus there,” he said.

Above 90% leased

The couple’s first medical-office conversion, a former dental practice in Plymouth, now houses a counselor, midwifery practice and photography studio. The next Focus Spaces purchase was a medical office condo at 51 Depot Square in Watertown, which it acquired for $135,000 in November 2021. The 1,300-square-foot, two-story building features six business suites with monthly rents ranging $450 to $1,300. Four of the six suites are leased, Laliberte said. Other medical office properties Laliberte has acquired include a four-building complex with a combined 55,000 square feet in Meriden, and most recently, a set of medical office condos at 60 Westwood Ave., in Waterbury. “We will be marketing 28 suites for medical, office and personal-service entrepreneurs,” Laliberte said of the Waterbury site. He has other Focus Spaces-branded sites in Manchester and Middlebury, and is converting spaces in Cheshire, Naugatuck, Vernon and Woodbury. Not all the locations are former medical offices, such as the building at 49 Tolland Turnpike in Manchester, which was home to an accounting firm. “It was about 20,000 square feet,” Laliberte said. “The CPA retired and sold the practice. They moved the whole crew over to another office building.” The Manchester building sat vacant for three years, he said. “We broke it up into a lot of these smaller focus spaces,” Laliberte said. “I only have one space left in this building right now.” The project in Cheshire is also unique. While the five-story building is home to some medical offices, the 11,000-square-foot fifth floor has been vacant for three years. Focus Spaces leased the entire floor and will renovate it to sublease to tenants. “The fifth floor was all cubicle space,” Laliberte said. “We’re spending the money to renovate that and cut it up into one-, two-, three-, and four-room suites.” He said he has already leased all of the suites. For all of his completed projects, the offices are between 90% and 100% leased, he said.

Bristol glitch

Focus Spaces has also leased more than half the space in a former medical office building in Bristol — one of its newest projects. The single-story, 5,000-square-foot building at 291 Queen St. — formerly home to an ear, nose and throat practice — was converted into 19 one-room office suites and two, two-room suites with a shared foyer.

Laliberte began the conversion in October 2024 and has since signed 12 tenants. But the project has hit a few snags. City officials said four personal service businesses operating in the building weren’t permitted in the zone when they signed their leases. Laliberte also did not file for a special permit to allow for adaptive re-use of the building, nor did he submit a site plan for approval. At a public hearing last month, City Planner Robert Flanagan said that was how Focus Spaces “ran afoul of the city.” Laliberte said he has an agreement to buy the building, but the sale can’t close until the property receives proper city approvals. In June, the city’s Planning & Zoning Commission updated its regulations to allow personal service uses in the building, clearing one hurdle. The commission is expected to vote Oct. 20 on the project’s special permit and site plan. Laliberte said he’s completed similar conversions in “eight or nine” other towns without problems, but admitted Bristol was a learning experience. “I made an assumption — but you know how assumptions are,” he said.

Turnkey spaces

Even with that hiccup, Focus Spaces continues to outperform the broader office market in attracting tenants. Laliberte credits that success to a few key factors. First, he divides large spaces into multiple smaller suites, which are easier to fill. “So, I don’t generally ever have cash flow problems on any particular property, because I’m not depending on one giant tenant,” he said. He also says he understands what small business owners need. At all Focus Spaces properties, utilities and Wi-Fi are included in the rent, along with cleaning, landscaping and snow removal. Each building and its offices are equipped with surveillance cameras and digital locks. “There’s a tremendous amount of small business people that cannot find a turnkey space with everything inclusive,” he said. “And that’s what I offer.”