Alan Lazowski’s corner office recently moved to Hartford’s Gold Building at 1 Financial Plaza.
It’s an appropriate perch since Lazowski struck gold when he started LAZ Parking in 1981, taking a small loan from his grandfather back then and creating a parking-operator empire today.
LAZ operates over a million parking spaces in thousands of locations across the country, normally with 15,000 employees. However, Lazowski is managing headwinds right now from the coronavirus, which has led to widespread event cancellations, which means far less demand for LAZ’s parking lots. The company has furloughed a significant number of employees in response.
Lazowski has his hands in many economic-development projects in Hartford. He and New York landlord Shelbourne Global LLC teamed up in 2019 to buy the Gold Building for $70.5 million, and are partners, with developer Marty Kenny, on a planned $100-million redevelopment of downtown’s Pearl Street corridor.
The son of Holocaust survivors, he serves as a member of the United States Holocaust Museum’s Council appointed by President Obama. He also serves on the boards of the Anti-Defamation League, NAACP, Conscious Capitalism, Greater Hartford Jewish Federation, Connecticut Immigrant & Refugee Coalition, Bushnell Theater, Goodwin College Foundation, Jordan Porco Foundation for Suicide Prevention and Chabad House of Greater Hartford.