Developer Randy Salvatore — head of Stamford-based development firm RMS Cos. — has been a key figure in Hartford’s revitalization efforts, adding hundreds of market-rate apartments in the city with the help of tax breaks and government financing.
Salvatore is also busy in Fairfield County, where RMS recently paid $16 million for a former Burlington Coat Factory building in Stamford, at 74 Broad St. RMS plans to knock down the building, and then redevelop the site into a 280-unit apartment building.
Salvatore’s ability to navigate vastly different economic environments has helped RMS become one of the busiest apartment builders in Connecticut. The company also has a growing hospitality arm.
As of last November, RMS listed 34 properties in its portfolio, including an upscale college dormitory in Stamford, and five boutique hotels in Stamford, Norwalk, Danbury, New Haven and Hartford.
RMS has ongoing multifamily projects in Stamford, New Haven, Norwalk and Hartford, along with one more in White Plains, New York.
Early last year, Salvatore’s company finished a $29 million conversion of the top 11 floors of the 22-story downtown DoubleTree by Hilton Hartford hotel, at 315 Trumbull St., into 147 apartments.
That followed a 270-unit apartment building RMS completed in 2022 next to Hartford’s Dunkin’ Park. It was the first phase of a broader North Crossing development intended to add about 1,000 apartment units to city-owned lots around the minor league ball field.
RMS is underway with North Crossing’s second phase, a 237-unit apartment building and associated parking garage. He is also planning a hotel nearby.
In Stamford, RMS is advancing plans to expand its 94-room luxury boutique hotel, The Lloyd. RMS built the hotel out of a portion of the Stamford YMCA building in 2009.