The quasi-public Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) in recent years has converted run-down Hartford office buildings into some 1,500 new apartment units. Michael Freimuth and Suzanne Hopgood have led that success.
Both Freimuth, executive director of CRDA, and Hopgood, chair of its board of directors, stepped into leadership roles at the economic development agency with backing from former Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. The state legislature created the agency in 2010.
Under Freimuth and Hopgood, CRDA last year helped complete The Front Street District, which is home to UConn Hartford and part of the larger Adriaen’s Landing revitalization project downtown.
CRDA’s next task remains its toughest — figuring out what the city and state should do with downtown’s aging XL Center. Freimuth and Hopgood have advocated for a major cash injection into the facility, but it hasn’t fully come to fruition yet.