Randy Salvatore grew up knowing he wanted to be in real estate, and closed his first rental property purchase before graduating from high school.
Today, Salvatore is one of the busiest multifamily developers in Connecticut. In the past few years he’s brought his two adult sons, Brandon and Kyle, into the family business to help run Stamford-based RMS Cos.’ efforts in the hotel and multifamily sectors.
As of last November, RMS listed 34 properties in its portfolio, including five boutique hotels in Stamford, Norwalk, Danbury, New Haven and Hartford; as well as an upscale college dormitory in Stamford.
Find out who else is in the 2025 Power 50
RMS has ongoing multifamily projects in Stamford, New Haven, Norwalk and Hartford, along with one more in White Plains, New York.
In January, RMS paid $16 million for a 123,000-square-foot downtown Stamford retail building that it plans to knock down to make room for a 280-unit apartment development.
RMS’ efforts in Hartford have been critical to city leaders’ hopes for an economic revival in and around the downtown.
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.
Salvatore, in 2023, also bought the shuttered 12.7-acre former Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute campus just north of the ballfield, and is working on plans for a large, mixed-use redevelopment.