Daniel Klaynberg, president of Spectra Construction and Development, learned the construction business at the side of his father, Joseph, a prominent developer in New York City and a partner in the transformation of several Hartford office buildings into apartments.
Matthew and Evan Levy are members of a family with real estate holdings across Connecticut and Massachusetts. Their father, Coleman Levy, is a prominent attorney long involved in Greater Hartford development.
Together, Daniel, Matthew and Evan are combining their resources and talents to build on their family legacies — starting with a long-anticipated redevelopment of a former downtown Hartford firehouse on Pearl Street, and conversion of an empty municipal building on Main Street into a mix of apartments and restaurant/retail space.
The trio plans to build 42 apartments in the municipal building at 525 Main St., and 35 inside the former firehouse at 275 Pearl St., with both buildings featuring first-floor retail. The projects got underway earlier this year, and the partners are confident they will be completed by June 2024, and quite likely even earlier.
Daniel Klaynberg, 37, said his construction expertise melds well with the legal and landlord experience of the Levy brothers. Both Klaynberg and the Levy family bring contacts with investors and bankers.
“We’ve had a great time working on these projects together so far,” Klaynberg said. “We have a great synergy between us.”
The development team is designing a roughly 80-unit apartment building for the parking lot next to the municipal building, at 17-21 Wells St. They had promised the city to begin building within five years of taking control of the municipal building and firehouse, and are not wasting any time. They hope to begin construction before the end of this year.
Meanwhile, Klaynberg and the Levy brothers are partnered in a proposal to build a 600-space parking garage, about 300 apartments and 30,000 square feet of retail space on a downtown Middletown parking lot owned by the city.
The trio is investigating additional development prospects in Hartford and beyond.