Delivering Dramatic Economic Changes to Hartford
“Our most complex matters involve a number of layered funding sources. We need partners like Pullman, who can navigate federal and state laws and use creativity and practicality to close the deals.” - Michael Freimuth, Executive Director, Capital Region Development Authority
The Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) has delivered dramatic change to the Capital City during the past five years, rehabilitating nearly one dozen aging office buildings into nearly 1,500 units of housing. Since CRDA’s beginnings, the quasi-public agency’s mission to manage Hartford’s economic development initiatives, by identifying and structuring loans, equity and tax credits, has evolved to take on more of a property co-developer and manager role, and expanded to assist neighboring communities in the Greater Hartford region. One of its greatest accomplishments has been transforming the image of Hartford from “a city on the edge” into a vital place to live, work and play.
CRDA deals tend to be challenging given the involvement of multiple parties from both the private and public sector in each transaction. For many of the most complex projects, CRDA has partnered with P&C on the financing of construction renovations and conversion projects that require an extraordinary level of analysis and involve various funding sources. Our partnership takes into consideration the unique features of each transaction and provides creative solutions for various real estate and environmental issues, multiple public and private financing sources as well as tax credit financing transactions. In addition, the Firm provides an analysis of the legal structure of the proposed financing in order to allow the developer to take advantage of available tax credits, which are critical to the success of many developments within the city.
Recent projects include the financing for the “North Armory” building at the Colt complex to provide additional residential housing and ground floor retail space, as well as financing for the redevelopment and renovation of two vacant buildings in the heart of the city, which will add more than 250 apartments and over 13,000 square feet of commercial space to this long-neglected site. We look forward to teaming with CRDA as it pursues new initiatives within Hartford and throughout the State of Connecticut.