But as the city plots a post-COVID comeback, Lazowski is among a small but dedicated group of local and out-of-state investors who will play an outsized role dictating Hartford’s future. That’s because Lazowski — a longtime real estate investor and Hartford booster — has been much more active in downtown development in recent years, buying up Class A office and apartment properties and helping lead an ambitious $100 million redevelopment of Pratt Street, which many see as one of the city’s most untapped assets. Together these four investor-landlords control a huge swath of downtown’s approximately 2 square miles — including more than 1.6 million square feet of office space; 71,946 square feet of retail space (about 65% of which is currently vacant); and hundreds of apartment units. Hartford will need to jumpstart activity in the next few months, Schlossberg said, so Shelbourne is working with other stakeholders on a major reactivation campaign for the spring, summer and fall. Many business, civic and economic-development leaders have long viewed the bricked, block-long, one-lane thoroughfare hugged on both sides by multi-story commercial buildings as an underleveraged asset that could be the cornerstone of Hartford’s downtown revival.
https://www.hartfordbusiness.com/article/small-but-dedicated-group-of-developers-aims-to-lead-hartfords-post-covid-19-renaissance