Avner S. Krohn Acquires the Old Post Office in Downtown New Britain
June 8th, 2022
For: Jasko Development, New Britain, Connecticut
Avner S. Krohn Acquires the Old Post Office in Downtown New Britain
--Plans for decades-old neoclassical building include historically appropriate interior and
exterior upgrades, with a focus on leasing to law offices, tech startups, designs firms and other
tenants seeking experiential office space downtown
NEW BRITAIN, Conn. (6/8/22)—The Old Post Office at 114 W. Main St. has a new caretaker.
Avner S. Krohn—Chairman and CEO of New Britain-based Jasko Development—closed on the neoclassical landmark on June 1 via a registered LLC. The seller was an entity stewarded by Peter R. Knaus, whose family acquired the building in 1985 and completed an award-winning, $1.8 million renovation a year later, leasing office space at the property ever since. The purchase price was undisclosed.
“With parts of the original building dating to 1905, the Old Post Office is a gorgeous structure and a true piece of downtown New Britain history,” Krohn said. “Thankfully, Peter and his family had the wherewithal and dedication to preserve it, in accordance with stringent U.S. Department of the Interior regulations. We’re committed to following the Knaus family’s lead as we market leasing opportunities in the building to tech startups, law offices, design firms and other companies looking for downtown office space with character and authenticity.”
The acquisition is in keeping with Krohn’s focus on working closely with city officials and the community to provide a robust mix of live-work-play elements downtown. Jasko has built five New Britain retail and residential projects and is moving forward with mixed-use developments including 107-unit The Brit at 267 Main Street and its adjacent “sister project” at Main and Columbus.
“Housing demand in downtown New Britain is robust, and we need to complement that by providing more experiential retail and office in the years ahead,” Krohn explained. “So this building, with its engaging aesthetics and tremendous historic significance, is essential to our big-picture strategy in New Britain.”
Over the next few weeks, Krohn’s team will begin making improvements that include:
- repaving the parking lot
- installing new landscaping
- improving sightlines to the façade
- scrubbing and cleaning the exterior limestone and masonry
- building new retaining walls
- adding accent lighting
- repairing parts of the front stairs
- planning historically appropriate interior upgrades
Now totaling approximately 36,000 square feet, the building served as downtown New Britain’s post office from 1910 to 1979. Like many neoclassical government buildings in the early 20th century, it offered marble public spaces, decorative plaster work, terrazzo floors, wood wainscoting, mahogany door frames and soaring windows.
But the post office was in sorry shape when Robert W. Knaus and his son Peter—now President of New Britain-based Knaus Builders—bought it in February 1986. Vandals had defaced parts of the building with graffiti; original windows were crumbling; marble had been stripped, and prior owners had sold off original doors with their locally made Corbin locksets. “I remember going up on the third floor during the winter and seeing that there were roof leaks onto the terrazzo flooring,” the younger Knaus recalled. “You could have gone ice skating in there.”
But the Knaus family went to extraordinary lengths to renovate the post office. They had the windows remanufactured; preserved and reused original fixtures, detailing and hardware; and even found and bought back the paneled doors that had been sold off. “When you stripped off the blue-green, government-issued paint, those wood-grained doors were just beautiful,” Peter Knaus said. “We took old locksets to Corbin Russwin here in New Britain and they got them functioning for us as well. It was a very satisfying renovation.”
In recognition, the Knaus family received a historic preservation award from the Hartford Architecture Conservancy.
Over the years, prominent tenants at the Old Post Office have included the Quinn Associates architecture firm; an investment office of the former Connecticut Bank & Trust; and a legal office for longtime federal appeals court judge Thomas Joseph Meskill, Jr., whose career also included serving as mayor of New Britain, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and as Connecticut’s 82nd governor.
In passing the property to Krohn, Peter Knaus credits the developer’s commitment to New Britain over more than a decade, as well as his collaborative, high-energy approach to downtown revitalization. “Avner has a strong drive for success in his projects and a solid team at Jasko,” Knaus said. “I am confident that Avner will do an excellent job in his new role as caretaker of this historic property. He and his team have what it takes to see this building thrive for generations to come.”
For leasing information, contact [email protected] Phone # 845-746-6422.
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Press Contact: Avner S. Krohn, 860.223.3434, [email protected]
