New 107-unit downtown New Britain apartment building opens to first tenants
August 15th, 2024
By Michael Puffer-Hartford Business Journal
Alittle more than two years after the long-vacant Burritt Interfinancial Bancorp. building in downtown New Britain was demolished, the first tenants are moving into a 107-unit apartment building that has taken its place.
The city has issued a temporary certificate of occupancy for the mixed-use building, and the first tenants began moving in over the past two weeks, developer Avner Krohn said Wednesday.
Krohn said 25% of the apartments in the six-story building, dubbed “The Brit,” have been pre-leased. Three floors have been entirely completed. Krohn expects the remaining three to be finished over the next six weeks. He said it cost in the mid-$20 million range to complete the project.
The building, at 267 Main St., features a pet-washing station, rooftop terrace, gym and other amenities. The building so far has mostly appealed to a younger and diverse crowd mixing blue- and white-collar workers, Krohn said.
Rents vary from $1,650 monthly for a studio apartment to $2,750 for a two-bedroom unit.
Krohn said there has been significant interest in the roughly 6,000-square-foot restaurant space available for lease on the first floor. He said he hopes to recruit an upscale casual restaurant and has turned away candidates he believes wouldn’t be a good fit.
“We are in talks with people and we are being selective because we believe this space will be an important anchor for the rebirth of the downtown,” Krohn said.
The Brit is one of several significant mixed-use redevelopments targeting areas in and around New Britain’s downtown in recent years. Several of those projects are being led by Krohn.
Krohn credits the city’s willingness to allow tax-fixing agreements that make these projects financially viable. The city has approved a 26-year tax break on the former Burritt Bancorp. site, worth about $320,000 annually, Krohn said.
“Without that tax fix, nothing would have gotten built on this site for decades,” Krohn noted.
