Pratt St. partnership buys Temple St. properties for $20M

HBJ Photo | Joe Cooper The Lofts at Main & Temple in downtown Hartford has been sold.

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By Matt Pilon

For the second time in just over a year, a lender has taken a major haircut on two apartment properties on Temple Street in downtown Hartford.

The three prominent Hartford developer-landlords working on a $100 million overhaul of the Pratt Street corridor and surrounding area on Tuesday purchased The Lofts at Main and Temple (formerly the Sage-Allen department store) and an adjacent property at 29 Temple St., containing 42 student townhomes, for $20 million, according to city officials.

The Pratt Street Initiative Partnership, which includes Martin J. Kenny of Lexington Partners LLC, landlord Shelbourne Global Solutions and LAZ Parking CEO Alan Lazowsk, had said that it expected the deal to close this week, but did not disclose the purchase price.

The Temple Street properties are envisioned as key pieces of the partnership's development plans in the neighborhood. Just after the deal closed, the State Bond Commission on Wednesday approved of $12.5 million in financing for the first phase of the partnership’s Pratt Street project.

The Temple Street properties were the subject of a foreclosure action filed earlier this year by Greenwich-based Elizon DB Transfer Agent LLC, which had acquired the loans for the properties for $18.2 million last November from their originator, the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority. (It wasn’t clear Wednesday what balance remained on the loans).

The quasi-public CHFA took a loss when it sold the notes to Elizon, since the purchase price was nearly $25 million less than the outstanding balances.

CHFA had originated the loans back in 2004 for 18 Temple Street LLC, but said it decided to sell them because the borrower was having trouble staying current on payments.

The LLC was led by longtime Hartford developer/landlord Marc Levine, who died in Oct. 2018.

Attorneys for 18 Temple Street and Elizon did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday morning.

Correction: This story originally said the purchase of this deal was about $10 million. The purchase price was actually $20 million.