New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute puts Hartford campus on the market
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, which has had a Hartford presence since 1955, is selling its former graduate center at 275 Windsor St. in the city's downtown neighborhood.
Officials with the real estate brokerage CBRE announced Wednesday that the Troy, N.Y., school has put the 12.69-acre property on the market. The property, which is being marketed for mixed-use redevelopment, is being offered for sale without a formal asking price.
The site, which was developed in the 1970s, includes an eight-story classroom building, an amphitheater, a parking garage and surface parking for more than 860 cars. The building is the former home of a graduate center for working professionals pursuing advanced education and is located adjacent to Dunkin' Park, the home of minor league baseball's Hartford Yard Goats.
David Griggs, president and chief executive officer of the MetroHartford Alliance, said the property “has a great deal of potential to be transformative given its location.” Griggs said the property is near a new luxury apartment building known as The Pennant at North Crossing, which has 270 units and includes a bowling alley and swimming pool.
“This is a key site because it can really pull investment more fully into the neighborhood,” Griggs said, referring to the RPI property.
Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin said the property has “tremendous potential for the mixed-use development that expands the development already underway around the baseball park.”
“We're going to be as aggressive as we can in supporting and promoting residential development, and the Rensselaer campus's size and location makes it a hugely important opportunity,” Bronin said. “I want to acknowledge Rensselaer's longstanding presence here in Hartford, and we look forward to working with them and with potential buyers.”
The fact that the property is being marketed without a formal asking price is indicative of the unique nature of the property, said Jed Backus, broker/owner of Backus Real Estate in Hamden.
“This is not at all unusual for larger institutional properties that don't have a lot of comps,” he said. “The highest, best use of the property may not have been determined yet.”
Backus said that although no formal asking price is being revealed, “I'm sure CBRE has some ideas as to what the seller will be willing to accept.”
RPI launched a Hartford facility in 1955 with United Aircraft Corp., a precursor to United Technologies. It was known as the Hartford Graduate Center and was created to address a shortage of scientists and engineers in southern New England.
Aric Krause, Rensselaer's dean of academic and administrative affairs, said school officials have reconfigured the Hartford program over the past five years “to provide certificates and graduate degrees online, better serving employers with professionals all over the country and world.” The Hartford campus offers non-degree certificate programs, which provide specific skills for working professionals and take significantly less time to complete than a master's degree.
“With the sale of our building, we look forward to finding a new physical Hartford location that is better aligned to our current needs,” Krause said.