Commercial Record

A joint venture completed its acquisition of two Norwalk office buildings for a 268-unit apartment conversion and received $75.5 million in construction financing. The existing office buildings, known as 101 and 201 Merritt 7, total 511,318 square feet and are located on a 6-acre parcel. CBRE Vice Chairman Jeffrey Dunne, First Vice President Eric Apfel, investment sales head Travis Langer and senior financial analyst Eric Greenberg represented the seller and procured the purchaser.

Amazon’s supply chain network expansion reached eastern Connecticut this year with proposals for a pair of distribution centers spanning a combined 2.4 million square feet in Killingly and Norwich. Photo courtesy of Amazon Amazon’s supply chain network expansion reached eastern Connecticut this year with proposals for a pair of distribution centers spanning a combined 2.4 million square feet in Killingly and Norwich.

For the second consecutive year, the FBI has warned both consumers and real estate professionals about the rising tide of title thefts. The agency’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, known as IC3, does not have specific statistics solely for deed fraud, which falls into its “real estate crime” category. “Nationwide, from 2019 through 2023, 58,141 victims reported $1.3 billion in losses relating to real estate fraud,” reads a 2025 report from the agency.

Photo courtesy of the city of Hartford A quitclaim deed filed with the Hartford city clerk’s office shows Hartford’s well-known “Stilts Building” has traded hands. An affiliate of prominent downtown Hartford landlord Shelbourne Global Solutions sold the 20 Church St. tower to LLCs controlled by fellow downtown investor LAZ Investments and Memphis, the U.S. arm of Canadian investment giant Olymbec.

Greater Hartford families with children are more rent-burdened than the overall rental population, according to a new report from Zillow’s economists analyzing census data. In, Hartford, just 26.9 percent of families rent, but 62.8 percent were rent-burdened in July, according to Zillow. Rent burden is defined by the listings portal as spending more than 30 percent of household income on housing costs.

Photo courtesy of the city of Hartford The owners of a prominent Hartford office complex appear to be gaining a lifeline in the form of a Lamont administration economic development move. Gov.

Office availability in Hartford County dropped to its lowest level since before the pandemic, aided by accelerating leasing activity in the second quarter. At the midyear mark, the availability rate had dropped to 21.7 percent on a countywide basis, CBRE reported in a quarterly research report. Suburban submarkets accounted for the bulk of the 237,000 square feet of leasing activity.

After a slow start to the year, pending sales of single-family homes in Connecticut saw a slight increase as year-to-date sales remain marginally down. Pending single-family home sales in Connecticut rose by 4.3 percent to 2,762 in July 2026 according to data provided by SmartMLS, Connecticut’s statewide home-listings service. Year-to-date pending sales are more flat, having declined 0.8 percent to 15,183. In Greater Hartford, pending sales increased by 6.7 percent to 510, according to GHAR.

Photo courtesy of Essex Bank Doug Paul Chairman of the Board, Essex Savings Bank Industry experience: 15 years Essex Bank is heading into a new era as Lynn Giroux is now officially serving as the bank’s new president and CEO. The process of getting there was not a sprint, says the bank’s board chair, Doug Paul. It was a multi-year process to land on Giroux which included seeking an external opinion.

A new report on so-called “administrative fees” focuses on the junk fees often charged to homebuyers and sellers, often without their knowledge or proper disclosures. The report from the Consumer Policy Center said the fees typically range from $400 to $600, but that in some instances run as much as $1,000. In one case, it said, the surcharge was $2,000. Overall, the CPC estimates that the fees add up to $2 billion annually.