Page 35 - BusinessWest January 22, 2024

number could go higher still if a promising lead to lease the top two floors, 16 and 17, comes to fruition.
“Arguably, it’s the nicest space in the city,” he told Busi- nessWest. “There are outdoor balconies — you can see Hart- ford from there — and it’s all furnished; there’s even a sepa- rate elevator for those two floors and a winding staircase that connects the two floors.
“And we have a very interested party that we’re talking to now that wants the entire two floors; that’s another 30,000 square feet,” he said, adding that the space was most recent- ly occupied by Disability Management Services, which left to take a smaller footprint in Tower Square in 2022. “I have a very good feeling that this is going to work.”
Space Exploration
If the deal comes to fruition, that will bring the building to 80% occupancy and take 90,000 square feet of class-
A space off the market in roughly a year, both impressive developments at a time when the office market has been struggling and there has been speculation, from Plotkin and others, about whether some office facilities could or should be retrofitted for other uses.
“Everyone’s looking at how you reposition office proper- ties when you have so much vacancy coming on the market,” he said. “So these have been very important and meaningful steps for this market.”
And he projects that the overall commercial real-estate market will continue to fare well in 2024. Indeed, he said the market is showing positive signs in most major catego- ries, including office, retail, and industrial.
The recent new additions at 1350 — and the promise of more — inspired Plotkin and his partners to bring valet parking back to the property.
It was initiated several years ago but rendered unneces- sary at the height of COVID because few were to coming to the building — or any of the surrounding properties, for that
matter.
The return of the valet service was made more neces-
sary, he noted, by the demolition of the Civic Center parking garage, which made it necessary for tenants of 1350 Main, new and old, to park in lots further from the property.
When the new garage is open, the valet service will con- tinue, he went on, adding that it will benefit not only his property, but others around it, including City Hall, Court Square, the MassMutual Center, and others.
Likewise, the new employees now coming to the building every day, as well as the agencies’ clients and customers of establishments like Keezer’s, should help existing and poten- tial new businesses in the downtown, he noted, adding that the developments at 1350 Main are just part of a surge in momentum he’s seeing downtown.
Elaborating, Plotkin, who has worked downtown for more than 40 years and has long been a champion of the city and its central business district, said the needed ingre- dients for a successful downtown are coming into focus. These include people, places to live, things to do, and hospi- tality-related businesses such as restaurants and clubs.
People are perhaps the biggest ingredient, he said, add- ing that this means residents, workers, and visitors. Work- ers have been in shorter supply since COVID, he noted, and downtown businesses have certainly felt the pinch.
“That’s why what’s happening here at 1350 Main is
so exciting to me,” he said. “All those new employees will patronize restaurants, businesses, banks, and stores. It’s an opportunity for a lot of good things to happen.”
Or more good things, to be specific. BW
“Everyone’s looking at how you reposition office properties when you have so much vacancy coming on the market. So these have been very important and meaningful steps for this market.”
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