The first tenants will soon move into four renovated properties on a prominent corner in Hartford’s Asylum Hill, a $12.5 million project that initially stirred controversy but still marks another sign of revitalization in the neighborhood.
“Look at the need in Hartford,” said Sharon L. Castelli, chief executive of the Hartford-based, nonprofit Chrysalis Center, its real estate arm the project’s developer. “Not everything’s downtown. Not everyone wants to live downtown. This is an historic area, and these just stood vacant.”
Three of the four buildings at the corner of Asylum Avenue and Huntington Street — 834, 846 and 852 Asylum — were once grand homes built in the 1920s by members of the city’s business elite. The project created 32 apartments — including studios, 2- and 3-bedroom units — which Castelli describes as workforce housing.
Construction on what is now called “Clover Gardens” — after a four-leaf clover and the four buildings, which share a garden on the property — began in September 2020. Work is now wrapping up, and eight leases have already been signed. The first tenants will move in beginning next week.
“I think this is going to be a buzzing neighborhood,” Castelli said, during a tour of the properties earlier this week. “I really do.”
The project turned controversial when plans first surfaced three years ago. The Asylum Hill Neighborhood Association pushed for the properties along Asylum to be renovated as single-family houses. One of the overarching goals of the neighborhood revitalization zones is to increase homeownership in Asylum Hill.
“It’s still our position that we believe these buildings would have been better for another use such as homeownership because they were old classic buildings, they were of a certain architectural style and that’s all gone now,” David MacDonald, the association’s executive director, said.
Castelli said Chrysalis responded to those concerns by changing the mix of apartments to include 2- and 3-bedroom rentals, that would better fit renters with families.
Chrysalis also took care to respect the architectural detail at the homes, including the Queen Anne style of 852 Asylum, Castelli said. Interior wood trim and casings were removed, numbered, stored and then set back in place, Castelli said.
MacDonald said the association has seen some increase in homeownership in Asylum Hill in the last decade, rising as high as 13% of the housing stock from 9%. The association would like to see the percentage rise to 22%, the overall average for the city.
MacDonald said the Chrysalis project has gone smoothly and that the association would welcome new tenants to Asylum Hill.
“We hope they enjoy their time there and become active members of the community,” MacDonald said.
Market-rate rents range from $900 to $1,878 for the apartments that range in size from 570 square feet to 1,372 square feet. Surface parking is included.
Of the 32 rentals, eight are set aside as “affordable” with tenant income restricted to between 30% and 80% of the area median income, or $22,000 to $83,440.
The four properties were purchased for about $1.4 million. The three along Asylum were purchased from the charter schools group Jumoke Academy, Castelli said, and the Huntington property from a separate seller.
The project included funding from the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority, the state Department of Housing, city funding through the federal HOME program and historic tax credits, among others.
The designs for the apartments in the historic homes resulted in no apartment being exactly the same as another. Many have fireplaces — at least one unit has two — although they will be “nonworking,” Castelli said.
Parquet-style floors, grand sweeping staircases, stained-glass and even a butler’s pantry were incorporated in the renovation. Finishes include granite countertops.
The building at 1 Huntington St., the fourth property, also dates from the 1920s but was built as an apartment with Tudor elements. It was also in the toughest shape, Castelli said.
“That was home to many prostitutes and lots of drug addicts,” Castelli said. “That was horrible. Needles all over the ground, used condoms. The ceilings were falling down in the living rooms. It was bad, really bad.”
The property had to be basically gutted to the framing studs, Castelli said.
Castelli said she was worried about starting in the midst of the pandemic, especially since she’d had trouble getting appliances for another project in New Britain.
But the Clover Gardens project will meet a Dec. 31 completion date, required to qualify for historic tax credits.
She isn’t worried about leasing demand. Prospective renters have walked up to her with applications during daily visits to the properties.
One of those potential tenants tried handing her cash for a deposit.
“I told him, ‘I’m not the property manager,'” Castelli said. “He said, ‘I’m anxious. I work down the street. My kids. I’m ready to move in.’ I tell him, ‘You have to give the cash to the property manager.'”
Kenneth R. Gosselin can be reached at kgosselin@courant.com.
