Who are the largest Hartford-based apartment owners?

by Steven Ramsden

Last updated on Dec 14, 2021

for Data Visualization for All
with Prof. Jack Dougherty
Trinity College, Hartford CT, USA

Story

My data focuses on which Limited Liability Company(LLC) has the most housing units in Hartford, Connecticut. Before you dive in, this project is focused on helping our community partners, Center for Leadership and Justice(CLJ), that is established in Connecticut. Their goal is focused around the #NoMoreSlumlords campaign. Center for Leadership and Justice pressured the city to pass a new housing policy, making LLC owners come forward and not have anymore loop holes for poor housing conditions.

This data is to show the viewer which companies own the most living units in Hartford, and where their mailing addresses are located. The data does not show the location of these apartments, the data only shows the mailing address of the owners. This data will help CLJ and their campaign because it shows them where the mailing addresses are, and how many apartment units (4 and up) these companies own. This data also gives awareness to the community of the Hartford area about LLCs and how quickly they can increase and take ownership of these apartments and treat the housing conditions poorly. The data will show the viewer the impacts of LLCs.

Defining Limited Liability Companies

A Limited Liability Companies are often known as LLCs for short. According to the IRS, limited liability companies are a private business structure that is allowed by state statute. Since they are a private company in the United States, they are protected from personal responsibility for any debts or liabilities that happen in their buildings. Referencing the IRS again, owners of an LLC are called members, and since most states do not restrict ownership, these members can include either individuals, corporations, and other entities. There is no limitation to the number of people for one member. Most states also permit “single-member” LLCs, meaning companies with a single owner.

This data story fosuces on owners of apartment units with 4 or more units whose mailing addresses were in Hartford. The reason for this is because if I were to do more units such as 40+, not every owner could afford that many units, so the data would be selective. With the data focusing on apartment buildings with 4 or more units, more owners appear in the data because they are able to afford 4 units or more.

In the chart, figure 1, it shows the viewer a range of the top 20 largest LLCs that have a mailing address in Hartford. Looking at the chart, the largest LLC owner that owns the most units with a Hartford address is Marconi Enterprises LLC with 344 apartment units. The smallest amount of units owned is Union Place Realty LLC with only 69 units. The bottom 26% of these LLC companies own under 100 units, with none of them reaching 100 units. The top 15% own over 200 units.

This interactive map, figure 2 shows the location of the mailing addresses of these Hartford-based LLCs. The colors on the map represent different LLCs, and the size represents the number of units they own. As you glide over the map, you can see which owners are where and how many units they own. For example, if you float over the red large circle with the address 755 Main Street, it will say 674 units owned. The reason for this is because some LLCs share the same mailing address, or one owner has many LLCs under one address, so I put all of the shared addresses into one circle, calling it 755 Main Street. The other circles are solo LLCs, and are all over the Hartford area. This map allows the community of Hartford and the viewer to see where these LLCs are and how they are impacting living conditions for people in these communities. Some interesting findings during this research was the amount of LLCs owners whose mailing addresses were in downtown Hartford. There could be a possibility that multiple LLCs share the same owner.

In figure 3, the table provides a clear simple table that helps the viewer see which LLCs own the most and where their mailing addresses are. Since the data is Hartford-based, all of the mailing addresses are located in Hartford.

Figure 3

LLC Owners (Hartford only) Owner address Total Living Units
MARCONI ENTERPRISES LLC 191 FRANKLIN AV, HARTFORD CT 344
NORTHLAND TOWER BLOCK LLC 185 ASYLUM ST, HARTFORD CT 262
HARTFORD PRESERVATION A LLC HARTFORD CT 217
5CP LANDLORD LLC 755 MAIN ST, SUITE 1245, HARTFORD CT 190
SPECTRA 101 LLC 755 MAIN ST, SUITE 1245, HARTFORD CT 157
194 WASHINGTON STREET LLC 1010 WETHERSFIELD AVE, HARTFORD CT 135
COLTSVILLE REDEVELOPMENT COMPANY LLC 55 VAN DYKE AV, HARTFORD CT 129
LAZ TEMPLE LLC 755 MAIN ST, SUITE 1245, HARTFORD CT 120
BOND DEVELOPMENT LLC 338 ASYLUM ST, HARTFORD CT 116
SKDJ HOSPITALITY LLC 100 WESTON ST, HARTFORD CT 109
SPECTRA TOP LLC 755 MAIN ST, SUITE 1245, HARTFORD CT 106
BLISS HOSPITALITY LLC 57 WEST SERVICE RD, HARTFORD CT 104
SHELDON WYLLYS LLC 54 S PROSPECT ST, HARTFORD CT 102
SPECTRA 111 LANDLORD LLC 755 MAIN ST, SUITE 1245, HARTFORD CT 101
OUR MOM`S LLC 581 FARMINGTON AVE, HARTFORD CT 88
BEDFORD GARDENS 88 LLC BEDFORD GARDENS 88 LLC, HARTFORD CT 84
COLT GATEWAY LLC 140 HUYSHOPE AV SUITE 200, HARTFORD CT 76
70 POP LLC 157 CHARTER OAK AV, HARTFORD CT 72
UNION PLACE REALTY LLC 74 UNION PL, HARTFORD CT 69

Data

I was tasked on finding out which limited liability companies owned the largest number of apartment units 4 and up that were Hartford-based. To begin my research, I first had to download the Camagis property detials into a google sheet, giving me a varity of companies that owned living units. I then cleaned the data, creating multiple sheets to keep me orgainzed. Once I finally created the final sheet that had the largest limited liability companies that were Hartford-based. I then created a bar chart, giving the viewer an easier look at the data, showing them the largest LLCs owners with an Hartofrd mailing address.

After finishing the chart, I took my data into datawrapper, creating a choropleth map. A choropleth map uses color as regions to show data such as unemployment rates or election rates. I used a choropleth map to show the viewer where the mailing addresses where of these Hartford-based LLC owners using circles varying from size. The sizes of each cirle represented the amount of units owned by that owner. The cirles also ranged from colors to depict each company so the viewer would not get confused.

Having both the chart and map helped me answer the question which LLCs owned the largest number of apartment units that were 4 and up in Hartford. I also was able to provide the mailing addresses of these LLC owners and find the number of units they owned.

Credits

I would first like to thank the Center of Leadership and Justice for trusting me and giving me this project to help them with their future work. It was a great pleasure working with meeting them, working with them, and giving them what they wanted.

“Limited Liability Company (LLC).” Internal Revenue Service, https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/limited-liability-company-llc.

Rebecca Lurye, “New Housing Code in Hartford Would Keep Slumlords from Hiding Behind LLCs,” Hartford Courant, May 31, 2019, https://www.courant.com/community/hartford/hc-news-hartford-housing-code-20190531-hcke2jo2x5fpdgz75xf4hlv2ki-story.html.