The influential Capital Region Development Authority, a driving force in residential redevelopment in downtown Hartford and the $145 million makeover of the city’s sports and entertainment arena, appointed a new executive director Thursday, after a nationwide search.
David Sinko Steuber will assume the top post at the quasi-public CRDA on Oct. 31, leaving his position as chief of staff at the state Department of Economic and Community Development.
At DECD, Steuber also has been responsible for new strategic initiatives including two high-profile programs — Innovation Clusters that finances next-generation technology to drive job growth and Greyfields that seeks redevelopment alternatives for a glut of vacant office space statewide.
“Dave is a highly skilled public sector executive with over 15 years of experience, creating and executing complex strategies to promote economic development and improve communities at the city and state level,” David C. Robinson, chairman of CRDA’s board of directors said.
Steuber will succeed Michael W. Freimuth, who is retiring after serving as CRDA’s executive director since 2012 when the agency was newly created. Freimuth, who honed a high-profile image for CRDA, will remain working at the agency through a transition period that will wrap up at the end of the year.
David Sinko Steuber, now the chief of staff and director of strategic initiatives at the state Department of Economic and Community Development, was appointed Thursday as the new executive director of the Capital Region Development Authority. (Handout/Capital Region Development Authority)
Steuber, a Hartford resident, will bring to his new post state economic development experience combined with both background at Hartford city hall and the state legislature.
In Hartford, he served as chief of staff to former Mayor Luke Bronin from 2021 through 2023. Bronin worked closely with CRDA throughout his two terms as mayor.
Steuber joined the Bronin administration after nearly two years as a senior program manager at Connecticut Innovations.
Early in his career, Steuber worked a brief stint as a field organizer for U.S. Congressman Joe Courtney.
In a statement, CRDA’s board said Steuber’s appointment signals a commitment to developing CRDA”s role as “a catalyst for economic opportunity, job creation and urban revitalization in Connecticut’s capital region and beyond.”
Steuber will take the helm of CRDA at a time when the agency faces some of its biggest challenges since it was formed in 2012. Chief among those is vacant office space — much of it in downtown Hartford’s most recognizable towers. There is a push to convert at least some of that into apartments with the help of state funding. But that priority will need to be weighed with plans for new construction in areas such as the Bushnell South neighborhood around Bushnell Park.
Hartford’s trash-to-energy plant, closed in 2022, could become part of a larger redevelopment district in the city’s gritty South Meadows area. (Aaron Flaum/Hartford Courant)
CRDA also is embarking on assuming responsibility for redeveloping the trash-to-energy plant property in Hartford’s South Meadows, a massive project that could take decades.
Environmental clean-up alone, according to one study, could range from $48 million for industrial and commercial uses to $334 million for heavily residential. Those figures are based on getting started in 2026 and rise significantly waiting five or 10 years.
But Steuber brings familiarity with the 80-acre site — more than double the size of the Adriaen’s Landing site that gave rise to the Connecticut Convention Center in 2005 and later, the Front Street district. Steuber served on the board of directors that oversaw the winding down of the trash-to-energy plant.
In addition, Steuber will take over a roster of dozens of projects not only in Hartford but surrounding towns, particularly East Hartford.
Steuber holds two bachelor degrees from the University of Connecticut — both earned in the same four year period between 2004 and 2008 — in philosophy, and economics and political science. He also holds a master of science from UConn in business analytics and project management.
Michael Freimuth, executive director of the Capital Region Development Authority, atop the State Office Building on Capitol Avenue with the Bushnell South redevelopment district behind him. Freimuth will retire by the end of the year.(Courant File Photo)
Under Freimuth’s tenure, the fledgling agency quickly grew in stature as it tackled conversions of older office buildings to apartments in and around downtown Hartford. The agency provided low-cost, state-taxpayer backed loans to projects that would otherwise wouldn’t have gotten off the ground.
In the last decade, CRDA has invested more than $200 million in low-cost loans, often closing the gap on difficult-to-finance, office-to-residential conversions that would otherwise not gotten off the ground. The loans attracted private and other investments to create 3,300 new apartments in more than 50 projects in and round downtown Hartford.
CRDA also is a driving force behind the $145 million renovation at the former XL Center, now PeoplesBank Arena that is now nearing completion. The decade-long effort included marshaling the political support in the state legislature, plus attracting private investment to ease some of financial burden for the renovation of the shoulders of taxpayers.
Freimuth was expected to retire sooner, but CRDA”s board needed more time to identify the right candidate for the executive director job.
On Thursday, Robinson praised Freimuth’s diverse range of talent and awareness that combined to understand social issues and neighborhood issues, plus the political savvy needed for the job.
“Mike has been an exceptional leader and his countless contributions that have made the capital region and the city of Hartford a more vibrant and desirable place to live, work and play,” Robinson said. “His strong drive, character and commitment to civic improvement have left a lasting mark on the region.”
Kenneth R. Gosselin can be reached at kgosselin@courant.com.
