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Transportation -New Britain Busway-this project is now fully funded (some crazy number like $650 Million to tear up some train tracks and build a dedicated bus rapid transit project connecting Downtown Hartford and Downtown New Britain. Ironically from approximately train station to train station, but with 11 stops along the way. This project will also connect and rearrange many existing bus routes making the bus network much more efficient. Proposed peak capacity is 17,000 daily trips or so. Personally I hate this project, but I suppose I can’t stop it now!
-NHHS Commuter rail- partially funded. This commuter rail will connect Springfield MA to New haven CT, and therefore Metro North of the MTA, and NYC by default. Hartford is the center of this project and will likely reap the biggest rewards. Work has begun on replacing double tracks along part of the route, but this is still a long way off. Maybe 2017? This is a great project and it will ultimately be part of the high speed regional rail project connecting to Montreal through Burlington VT. The NB busway is supposed to feed into this system. There however has been talk of connecting Hartford to Waterbury by commuter rail that would link in at Hartford as well in lieu of the busway. This is apparently being researched, but with the busway project funded, I am not sure how this will work out. Ideally the NH-H-S commuter rail will have a spur to Bradley airport as well as to Waterbury and the communities along the way. There is however the possibility of having just a bus connection to the airport and a bus connection to New Britain, snubbing Bristol, and Waterbury.
Bradley Airport- departures and passenger numbers are improving as a few new routes are added. But the big news in that the airport is now run by its own commission giving it the ability to move much quicker and with more autonomy than In the past. The primary goal at present is to bring in more long distance flights that will increase the airports economic impact and make the city more attractive to do business in. a transatlantic route is the number 1 goal. London, Paris, and Amsterdam are all on the top of the wish list at present due to the international nature of our corporate community. it should be noted that the commuter rail might greatly increase the potential of Bradley
-I-84 Viaduct Plan- This has the most potential direct influence on Hartford, and change the look and feel of the city. I-84 viaduct has past is realistic lifespan and the DOT needs to figure out how to proceed. So rather than simply replacing it for 2 billion bucks, a community group convinced the DOT to work with the community and some 3rd party planners and consultants. The result is a recommendation that the DOT can ignore if they want. But the recommendation is in fact brilliant and costs approximately the same as a simple replacement. The final report is here http://www.crcog.org/publications/Tr...port110216.pdf (broken link)
To save you from looking through this 54 page masterwork, I give you the highlights….
The highway would be placed in a trench through the core part of downtown. This trench would be decked over where needed creating a 15-20 acre area ripe for development next to the train station, as well as extending bushnell park and removing a massive physical barrier as well as blight in the heart of the city.
The train tracks will be realigned so they do not cross the highway twice in the heart of downtown instead staying to the N and W of the highway both straightening the tracks as well as the Highway. This also helps the commuter rail project as it makes the tracks more high speed friendly, and removes the need to replace the 100 year old plus rail viaduct (that also needs replacing) saving Amtrak tens of millions of dollars.
Several onramps and off ramps would be rebuilt and even some removed to make traffic flow more smoothly and streets built to better connect the two sides of the highway.
The above PDF has some killer renderings of what the new land could become, and how the Western edge of Bushnell park can be re-invented and extended. Not to mention some not so flattering pictures of yours truly at the public meetings ☺. The potential of this viaduct re-do is staggering. While I am sure there will still be bad traffic on the highway, it will be better than it is today. it was a rewarding process, and amazing what the community can do.
915 main and 55 on the park each adding 5-8 apartments. These buildings, owned by the same company decided to remove some common area space that was not being used, and put in additional apartment units due to high demand and waiting lists.
Colt Gateway- added 8 apartments recently to the South Armory. This is a huge project that involves the old colt firearms HQ and factory complex. It has been underway for a decade easily. The real estate bubble bursting took this one down hard, and it has changed hands 4 times I think since about 2007. There were 36 or so apartments completed in this building before the wheels fell off, and apparently they have been popular enough for the new owner to recently add 8 more. These 8 new apartments were very much off the radar since I think no one wants to get excited about this project any more after so many failings. The new owner also negotiated with the regional magnet school management group to lease some space and build a new school, so now there are 2 magnate schools on the property and something 50 Apartments (only 1 vacancy, and those 8 apartments just went on sale this Month). There are plans that are pretty far along right now that will make all or part of the property a National Park. It seems however that the current owners will be looking for office tenants while slowly adding small numbers of apartments as they can afford them.
The main (East) Armory is still in need of a serious renovation that will surely require significant financing. This is a HUGE complex with huge buildings that once planned about 340 apartments, office, retail, a museum, and the schools in a historic industrial space
UPDATE: http://courantblogs.com/ct-real-esta...-colt-factory/ (broken link)
So, for clarification, the State is going to replace the roof on the East Armory, so that will help. And as the link says, If the bond is approved it appears as though the owner will build out the remaining 79 apartments planned for the S Armory. The article also mentions that they are close to signing a 16,000 SF tenant on the lower office component bringing 100 workers to the area with and additional 50 over time.
The article also says that once the South armory is complete it can be used as collateral on the planned East Armory project. I guess things are moving faster than I thought at Colt!
Constitution Plaza Apartments -199 market rate apartments, Amenities will include a library, media center, health club and valet parking as well as 15,000 square feet of retail space. Work is expected to begin in the next few months (late spring). This is a HUGE win for the city as its purely driven by demand. The 23-33 market in Hartford is extremely strong, with studio and 1 bedrooms fully rented across the city and many with waiting lists.
370 Asylum aka Hollander 2 – 40 mixed income apartments on upper floors. Conversion of a vacant office building to mixed use. The bottom two floors will be retail space as well as an innovation ecosystem hub where entrepreneurs could come and grow start-up businesses. No schedule to start work, but expected completion is near the end of 2014. This project will happen as its being done by a charity with a great track record that just completed the building next door.
50 Elm Street- recently granted permits for a ground floor restaurant, and 2-3 upstairs apartments.
36 Lewis Street-just purchased. Plans were vague, but upper floors will be an unknown number of apartments. Building is a little over 10K SF. Ground floor likely professional space or restaurant.
Front Street- New construction- This State backed entertainment district is starting to gain some ground (see retail) and the owner is now looking to claim the federal state city and HUD funding all to encourage housing on this property. Talk is of 115 market rate apartments. This one just came back on the radar. The mayor mentioned this to me in the fall, and now it’s in the HBJ (see link). It’s a shame it’s not larger, but this would be new construction, and would also have 16,500 square feet of ground floor retail, so we are going to have to be thankful its happening.
Capewell townhomes. 24 units of new construction on the capewell factory property. Groundbreaking just happened (see link below)
http://www.realhartford.org/2011/10/...ll-townhouses/ (broken link)
The sub plot here is that the Capewell horse nail factory is a beautiful old building that is also blighted, and vacant (except occasional homeless people) and has in the boom years past been proposed as a loft conversion for 100+ units. This townhome project might help to re-ignite redevelopment plans, you never know. Also planned at the time was to build two hotels on the land not occupied by the factory building. These townhomes might be taking one of those parcels, I am not sure, but there is still a ton of potential here, and this is fairly close to the Colt gateway and convention center/front street, so the charter oak area is showing a few small signs of life.
The only other downtown residential “projects” I think are worth mentioning is 101 and 111 Pearl.
There are 2 vacant buildings in a promanent corner in the center of downtown. One is State owned, one is City owned.
111 Pearl- State owned and on the corner if Trumbull and Pearl. It’s 7 stories and had an 8th lower level along part of Trumbull. This building has been in and out of the mix ever since 1986 when developers were looking to turn the whole block into the 750’ Cutter financial center… Most recently this building was to become a boutique hotel run by Martin Kenney who developed Trumbull on the park next door. He apparently owns a stake in the building. Kenney was also interested in 101 Pearl when it was last put out to bid by the city. The last time 111 was scheduled for apartments, the number was pinned at 60. As a hotel, the number of rooms was pinned at 70 European-style rooms and suites. In todays Hartford, Apartments are the most likely result, so there is an opportunity for about 60 more units here. And the state is getting ready to push the issue.
101 Pearl has a similar story to 111, however the city currently owns it. Recent plans for the 12 story vacant office building were for 36 LARGE apartments, but at the same time a competitive bidder (Martin Kenny) proposed 100+ units(IIRC it was 120, but I cannot find the old article now). Quartet Clamoring For Pearl Street Tower | Hartford Business
Both the city and state are looking to restart these projects and hopefully at the same time. The potential here is for as many as 160-180 apartments on an absolutely key corner to downtowns vibrancy. The buildings have access to the adjoining 600 space parking garage built with Trumbull on the park. The retail space would surely attract a few tenants in this key location. With the governors recent statement about bringing downtowns population up to 4-5000 residents, I am sure there will be some kind of state assistance with this one.
There are other project rumors, but none have much merit at this time. The recent HBJ article linked at the beginning of this housing section highlights some of them.
-A Movie theater is coming to Front Street
-Infinity Hall, a concert venue is coming to Front Street
-Burger baby opened in Mayor Mikes old location.
-Wireless Zone just moved into H-21, then moved out to West Hartford
-Asylum Café closed last week.
-The grocery store opened then closed (still too early)
-Spris closed, but Braza took its place
All in all, there are still way too many vacancies, but I feel as though over the last 6 years, there has been a slow and consistant increase in the number of filled spaces downtown. It seems as though when a place closes down something else generally takes its place (like the Russian lady re-opening where Blu/The Mansion was). And on top of that I feel like there has been a slow increase of occupied spaces. As an example, the store fronts in 915 Main and across the street in Capital community colleges storefronts, there has been a few new additions that are sticking around (the wine bar, the market, the pizza shop, and there is a cell phone store and something else. Where there was nothing at all 6 years ago, let alone 2 years ago.
Other additions around town include New Alliance Bank (now First Niagara), Dish, Al’s Market (now opening a second downtown location) Hook and ladder, The Tavern downtown, Churrascaria Braza replacing the recently closed Spris. Tea Haunt Canvas a Tea room recently opened on Trumbull.
Also, Zula seems successful at the top of Pratt and Rio Grille is opening on Pratt soon, the cigar lounge moved to Pratt, a womens boutique recently opened on Pratt, as did a fragrance store. (that street smells awesome now) These moves have made Pratt much more like the street it deserves to be!
If those residential projects get up and running there will surely be additional retail openings in the coming years, and there will be more stability in the ones we have.
Commercial activity. Lets be frank. Our office vacancy rate is anysmal!! Its somewhere near 30%
However it is not all bad.
-St Joes Pharmacy School was conceived as a downtown grad school for St Josephs College. They intend this to be the first of many programs, with all of them to be located in Downtown Hartford. Currently its about 100 students, but will be 200 next year. I noticed a huge change in demographics at city steam brewery right away, so these kids are living downtown and at least grabbing beers downtown between classed. It will be interesting to see what other programs roll out of St Joes, and how this growth affects the feel in downtown.
-Hartford Hospital has been buying other health networks in the region becoming a true game changer in the region from an economic standpoint. Hartford Health Network, has begun going to the bond market for financing, and are using these funds for expansion. They are currently building a massive 1000+ parking space garage neat their primary facility, and have approved plans fo a 12 story office building. most interesting however is that the corporate entity is now moving off of hospital property, and leasing 20,000 SF in the Hartford steam building announced this fall. while it is only 20,000 SF, its a shift from a local care provider to a regional corporation. they also just this month announced buying another large health network, this one in SE CT. if they continue at this pace they will outgrow 20,000 sf in no time. Regardless of what happens, the hospital is becoming a major economic engine. and is likely becoming larger than yale-newhaven
-local banks are expanding. A handful of local banks are growing by taking business from the goliaths that are at least partially responsible for hartfords downfall (Fleet, and therefore Bank of America gobbled up all of the Hartford based banks(some quite large) and colsolidated their work forces ultimately decimating the banking sector in Hartford, once a major player in banking. The last damaging blow was Bank of America buying Merill Lynch and eliminating 300 jobs downtown almost immediately, and now further shrinking their staff in Hartford to who knows how small. These local banks are moving into Hartford and are bringing operations with them. Rockville, Farmington, and Liberty banks are all likely to open downtown branches in the next couple years. Peoples bank has consolidated its 5 Insurance arms into one unit based in Hartford, and Webster bank is maintaining its major presence in Hartford and even adding jobs. While this is not doing much immediately it looks to help with street front vacancy and our future office health as these banks continue to do well and add employees locally. however even more importent is identifying hartford as a financial cener once again, so companies like BoA, Wells Fargo, Citizens and TD bank put jobs in Hartford rather than near by competitors like Albany, springfield, worcester and Providence.
-State looking to buy- Other than Hartford Hospital, the other silver lining is the State of CT. They recently put out proposals to acquire buildings in Downtown Hartford (and other locations around the state) in order to save on rent, and consolidate space. The state currently leases almost 4 million Square feet. CT River plaza, a vacant 560,000 SF class A building along the river seems like a no brainer. In addition to just consolidating leased space, The state plans on moving out of its smaller less efficient buildings into its acquired buildings, and then selling off some of the smaller buildings to raise money. Specifically highlighted other than CT River plaza, was 777 Main street. Also vacant, this building is over 200K sf, and in need of renovations. The buildings seen as most likely to be vacated by the state are on the S side of Bushnell park, and are ideally suited for residential conversions. any downtown office purchase would lead to thousands of jobs moving into the heart of downtown. and lets not pretend that state workers are anything other than highly paid.
Cultural
-iQuilt- The iQuilt Plan - WELCOME
This monster master plan is quite interesting. The cultural institutions got together and got some funding to try and improve the city through their collective might. Initially through improves signage. They realized however that signage alone was not going to connect them due to physical barriers and 30 years of automobile rule in Hartford. This led them to reach out the the business community and others in the city. Soon, they realized that Bushnell park was thinking about doing some significant upgrades and the city had some road re-design ideas. Also some corporations were looking at significant renovations on their property affecting street interaction, so discussions were had. Consultants were hired, public hearings a plenty were held…
The result? iQuilt is a master plan for connecting the cultural amenities of the city with the parks and the river in a walk-able manner with a mind for economic development. Its actually pretty impressive. The plan is to re-introduce the river to Bushnell park (actually, it’s not the HOG river, but a tributary of it for flooding reasons) it is also to do traffic calming and extend the park towards Pulaski circle and the Whithead highway (a road that has been stealing park land for decades and was built over the hog river aquaduct)
Also, the construction of a permanent ice rink in the park as well as a pond next to the pump house (eatery) there will be 7 bridges again as originally planned too. Besides the park, Gold Street will be redesigned to be a gateway to the park containing some revenue generating locations like possibly a restaurant venue (a jazz club is their dream) Gold street leads to the road between Travelers old HQ building and the Wadsworth Antheneum. Travelers has a big plaza here and it contains their underground parking garage. It needs to be replaced since it is falling apart. So they got involved in iQuilt and now the plan is to make the area between the Wadsworth and Travelers a giant plaza with limited vehicle access, fountains and seating for eateries.
There is a ton more on the web site if you are interested, its honestly a very detailed series of project, and it has backing at all levels in the community, so I see this happening.
It should be noted that this is not 1 project, just the connection of many different projects funded publically privately and through grants. Some parts of this may never happen, while some aspects may end up changing. A few things are however clear. This is a green project. Everything associated with it includes indigenous plant life, and waste water separation, and even green parking areas.
Public Works -MDC sewer separation project. This is a huge $1+ billion project is to separate storm water from the sewers and update the entire regions sewage systems. I guess on heavy storms, the CT River gets a whole lot of sewage dumped into it. While not sexy, these upgrades allow for future downtown growth and development since the infrastructure will be able to handle the density planned for Hartford’s future.
Thanks for the detailed update. Do you know what is currently going on with the old hotel on Constitution Plaza? Is that the 199 market rate apartments you highlighted?
Thanks for the detailed update. Do you know what is currently going on with the old hotel on Constitution Plaza? Is that the 199 market rate apartments you highlighted?
I forgot to mention that some of this list is old , the person who did updates on Hartford just got back after a year hiatus. So that list applies to redevelopments and Proposals from October 2010 to January 2012... I will ask some on the Hartford thread , theres probably a backlog update that's coming.
Thanks for the detailed update. Do you know what is currently going on with the old hotel on Constitution Plaza? Is that the 199 market rate apartments you highlighted?
The apartments will be market rate , but aimed at people between the ages of 21-35....
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