[SunFlower33]

I hope you're right about Bear's going to BBS! I never get there because I HATE doing anything in Hartford (I work here M-F and get out as fast as I can at 4:00) and the Windsor location is too far for my liking.

Has anyone heard anything credible about the apartment building renovation on Capitol Avenue - The Old Hartford Office Supply building? After the construction accident, there hasn't been much work going on over there and I've heard that it's on hold because the building is sinking? Any truth to this hearsay?

[EUPL]

Originally Posted by SunFlower33

I hope you're right about Bear's going to BBS! I never get there because I HATE doing anything in Hartford (I work here M-F and get out as fast as I can at 4:00) and the Windsor location is too far for my liking.

Has anyone heard anything credible about the apartment building renovation on Capitol Avenue - The Old Hartford Office Supply building? After the construction accident, there hasn't been much work going on over there and I've heard that it's on hold because the building is sinking? Any truth to this hearsay?

They are continuing with that project. I walk by it daily.

[beerbeer]

Bears is expanding its Hartford presence. There is no mention of West Hartford on their website. From the Courant:

On Thursday, the McDonalds signed a lease for nearly 6,500 square feet at Front Street, less than a year after expanding to Hartford. The new lease will more than double the restaurant space they now have at the corner of Columbus Boulevard and Arch Street.

Jamie McDonald said he was frustrated because his restaurant’s seating could not meet the demand of patrons.
“People look in the door and see there are no seats and walk away,” McDonald said. “And that drives me crazy.”
The McDonalds will keep the Arch Street space for corporate and other catered events....

The lease leaves just 4,500 square feet of space vacant, or about 8 percent, of a total of 60,000 square feet in the Front Street entertainment district.

McDonald said the Front Street space will nearly triple seating to 180, offer a full bar and the ability to more than double the volume of meat smoked daily to 3,000 pounds. He estimates his employment in Hartford at about 35, with the potential to add 10 part-time and three full-time positions.

[ctguy87]

Originally Posted by beerbeer

Bears is expanding its Hartford presence. There is no mention of West Hartford on their website. From the Courant:

On Thursday, the McDonalds signed a lease for nearly 6,500 square feet at Front Street, less than a year after expanding to Hartford. The new lease will more than double the restaurant space they now have at the corner of Columbus Boulevard and Arch Street.

Jamie McDonald said he was frustrated because his restaurant’s seating could not meet the demand of patrons.
“People look in the door and see there are no seats and walk away,” McDonald said. “And that drives me crazy.”
The McDonalds will keep the Arch Street space for corporate and other catered events....

The lease leaves just 4,500 square feet of space vacant, or about 8 percent, of a total of 60,000 square feet in the Front Street entertainment district.

McDonald said the Front Street space will nearly triple seating to 180, offer a full bar and the ability to more than double the volume of meat smoked daily to 3,000 pounds. He estimates his employment in Hartford at about 35, with the potential to add 10 part-time and three full-time positions.

At first I read that as McDonald's signed a lease, until I read about the bar and realized it was for Bears.

Is the work being done in the space closest to the lofts for Qdoba?

I will admit when I am wrong - after Bear's moves and Qdoba opens it is only 8% vacant. To be fair, the movie theater takes up a big chunk of leasable space, and as of this week, there are a few vacant storefronts. That will change with Bear's and Qdoba in the near future.

[JayCT]

With only 4,500 square feet left, I would say that Front Street is pretty much full. That is only one or two possible stores. I think that you look at the theater store fronts and think they are empty stores when they are not. During the day there are not a lot of movies being shown. Go there at night and you will see more activity. Jay

[ctguy87]

Originally Posted by JayCT

With only 4,500 square feet left, I would say that Front Street is pretty much full. That is only one or two possible stores. I think that you look at the theater store fronts and think they are empty stores when they are not. During the day there are not a lot of movies being shown. Go there at night and you will see more activity. Jay

Once Bears and Qdoba are open yes - but I am just stating what I saw this week.

[BPt111]

HARTFORD — At Tuesday's grand opening of the 777 Main apartments downtown, one thing was clear: It is time to stop calling the 26-story tower the former Bank of America building.

Since leasing began five months ago, 197, or nearly 70 percent, of the 285 units in the building across from the Old State House are occupied, and another 10 percent have signed leases, according to the developer.

Gov. Dannell P. Malloy, speaking in ceremonies held in the tower's event space on the 26th floor, said that demand may be taking some people by surprise.

"What we did in this building is take a large commercial building off the unrented space and put it into occupied space," Malloy said. "Most people didn't think the market could absorb this amount of housing."

The 1960s-era structure was originally built for Hartford National Bank and later, a parade of successors, ending with Bank of America.

Bank of America sold the tower in 2004 and leased back about half until it relocated to CityPlace, a block away, in 2012. The rest of the building was vacant.


"It had gotten old, it had gotten tired and it was empty," Malloy said, "and it would have continued to be empty and, quite frankly, increasingly blighted but for a whole bunch of folks getting together."

Financing for the $85 million conversion was complex, drawing from more than a half-dozen sources, much of it public funding.

The largest portion is a $37 million loan from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Capital Region Development Authority committed a $10.2 million loan and a $7.5 million equity investment. The Connecticut housing department contributed a $3.9 million loan.

Tax credits also play a major role: $15 million in federal historic rehabilitation and energy credits and $5 million in state historic rehabilitation credits.

The studio, one- and two-bedroom units range in size from 528 square feet to 1,086 square feet, with rents starting at $1,230 and rising to $2,036 a month, plus parking. Of the units, 20 percent have lower rents reserved for low- and moderate-income households.

The apartments at 777 Main, which began construction in March 2014, are part of a new wave of more than 800 rentals in and around downtown. The apartments are part of a strategy to boost afterhours vibrancy — long lacking in the city — and to capitalize on a nationwide move back to urban centers.

On Tuesday, Bruce Becker, the developer of 777 Main, was already looking ahead to his next project: leasing retail space in the building and along Asylum Street where an attached parking garage is located.

Becker has already secured Blue State Coffee, a barbershop and a new grocery market. He's negotiating with other potential retail tenants, which he declined to name Tuesday.

Becker said he expects the apartments to be fully leased by the spring, well ahead of his initial 18-month forecast.

"Block-by-block, building-by-building, downtown Hartford is truly coming alive again," Becker said.




70 Percent Of 777 Main Apartments Are Occupied, Developer Says - Hartford Courant

[ctguy87]

Not Hartford, but the Town Center West development is well under way in Rocky Hill. 144 new apartments and some retail - visible from 91.

Rocky Hill OKs Changes To Town Center West Project - tribunedigital-thecourant

[ctguy87]

This would be a big gain:

Hard Rock Hotel and Cafe to Open in Downtown Hartford Near Baseball Stadium | NBC Connecticut

[HumpDay]

This is huge!

Hard Rock Cafe and Hotel is coming to downtown north!

The hotel will include a pool on its roof. That's neat. This hotel will mostly likely be 150-250ft tall. Though I could be wrong. This means it'll be one of the first high rises to be built in Hartford since the completion of Hartford 21 in 2006.

Hard Rock Hotel and Cafe to Open in Downtown Hartford Near Baseball Stadium | NBC Connecticut