HartfordTycoon

I think it will end up being the River Hogs if these are in fact the choices to select from. Yard Goats would be pretty damn hilarious though.

http://www.wfsb.com/video?clipId=11183513&autostart=true CRDA Head Mike Freimuth on Face the State yesterday. Sounds like the $250m rebuild is practically a done deal. Sweet! Let's hope the legislature gives the governor what he wants here after relatively modest debate.

Looks like the most likely option is the $250M rebuilding of the arena. It certainly seems as if that makes the most sense if it will get it NHL/NBA ready and get all of the operating systems replaced. Pretty exciting to think that this is finally actually going to happen. We'll be ready if the NHL ever does become a real possibility.

VoR, do you have any idea which parcel includes 220 High St. It must be either B,C, or D. Based on the design in that area, it seems like it wouldn't be to difficult to incorporate the historic building in the redevelopment. I think its important that Hartford try to save its historic structures, even if they are fairly nondescript.

http://www.chartweb.com/wp-content/uploads/NEW-Hartford-retail-ICSC.pdf New leasing brochure for Front Street including all of the retail space that will be available at the Lofts and UConn. It's exciting to see phase 1 pretty much all leased up and to imagine what the Lofts and UConn are going to add to the development. I imagine that a large UConn Co-op Bookstore will be featured prominently on the campus.

I'm very happy with those renderings. The fact that they are pushing this up against the Public Safety Complex is really going to reconnect this area and extend Downtown northward. This is a huge step forward for the city. Probably one of the most tranformative proposals in the last half century, given its location.

Would be awesome if we land that Aer Lingus flight. Fingers crossed! Terminal B is about to be demolished, finally. Says new terminal B expected to begin construction in 2018. http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/article/20141114/NEWS01/141119947/1002

The reality is that crime is not out of control in Hartford. It's obviously not low enough, but Hartford isn't the type of city where people get attacked ramdomly very often in any of its neighborhoods.

This is great news. I'm glad the city was able to increase the percentage of non-baseball event revenue it would collect to 30% from the 5% originally proposed by the Rock Cats. I also think the hiring guidelines for Hartford residents will be good for the city overall. There are also apparently penalties that can be assessed against the developers if they don't build the entire project within the agreed upon schedule. I think the city has done a reasonably good job trying to protect itself while not scuttling the entire thing. Hopefully the union stuff doesn't push up the cost too much. One Hartford resident commented recently that most guys in Hartford in the trades are non-union and that they want guarantees that the unions are going to work to let them in. http://wnpr.org/post/hartford-city-council-approves-baseball-stadium-deal

In the long run this makes sense for hockey. College hockey doesn't belong playing all of its games in a 16,000 seat arena. Hopefully they will build a following in the city over the next couple of seasons though and will schedule some marquee matchups in Hartford in the future. I think this is what's best for UConn if they want to be a hocky power. A 5,000 or 6,000 seat dedicated hockey arena on campus.

They won't say so publicly, but I suspect scrapping any city bonding is favored in part to avoid the possibility of a silly and potentially deal killing referendum being organized by the opposition. I wish that didn't have to be a consideration, but with the low turnout in Hartford a few thousand people could literally kill this.

http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-hartford-stadium-public-hearing-0918-20140917-story.html I think the tide is really starting to turn on this. My dad went and he spoke in favor of the stadium as a Hartford resident and said there were many others. Overall it was about 50/50 but most opposed to the stadium were clearly not Northenders. The son of the founder of Scott's Bakery spoke in favor of the proposal along with other business and community leaders from the North End. A representative of Shop Rite was also there conveying the grocers interest in being a part of this new mixed-use district. I think the community at large is starting to get excited.

Sweet! When UConn comes along, Front St. is going to be insanely active.

I like that the development will be privately owned. That will give much less ammo to the critics. I have to say that I'm pretty impressed with the city putting this together. For once, they city may actually be able to pull off a huge, completely game-changing development without the direction of the state. VoR, weren't there actually two hotel proposals that kinda went dark proposed in this general vicinity?

I think the plan is to create significant activity in the vicinity of the old data center. You have the housing, the public fields, and the brewery, added to Travelers, Rensselaer, and the Ramada. There is room in that area for additional development as well across Market Street and even the Travelers and Rensselaer surface parking could be developed in the future.

http://www.courant.com/real-estate/property-line/hc-centerplan-leylandalliance-hartford-ballpark-20140825,0,2294012.story HARTFORD — Middletown-based Centerplan Development Co. — part of a partnership that wants to develop the city's Downtown North area — is the purchaser of a long-vacant data processing center in the area, property that is incorporated into its proposal.

I agree VoR. If the city can sell city hall at fair market value, they should be able to get a good amount of money for it. I don't think they should be overly generous. It's a beautiful, historic building in what will be a very up and coming section of town. If the Wadsworth wants it, or UConn they should have to pay for it.

Nixs is a nice addition and Infinity Hall is simply amazing. They did a fantastic job building out that space. It's really pretty special.

The Leyland Alliance plan seems really good. The fact that they have signed letters of intent from ShopRite and Balducci's is really promising and should get many of those not crazy about the stadium to at least give this a serious look. I know many people were apoplectic when that the stadium plan had supposedly killed any interest from ShopRite. Hartford will be pretty transformed if this happens in conjunction with everything already in progress.

The City Council is moving forward. Good to see that they aren't letting the opposition sway them. http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/Hartford-Residents-Protest-Ballpark-as-City-Nears-a-Deal-270827731.html Opponents protesting the construction of a minor-league baseball stadium in Hartford raised their concerns at City Hall tonight, but the City Council moved forward with plans to build, approving land purchases for both the ballpark and the Downtown North development. The council voted to buy two acres of vacant land on Windsor Street, where the ballpark would be situated, and 14 additional properties from covered bridge ventures where businesses, restaurants and residential buildings could crop up.

http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-hartford-stadium-bids-0807-20140806,0,1896951.story Looks like a new city hall is part of the plan! Fixed the link. Thanks VoR.

http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-hartford-stadium-bids-0806-20140805,0,1176053.story So, apparently, the Hooker proposal was one of the four. Another was submitted by Leyland Alliance, the developer of Storrs Center. The Hooker proposal is only for the Hooker project. The Leyland proposal is to develop a large portion of NoDo, including the stadium. Presumably, Hooker will work with whomever is chosen as the master developer. I'm really starting to get excited. Just a few months ago, I was saying this area would need to wait and now we have proposals coming in, at least one from a solid developer with a proven track record of local success. More and more air is coming out of the sails of the anti-stadium crowd. The residents of the neighborhood are going to want the mixed use development once they get to really understand what it is. I think the residents will end up being strongly behind this. I think it makes sense to have all of the NoDo stuff in one thread, so I'm going to merge everything and pin it.

I'm a little confused as to whether the Hooker proposal is considered one of the 4 development proposals of if it's more of a component that will be proposed in conjunction with the larger plan. I think it's about what you would expect from the stadium and brewery/restaurant portion of this development. I really want to see the full details for all of the proposals to see what sort of housing developments are in the mix.

I was extremely pleased that Dan Haar wrote that piece. The people who claim to speak for the neighborhood don't have much connection to it.

I think they do. It also feels very much like a small town mindset to me. Like Hartford is only for Hartford people and we don't need to attract new people from our suburbs and beyond. These people have no idea what a thriving, growing city should be like or if they do, they really don't want that for Hartford.