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IN PROGRESS: 917 Main Street


beerbeer

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I would have to agree, that spot should be Renaissance Place by now. They need to dust off those plans now that Downtown development is in full swing. I still want that Westin we were promised all those years ago.

That would seem perfect for that area right now, Hartford still needs some more hotel rooms...

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The drawing of the hotel looks too big for the space, and I am not sure if there is need for another hotel. Does anyone know the occupancy rate at all of the hotels? If there is a need, I rather see a Goodwin type smaller quaint hotel than a big box. Or maybe a hotel that is part of a mini Rockefeller Center? Skating rink instead of a park, I can deal with that.

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The drawing of the hotel looks too big for the space, and I am not sure if there is need for another hotel. Does anyone know the occupancy rate at all of the hotels? If there is a need, I rather see a Goodwin type smaller quaint hotel than a big box. Or maybe a hotel that is part of a mini Rockefeller Center? Skating rink instead of a park, I can deal with that.

We need some more big corporate hotels IMO. I would love to see something upscale like a Westin anywhere Downtown. We do need some upscale small boutique scale hotels as well. Not sure what vacancy rates are, but I'm pretty sure there is demand for more rooms and that will only increase in the coming years.

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I would have to agree, that spot should be Renaissance Place by now. They need to dust off those plans now that Downtown development is in full swing. I still want that Westin we were promised all those years ago.

WestinHartford.jpg

That building is beuatiful. Were due for another tall skyscraper.

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Forget about Rennassiance Place. That deal is dead. Some of the same players from that deal are behind the waaaaaaaaay behind schedule Temple Street project.

The RP deal was fishy. They bought a lot that housed the Main Street market which had been operating for years. They immediatly evicted the market and turned the lot into "temporary" parking. Once the deal died, the market was gone and we are stuck with another surface lot. Everyone loses except of course the developers who now own a very profitable surface lot with monthly parkers.

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when the society center was shelved in the early 90's they were going to turn it into a park, not a parking lot, so the land could be used for the time being and then easily built on later. what happened with that - how'd we get a parking lot there?

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Renaissance Place is too short for that corner. Asylum and Main should have a 30 or 40 floor tower. That is one of the best corners in New England. Not just Hartford but the northeast.

It is high ground, so any height the building has will be accented. It is across the street from a historic buildiing. A part of the site faces Pratt Street. This is the epicenter of the state capital. This corner is the place for Hartford to build a signiture building.

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There are way too many empty lots in the centre of Hartford to worry about tall buildings. The most important thing needed on that intersection is retail. 6-8 story buildings in that space with housing, and retail on the bottom floor(s) would be perfect.

I'd actually love to have this.... to quote Joni Mitchell, you don't know what you got 'till it's gone, they paved paradise.. and you know the rest... <_<

htfd6iz4.jpg

BIG version of that shot here. You must see this! http://www.rootsweb.com/~cthartfo/images/htfd6.jpg

Also you can see the Wise Smith "AA" building in the background.

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First off, I'd like to welcome you to the board.

Second, I'd like to disagree. Hartford has such a small footprint, it is my opinion that we need to use our space to the best of our abilities. Putting a 6-8 story building there is a monumental waste of space. Seriously, that is a lynch-pin spot for the city, Beer Beer hit it right on the head, we need a signature building there....

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First off, I'd like to welcome you to the board.

Second, I'd like to disagree. Hartford has such a small footprint, it is my opinion that we need to use our space to the best of our abilities. Putting a 6-8 story building there is a monumental waste of space. Seriously, that is a lynch-pin spot for the city, Beer Beer hit it right on the head, we need a signature building there....

I agree as well. That would be a waste of space, we need to utlize that space for a tall skyscraper.

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There will be retail at front street (eventually) and lower down on Asylum. I am a big fan of mixed use buildings. Ground floor retail, middle floor office space and higher floor apartments. These types of building are the best way to build 24/7 neighborhoods.

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Until we have a shortage of commerical office space, it is not realistic to have a tall office building. Until all the new apartments/condos are rented/sold, it is not realistic to have a tall residential building. Until all the hotels have a occupancy rate of 80+%, it is not realistic to have a tall hotel. Any skyscraper has to be financially viable. So far the case for one is not there. Maybe 5 years down the line?

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Until we have a shortage of commerical office space, it is not realistic to have a tall office building. Until all the new apartments/condos are rented/sold, it is not realistic to have a tall residential building. Until all the hotels have a occupancy rate of 80+%, it is not realistic to have a tall hotel. Any skyscraper has to be financially viable. So far the case for one is not there. Maybe 5 years down the line?

Which is why it is what it is... Parking... The market will drive what's best for that parcel.

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Thank you for the welcome, but I disagree. There is no need for any more tall buildings in Hartford. I do not want to see a city like Houston where there's a tall building, then a parking lot, tall building, parking lot, etc. I want Hartford to be a vibrant city where there's life at every corner.

What would you put in a new skycraper? There is no shortage of office space, so why build an empty building? The centerpiece of that area is the Old State House, I would like to see some buildings in that lot that would complement it with retail and life but not overshadow it. The sooner the better, it's been a parking lot for way too long (can't the city make it illegal to park cars there?)

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Putting a 6-8 story there is a waste of space. WHen the time comes for more big buildings are we going to knock down the 6 story for a higher one even though it's only 10 years old? No, and then you'd be pigeon-holed. I'm with Beer Beer 1000% here, a mixed use building is the perfect choice, residential, office, commercial.

As an edit, I'd like to say this. There are some areas of the city and even downtown where a 6-8 story building could be useful, however, I don't think that particular sapce is one of them. That's one of the keystones to the city, something special needs to go there...

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Putting a 6-8 story there is a waste of space. WHen the time comes for more big buildings are we going to knock down the 6 story for a higher one even though it's only 10 years old? No, and then you'd be pigeon-holed. I'm with Beer Beer 1000% here, a mixed use building is the perfect choice, residential, office, commercial.

I agree with the other that Hartford does need that lot for a potential new tower, whatever is there should have retail at it's base though. I just don't see why not add the height to it though. Why a short building when we have plenty of those already there and under construction in that area. The lower levels of a tower can serve the exact same purpose as a 6 story building if designed well and then you have a tower to boot. I say go with the win-win. Let's wait for a tower before we cover that prime lot up.

Thank you for the welcome, but I disagree. There is no need for any more tall buildings in Hartford. I do not want to see a city like Houston where there's a tall building, then a parking lot, tall building, parking lot, etc. I want Hartford to be a vibrant city where there's life at every corner.

What would you put in a new skycraper? There is no shortage of office space, so why build an empty building? The centerpiece of that area is the Old State House, I would like to see some buildings in that lot that would complement it with retail and life but not overshadow it. The sooner the better, it's been a parking lot for way too long (can't the city make it illegal to park cars there?)

I want this for the city as well, however I feel strongly that our skyline must grow and our CBD is way too compact to ever be sprawling like Houston's or Atlanta. All of our towers should have retail or other active uses at street level and then this is not even an issue in my opinion.

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That picture of Main Street in the 50s is what Trumbull Street should become.

I see no reason why United Technologies can't move out of the Gold Building and into a tower on Main and Asylum. A building that would feature Carrier air condiditioning, Otis elevators, ad maybe even be powered by fuel cells.

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That picture of Main Street in the 50s is what Trumbull Street should become.

I see no reason why United Technologies can't move out of the Gold Building and into a tower on Main and Asylum. A building that would feature Carrier air condiditioning, Otis elevators, ad maybe even be powered by fuel cells.

I would LOVE to see something like that happen. UTC Needs a new HQ in my opinion. The Gold Building was more impressive years ago. Now it's pretty average. UTC should have a spectacular HQ in Hartford.

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Alright 6-8 stories maybe a little short, but how long are we willing to wait for some showpiece there? 10-14 stories would be fine with me, just put something in there. We've got so many empty lots in the center of Hartford, I don't see what the point is of trying to get a skyscraper. We just need to fill in the many gaps. I honestly don't see another tall office skyscraper being built in Hartford for a long time, if ever, and I think we can't wait forever. We need to make Hartford city center the place where people come to shop, come to socialize, come to live, come to have culture. If we get more people to work, fine, but there is empty office space as it is. I don't think Travelers is going to build more space for their 500 new workers, but I could be wrong.

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That picture of Main Street in the 50s is what Trumbull Street should become.

I see no reason why United Technologies can't move out of the Gold Building and into a tower on Main and Asylum. A building that would feature Carrier air condiditioning, Otis elevators, ad maybe even be powered by fuel cells.

I believe that while there may office space available downtown, there is a shortage of class A office space and this is the space desired by Fortune 500 companies, law firms, brokerages, etc.

If a new modern office building were built downtown, it would fill up - probably at the expense of other office buildings downtown and the suburbs.

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I believe that while there may office space available downtown, there is a shortage of class A office space and this is the space desired by Fortune 500 companies, law firms, brokerages, etc.

If a new modern office building were built downtown, it would fill up - probably at the expense of other office buildings downtown and the suburbs.

That's a good point and I beleive that is exactly what would occur in such a scenario. I would like to hope a new office tower could be on the horizon, at least a mixed use type maybe a hotel and office tower combo would be good.

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I would LOVE to see something like that happen. UTC Needs a new HQ in my opinion. The Gold Building was more impressive years ago. Now it's pretty average. UTC should have a spectacular HQ in Hartford.

I still find the gold building to be a very impressive skyscraper.

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It would be great to have some world-class buildings in Hartford, but I'm in my mid 20's and don't want to get old with Hartford still looking like it was bombed out. That lot should be filled in immediately by average buildings, whatever is on top is less important than filling that huge creepy empty space and having street-front retail. There will still be loads of empty lots for the next Petrona Towers.

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I would have to agree, that spot should be Renaissance Place by now. They need to dust off those plans now that Downtown development is in full swing. I still want that Westin we were promised all those years ago.

WestinHartford.jpg

That drawing would look nice... IIRC the Westin was part of the Society Center. That site, last time I saw it was EMPTY... they tore down the Aenta-Hartford Building (Hartford's first skyscaper) for NOTHING! :(

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