Jump to content

Some ideas for the North Meadows


paul514

Recommended Posts

The car dealerships are pretty far as it is. I think there is a lot of room on the side of the street where the Meadows is. Also, don't you think these new richy riches would like to have the Benz dealership stay put?!?! :lol: There is a lot of space further back on Weston going toward's Whitie's that I think if done properly could support housing, it would take a lot of landscaping, but I think it could be done. I do think relocating some of the dealerships could work, but I wouldn't want all of them to go. There's a lot of land over there. However, with our city's zoning ordinances, residential in the North Meadows could shut down the Gold Club couldn't it. I would hate to loose the ONLY strip club in Hartford...... What kind of major city only has one anyway????? I agree with Vlad here, 100%!!!

Funny you should mention the strip club. In the neighbourhood pictured above there are a bunch of seedy places that predate the construction. There is a female brothel called Madame Cleo's that is not discreet at all. There is a strip club from the 1950s that apparently is a designated heritage building (meaning it cannot be torn down). One street is filled with the priciest hookers after certain hours at night and another is filled with underage boys. This does not stop the area from being appealing since most of the people who chose to live there don't matter. Also 1 bedroom 500 sq ft condos start at $300,000, 800 sq ft 2 bedrooms at $400,000 and there are penthouses in the millions in the middle of all of this seediness. I personally never had any problem living there and the hookers were always very friendly and respectful to the people living in the area.

I say keep the strip club it will makes the area interesting.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Replies 41
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Neighborhoods don't necessarily need roads. How about a nice cluster with parking beneath that drains out to one of the roads already established? You are right though, there would need to be at least one street in there. Cutting it up too much would break the flow though, imho. Oh, and btw, the Gold Club would retain it's spot, we have to keep that going....

Edit note: I'm totally tying like crap lately, my apologies to everyone.....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was actually thinking that the riverfront land east of I91 would be perfect for this sort of development. What inspired me is the project in Portland, Oregon where quite a few condos are going up along the riverfront in the same fashion. The land would need to be raised to prevent flooding and a grid would have to be built. However, I would suggest avoiding broad boulevards and sticking to streets that are 3 lanes wide at the most. There should be space between the towers to allow good views but in between could be low rise condos/townhomes and shops. Ideally the riverfront should be limited to a pedestrian promenade and bike path with large parks. San Diego has the same sort of thing apparently but I've never been there so I don't have photos. Hopefully if this area became popular development would spread to the waterfront of East Hartford across the river.

221568995_d500eaf813_o.jpg

221568989_b2dabe8927_o.jpg

221568994_b4504809ac_o.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was actually thinking that the riverfront land east of I91 would be perfect for this sort of development. What inspired me is the project in Portland, Oregon where quite a few condos are going up along the riverfront in the same fashion. The land would need to be raised to prevent flooding and a grid would have to be built. However, I would suggest avoiding broad boulevards and sticking to streets that are 3 lanes wide at the most. There should be space between the towers to allow good views but in between could be low rise condos/townhomes and shops. Ideally the riverfront should be limited to a pedestrian promenade and bike path with large parks. San Diego has the same sort of thing apparently but I've never been there so I don't have photos. Hopefully if this area became popular development would spread to the waterfront of East Hartford across the river.

I would leave the areas west of I-91 (Weston Street) as the highway service/big box store district for now.

East of the highway would be a different story.

The new neighborhood would front on Riverside Park and the Connecticut River.

The other night I decided to scope out Riverside Park.

The park has a great natural setting on the bend of the river.

However, the park seemed remote in spite of being a stones throw from downtown.

I felt that a more direct connection to downtown was badly needed.

I imagined Riverside Park as being a gateway between downtown and the new neighborhood just to the north.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would leave the areas west of I-91 (Weston Street) as the highway service/big box store district for now.

East of the highway would be a different story.

The new neighborhood would front on Riverside Park and the Connecticut River.

The other night I decided to scope out Riverside Park.

The park has a great natural setting on the bend of the river.

However, the park seemed remote in spite of being a stones throw from downtown.

I felt that a more direct connection to downtown was badly needed.

I imagined Riverside Park as being a gateway between downtown and the new neighborhood just to the north.

Connectivity has always been the problem. The city has segmented itself pretty harshly. The easier fixes are filling the lots north of downtown. The harder fixes are the highways and barriers that were constructed. Next time I'm by there I'll take a look and see if I can pop any ideas together on how to flow from downtown to the north meadows....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Vancouver has one advantage over Hartford - population growth. Vancouver had a huge influx of wealthy Hong Kong Chinese in the 90s, most of who are accustomed to urban living. In those 10 years Vancouver's population went from 470K to 540K. A whopping 15% increase. On top of that many of them are million if not multi-millionaires. If Harford had a similar percentage increase in its population, then we would have added 18K affluence residents in the last ten years, we too would have a complete different cityscape.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Vancouver has one advantage over Hartford - population growth. Vancouver had a huge influx of wealthy Hong Kong Chinese in the 90s, most of who are accustomed to urban living. In those 10 years Vancouver's population went from 470K to 540K. A whopping 15% increase. On top of that many of them are million if not multi-millionaires. If Harford had a similar percentage increase in its population, then we would have added 18K affluence residents in the last ten years, we too would have a complete different cityscape.

Also the topography in Vancouver are incredible. Hartford is a pretty standard river valley town, which isn't bad, but we're not going to get the kindof residential towers places like Miami and Vancouver get for the views.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Vancouver has one advantage over Hartford - population growth. Vancouver had a huge influx of wealthy Hong Kong Chinese in the 90s, most of who are accustomed to urban living. In those 10 years Vancouver's population went from 470K to 540K. A whopping 15% increase. On top of that many of them are million if not multi-millionaires. If Harford had a similar percentage increase in its population, then we would have added 18K affluence residents in the last ten years, we too would have a complete different cityscape.

It's true there has been a huge influx of people into the city of Vancouver, but one thing I found after living in Yaletown is that few Chinese people lived in the towers of the Yaletown area with an exception of a few towers that were overwhelmingly Chinese. When I was looking into buying a condo I noticed that there were a few towers that were designed with Feng Sui in mind and tended to be built in the 1990s when the influx ocurred. They tended to have no 4th, 14th or 24th floors (apparently the number 4 is bad luck). They also tended to have lots of brass fixtures and pastel colors in the decor. In my experience most wealthy Chinese who moved to Vancouver tended to prefer detached homes and in the 90s there was an outcry over wealthy Hong Kong expats buying up Tudor and Bungalow homes to build large stucco "monster homes". Those who do buy in towers tend to have more money and are willing to pay in the millions for larger condos (1,000 sq ft and up).

For the most part I found that people who lived in the redeveloped Yaletown were from suburban and rural areas. I would say at least 70% of the new condos tend to be 1 bedroom units ranging from 500 to 700 sq ft. From my personal experience the inhabitants tend to be Canadian-born and mostly Anglo-Candians in the 18 to 30 age range, most single and from suburban Vancouver, small towns in the interior of the province or from other provinces coming from middle-class backrounds. In my experience these tended to be people who had not as of yet experienced an urban lifestyle.

I believe that Vancouver did well with the "build it and they will come" idea. Hartford should take note because I'm sure if we offered the young professionals a somewhat affordable alternative lifestyle within their reach, they would take to it. Hartford needs to be a place where we not only retain the young people we have, but make it attractive to people from other areas. Unfortunately the Greater Hartford area offers little alternative to those who are not interested in a suburban lifestyle. I myself went to look at a tower on Woodland St last weekend, the Regency. For a two bedroom the price was not bad, but after having been accustomed to Vancouver I was left baffled. There was no underground parking, no insuite laundry, no workout room, pool was outdoors and the association fee was $750 a month! The building inside was about as far from trendy or hip as I could imagine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's true there has been a huge influx of people into the city of Vancouver, but one thing I found after living in Yaletown is that few Chinese people lived in the towers of the Yaletown area with an exception of a few towers that were overwhelmingly Chinese. When I was looking into buying a condo I noticed that there were a few towers that were designed with Feng Sui in mind and tended to be built in the 1990s when the influx ocurred. They tended to have no 4th, 14th or 24th floors (apparently the number 4 is bad luck). They also tended to have lots of brass fixtures and pastel colors in the decor. In my experience most wealthy Chinese who moved to Vancouver tended to prefer detached homes and in the 90s there was an outcry over wealthy Hong Kong expats buying up Tudor and Bungalow homes to build large stucco "monster homes". Those who do buy in towers tend to have more money and are willing to pay in the millions for larger condos (1,000 sq ft and up).

For the most part I found that people who lived in the redeveloped Yaletown were from suburban and rural areas. I would say at least 70% of the new condos tend to be 1 bedroom units ranging from 500 to 700 sq ft. From my personal experience the inhabitants tend to be Canadian-born and mostly Anglo-Candians in the 18 to 30 age range, most single and from suburban Vancouver, small towns in the interior of the province or from other provinces coming from middle-class backrounds. In my experience these tended to be people who had not as of yet experienced an urban lifestyle.

I believe that Vancouver did well with the "build it and they will come" idea. Hartford should take note because I'm sure if we offered the young professionals a somewhat affordable alternative lifestyle within their reach, they would take to it. Hartford needs to be a place where we not only retain the young people we have, but make it attractive to people from other areas. Unfortunately the Greater Hartford area offers little alternative to those who are not interested in a suburban lifestyle. I myself went to look at a tower on Woodland St last weekend, the Regency. For a two bedroom the price was not bad, but after having been accustomed to Vancouver I was left baffled. There was no underground parking, no insuite laundry, no workout room, pool was outdoors and the association fee was $750 a month! The building inside was about as far from trendy or hip as I could imagine.

Man, those towers on Woodland tend to be more like retirement communities. I really agree with your assesment that we need a build it and they will come mindset. Many younger people don't like older housing stock. We need to build new, somewhat affordable developments in the city, if we had some good choices around here for like 150k to 250k, I bet we would get young professionals flocking in no time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's true there has been a huge influx of people into the city of Vancouver, but one thing I found after living in Yaletown is that few Chinese people lived in the towers of the Yaletown area with an exception of a few towers that were overwhelmingly Chinese. When I was looking into buying a condo I noticed that there were a few towers that were designed with Feng Sui in mind and tended to be built in the 1990s when the influx ocurred. They tended to have no 4th, 14th or 24th floors (apparently the number 4 is bad luck). They also tended to have lots of brass fixtures and pastel colors in the decor. In my experience most wealthy Chinese who moved to Vancouver tended to prefer detached homes and in the 90s there was an outcry over wealthy Hong Kong expats buying up Tudor and Bungalow homes to build large stucco "monster homes". Those who do buy in towers tend to have more money and are willing to pay in the millions for larger condos (1,000 sq ft and up).

For the most part I found that people who lived in the redeveloped Yaletown were from suburban and rural areas. I would say at least 70% of the new condos tend to be 1 bedroom units ranging from 500 to 700 sq ft. From my personal experience the inhabitants tend to be Canadian-born and mostly Anglo-Candians in the 18 to 30 age range, most single and from suburban Vancouver, small towns in the interior of the province or from other provinces coming from middle-class backrounds. In my experience these tended to be people who had not as of yet experienced an urban lifestyle.

I believe that Vancouver did well with the "build it and they will come" idea. Hartford should take note because I'm sure if we offered the young professionals a somewhat affordable alternative lifestyle within their reach, they would take to it. Hartford needs to be a place where we not only retain the young people we have, but make it attractive to people from other areas. Unfortunately the Greater Hartford area offers little alternative to those who are not interested in a suburban lifestyle. I myself went to look at a tower on Woodland St last weekend, the Regency. For a two bedroom the price was not bad, but after having been accustomed to Vancouver I was left baffled. There was no underground parking, no insuite laundry, no workout room, pool was outdoors and the association fee was $750 a month! The building inside was about as far from trendy or hip as I could imagine.

In Chinese 4 has the same pronunciation as death so for them it is very bad luck. I do remember reading about they built those monster houses to the amazement of the Canadian-born citizens. My point however was not Chinese bought or rent those high rises. But if you think about it where would the homeowners who sold their houses to the Chinese at very very high prices go? I think this is a large factor why a lot of housing units were built. I was just in Toronto where Chinese started to move to a section of the city and the Canadian-borns either choose not to live there anymore, or are getting very good prices for their houses are moving out of that area in drove. Because of this large influx, there is a tremendous demand for new housing, this demand translate into some very attractive high rise buildings.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In Chinese 4 has the same pronunciation as death so for them it is very bad luck. I do remember reading about they built those monster houses to the amazement of the Canadian-born citizens. My point however was not Chinese bought or rent those high rises. But if you think about it where would the homeowners who sold their houses to the Chinese at very very high prices go? I think this is a large factor why a lot of housing units were built. I was just in Toronto where Chinese started to move to a section of the city and the Canadian-borns either choose not to live there anymore, or are getting very good prices for their houses are moving out of that area in drove. Because of this large influx, there is a tremendous demand for new housing, this demand translate into some very attractive high rise buildings.

So we need to market our city in Hong Kong and Shanghai, is that what you guys are saying? :whistling:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.