H.B. Davis Building

[mikel]

I've seen much worse buildings being rehabilitated.

This building would make a great centerpiece of any condo development. Historic buildings still look great next to modern ones, and buildings like that cannot be replicated. It should remain.

[beerbeer]

Except this is a single building without another building within 100 yards. It should have been torn down a long tim ago. If it had been, there migh be movement on that site by now.

It makes Hartford look like Beruit. Good riddence.

[mikel]

Except this is a single building without another building within 100 yards. It should have been torn down a long tim ago. If it had been, there migh be movement on that site by now.

Just like how all the other vacant parcels downtown have been developed... please you must be kidding! We don't need any more parking lots. The time of tearing things down without any firm plan must be over by now, it's already destroyed half the city.

[Luca Brasi]

While I'm not a fan of tearing down old buildings, there is nothing of value left in this one. It is a nondescript structure that has been abandoned and not maintained for 20+ years. You would literally have to gut it and rebuild it from the inside out. And for a what? An unremarkable mid century building with no distinguishing characteristics? Common sense says tear it down.

[JimSawhill]

Hallelujah!!!

Eyesore Easing Toward Oblivion

Land Deal Expected To Spur Work At Site

October 27, 2006

By JEFFREY B. COHEN, Courant Staff Writer A run-down, boarded-up building off I-84 that the city has called a "butt ugly" eyesore appears closer to demolition, clearing the way for construction of upscale condominiums on the site.

http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-ctbut...headlines-local

The old H.B. Davis building! It was NOt even that good back when H. B. Davis was in it. I do miss H.B.D. but that is the best thing for the building. They took down the old Capital Motors building -- and it was nicer then HBD.

Jim S

[spatulashack]

The old H.B. Davis building! It was NOt even that good back when H. B. Davis was in it. I do miss H.B.D. but that is the best thing for the building. They took down the old Capital Motors building -- and it was nicer then HBD.

Jim S

Now that this building is coming down, the owner of the Capital West property better get his act together. That sight has been, "under development" for about 5 years now and nothing has come of it. It's time for the city to stamp its foot down and make him do something with it!

[beerbeer]

Butt ugly building -- don't let the door hit you on the way down!

[drc72]

Just like how all the other vacant parcels downtown have been developed... please you must be kidding! We don't need any more parking lots. The time of tearing things down without any firm plan must be over by now, it's already destroyed half the city.

I have to agree here. A firm plan should be on the table before anything happens.

[Captain59]

Is this the "Capital West" building?

[mikel]

The old H.B. Davis building! It was NOt even that good back when H. B. Davis was in it. I do miss H.B.D. but that is the best thing for the building. They took down the old Capital Motors building -- and it was nicer then HBD.

Jim S

First of all, I'm not even sure what you mean by Capital Motors building. If you're talking about the Capital West building, it's still there...

As for it being nicer than the HB Davis building, lots of nicer buildings have been torn down. And most of them mistakenly.

Also, the building AFAIK was around before it even was the HB Davis building. It was probably very nice at one point and still could be nice. The front of it is something Hartford needs to be incorporated into any project.

[Bill Mocarsky]

What is the real butt ugly building?

[spatulashack]

Is this the "Capital West" building?

No. Although that building is indeed butt-ugly as well. The original butt-ugly building can be seen on the left directly over the sunken portion of I-84 driving north down Main St. past the G-Fox Building (960 Main).

[SOCOM]

I'll take some pictures of it either later today or tomorrow.

[Theophrastus Bombastus]

First of all, I'm not even sure what you mean by Capital Motors building. If you're talking about the Capital West building, it's still there...

As for it being nicer than the HB Davis building, lots of nicer buildings have been torn down. And most of them mistakenly.

Also, the building AFAIK was around before it even was the HB Davis building. It was probably very nice at one point and still could be nice. The front of it is something Hartford needs to be incorporated into any project.

The Capitol West building actually used to house a full-size car dealership on the 1st floor, hence Capitol Motors.

[JimSawhill]

First of all, I'm not even sure what you mean by Capital Motors building. If you're talking about the Capital West building, it's still there...

As for it being nicer than the HB Davis building, lots of nicer buildings have been torn down. And most of them mistakenly.

Also, the building AFAIK was around before it even was the HB Davis building. It was probably very nice at one point and still could be nice. The front of it is something Hartford needs to be incorporated into any project.

Mikel:

The Capital Motors Building was the Hartford Chevy dealership in the 1960s and 1970s. It closed about 1984 and they torn down the building. Capital Motors was across the street from the butt ugly building! Did they tear down the Firestone dealer building yet (East side of Main Street @ Albany Ave)?

The Capital West building is an embarrasment to Hartford.

JimS

[HartfordTycoon]

Mikel:

The Capital Motors Building was the Hartford Chevy dealership in the 1960s and 1970s. It closed about 1984 and they torn down the building. Capital Motors was across the street from the butt ugly building! Did they tear down the Firestone dealer building yet (East side of Main Street @ Albany Ave)?

The Capital West building is an embarrasment to Hartford.

JimS

Firestone's been gone for about 2 years now. They are supposed to be developing housing and retail in that area all the way up to SAND. I think those plans are fairly solid and we should see some movement soon.

[Whaler0718]

http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-ctbut...headlines-local

Blighted Building Stands As Effort To Raze It Falls

April 18, 2007

By JEFFREY B. COHEN, Courant Staff Writer A plan to knock down the boarded-up box unlovingly known as the Butt Ugly Building collapsed before the building could.

It's been more than a year since developer Joseph Citino of Providian Builders floated his idea to buy the building at 1161 Main St., flatten it and build condos in its place. But to make the deal work, Citino needed the city to sell him an adjacent strip of land.

The city has been trying to figure out what to do with the building for a while. It's a highly visible eyesore that confronts visitors entering the city from the Trumbull Street exit off I-84.

Last week, city officials informed the developer's attorneys that negotiations were over because Citino would not agree to make the adjacent parcel a parking lot that complies with city codes.

"There is nothing the city can do for Mr. Citino if he is unwilling to create a parking lot on his own that complies with the applicable city standards," Assistant City Attorney Ben Bare wrote to Citino's lawyer.

Neither Citino nor his attorney was available for comment.

"The building is a terrible blight on the city's horizon," city Development Director John F. Palmieri said. "This is a setback. We were hopeful we would be able to pull it off. Of course we're disappointed."

Citino, whose company has built numerous homes in the city, initially said he would build "ultra luxury" condos. Plan A called for the bare minimum - six or seven stories with retail shops at ground level and 70 units ranging from 1,500 to 2,000 square feet above. Plan B was more ambitious: 21 to 24 stories with more than 200 units.

Citino had an agreement to buy the building from its Florida owner, Robert Danial, for $1.3 million and has put down $200,000 in deposits, records show. Citino also has paid to deal with asbestos on the property, the city said.

The deal hit a snag last month when the city's development staff decided that talks would go no further, but Mayor Eddie A. Perez asked his staff to try again. They did, and talks still went nowhere, Palmieri said.

Citino was unwilling to spend the money it would take to bring the parking lot up to city code - pave it, light it, put up barricades, paint stripes and install car stops.

"He wouldn't agree," Palmieri said, explaining that Citino didn't want to invest a few hundred thousand dollars to improve a parking lot on which he later planned to build.

"It would be unfair for us to force him to spend a few hundred thousand dollars if, within a year's time, he'd have had a development program in place," Pamieri said. "But that isn't the case. ... He might operate it as a parking facility for several years."

Compounding Citino's troubles is a lawsuit Danial filed in state court asking a judge to rule that his sale agreement with Citino is terminated and that he gets to keep Citino's $200,000.

Meanwhile, the building continues to deteriorate. In the year since Citino began to look at the project, city inspectors twice sent its owner notices that the building was unsafe, once because bricks were falling four stories and another time because large chunks of concrete were falling and damaging cars parked below.

Private engineers deemed the building in "generally fair condition" but also said its exterior fire escape was a hazard, city records show.

Palmieri said that the city is considering how to "acquire and control" the building and that the mayor wants the building gone.

"We clearly, without question, believe that the building should come down," he said.

Contact Jeffrey B. Cohen at [email protected].

[MadVlad]

............... That's the cleanest comment I can make on this subject.

[beerbeer]

The city squashed this deal because they wanted more surface parking? Does that make any sense? Bueller? Bueller? Anyone?

[MichaelQReilly]

This is the missaplication of zoning and building code laws at its worst. A developer wants to do what nobody else has done and develop on the other side of 84 and the specs of a temporary parking lot stop him? The really needs to be a development agency to help overcome ridiculous nonsense like this. Isn't that what the CCEDA was supposed to do?

[redbaron]

This is the missaplication of zoning and building code laws at its worst. A developer wants to do what nobody else has done and develop on the other side of 84 and the specs of a temporary parking lot stop him? The really needs to be a development agency to help overcome ridiculous nonsense like this. Isn't that what the CCEDA was supposed to do?

I have a feeling the developer had no real condo plans, just wanted to tear the building down, make money off a gravel parking lot and sell when then market value increases... I applaud the city for not giving into the developer.

[Theophrastus Bombastus]

I think I need to take a break from this board - sh*t like this is just too depressing. I'm off to skip rocks across the huge water-filled sinkhole next to Front Street.

[MichaelQReilly]

I have a feeling the developer had no real condo plans, just wanted to tear the building down, make money off a gravel parking lot and sell when then market value increases... I applaud the city for not giving into the developer.

Now that I re-read the article, you could very well be right. It seems like the development authorities in Hartford did their due dilligence on this project. It just kind of frustrating. Overcoming the 84 barrier is the biggest obstacle to Hartfords future. I would love to seem some things done about this.

[JHChris280]

If I've learned this lesson once I've learned it a millions times, development in the last 20 years does not come easy to the city of Hartford.

Tonight, when 1,500 or so fans walk into the sparkling new entrance to the HCC they'll look to the south and see the corner of Pearl and Trumbull which has yet to be turned into anything.....years of an empty, decaying building. To the north, they'll see the "butt-ugly" building. Think of the impression that leaves during Billy Joel conerts, the Big East tournament, hockey games, ice shows, the circus? These are events bringing outsiders to the city and that's the impression they're left with in the downtown core, year after year.

I understand the city wanting to have a certain standard they don't want to compromise because "no one else wants to be there." I will admit in this situation it does seem petty but then I think to the "temporary" parking lot on the corner of Main and Asylum. 12 years since the Farmer's Market was moved? Plus the plans aren't solid for the development, so we could be looking at another 5 years before construction even begins. *Sigh*

I'd do anything for innovative leadership in the city that just finds ways to get things done.

[jcrc]

Last week, city officials informed the developer's attorneys that negotiations were over because Citino would not agree to make the adjacent parcel a parking lot that complies with city codes.

Isn't this city owned "adjacent parcel" currently a city owned surface parking lot? Does it not comply with city codes?