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H.B. Davis Building

mikel

By mikel
in Greater Hartford

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The Voice of Reason Town

The Voice of Reason

Posted
Posted

Well, this may be a mixed blessing, and I'll explain why.

Butt Ugly

The part I'm concerned with is this comment: "McGovern said the city is envisioning the site as a bridge between downtown and the gateway to the North End, rather than an extension of downtown." Downtown already has a limited footprint, let's not limit it any further than we have to. I smell another one or two story development here, something that belongs in Glastonbury, not at the heels of downtown...

I have some of the same worries.

I really wish the city did not putz around 3 years ago and blow the two condo towers that were to be built on the property.

I have a kind of crazy dream to redevelop the parcel as condos etc, but as part of the project I would save the building, or at least its facade, and bring it back to how it looked historicly. kind of as a symbol of Hartfords re-emergence. If the old building were used as a connector between two modern highrise condos, it would give a look of permanence and also save what is actually a perfectly perportioned building on the street.

mind you I would like to see something done. either remove or renovate, and apparantly renovating is too damn expensive.

I just hope like you Vlad that we get something with some density to it.

48176267.jpg

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HartfordTycoon Town

HartfordTycoon

Posted
Posted

Honestly, I don't think the market is ready for any development right there that would make us happy. I think that the best case is to just demo the building and get a nice developable lot ready for when the market rebounds and hopefully something will happen then. I also would like to see more progress luring retail downtown before they try to get it developed. I think that in order to market that parcel, there will have to be tangible progress nearby. It's good that the Public Safety Complex and Capital Prep Magnet School are in progress now. I have no interest in saving this building. It's past the point of no return. I do however want the Flat Iron Building saved further up Albany near Ann St.

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The Voice of Reason Town

The Voice of Reason

Posted
Posted

I agree HT that demand is pretty low right now, but the theory is that it takes 2-3 years to develop a project, and that should line up pretty nicely with a strong rebound of the econemy.

Since the recession is showing signs of stabalization, developers will begin to make plans now to take advantage of contractors who are begging for work.

With all of the land available and the proximity to downtown I think a RFP would get a good number of serious proposals.

I am going to have to look at the past RFPs put out there as well as the info in the Downtown North redevelopment plan recently published.

http://www.hartford.gov/development/planni...D%20Jan2009.pdf

EDIT

OK, so the redevelopment plan calls the Park over the highway, the but ugly block, the completely vacant block, the smaller data center(used to be Bank of America), and the crown plaza block Sub Area 2 (map on page 10)

TRUMBULL-MAIN VILLAGE

Page 5 descrives this areas vision as "mixed use village-Residential;Small Offices; Small-Scale Retail; Small Service Businesses

looking at page 14 the whole area is currently zoned the same as downtown B-1

page 18 goes into more detail about trumbull-main village sub area

-The BOA datacenter and crown plaza are envisioned to remain

-The two blocks between Trumbull and Pleasent are envisioned as "Higher density residential" to provide" a substantial customer base" to the downtown businesses S of the Highway (

-The undeveloped area between crowne plaza nad main street is planned for a mix of retail stores, restaurants, entertainment venues, and upper floor residential units.

-The triangle north of the I-84 park woulld be turned into a sculpture garden to better connect the park by the sounds of things. but the map shows the whole area being a cultural/arts park, so as long as they do something better than whats there.

but who is to say that the city will even stick to their own plan.

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The Voice of Reason Town

The Voice of Reason

Posted
Posted

Is that plan worth the paper its written on? The city doesn't have the juice to make any of this happen. They should knock down the BUB. And put out a RFP for development . If they don't like any. wait a year, do it again.

It may not be worth the PDF its written on

but it is this plan that is currently leading them to purchase or use eminent domain to acquire the property.

so I guess they are paying attention.

I generally think that redevelopment plan would work out fairly well for us.

they say transition, but not downtown core, hell, high density residential is as downtown as you can get. So what if there are no offices in that part of downtown. They want to put offices over closer to trumbull and the new public safety center anyways.

seriously if we get some 8 floor mixed use buildings on those blocks in the Washington DC housing block mold, we would be lucky. We would also be like many other cities fillin in their parking lot oceans.

its all really just infill

and some day maybe it can be redeveloped. lets be fair, this is Hartford, and not a boom city like Atlanta. any new housing in or adjacent to downtown is an improvement, and we should thank out lucky stars

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The Voice of Reason Town

The Voice of Reason

Posted
Posted

http://www.courant.c...,0,503467.story

The agency wants to acquire the five-story structure at 1161 Main St. and tear it down. Demolition could start in September. I beleieve it will. One thing that Hartford knows how to do is knock down buildings.

yeah we have all been slackers

there actually been lots of interesting news lately.

I told my wife that I think I like pedro better than eddie allready due to his putting this at a high priority. lets hope he shows himself as a man of action and gets a developer to build something BIG here. much like the plans of yesteryear.

other news includes Hebron expanding and practicly building a downtown, a mixed use downtown. kinda cool.

also, AI engineers has a leasing date, this is usually a good sign and means the developer is committed. worst case imagine it being done 1 year later than they say WORST CASE.

also um townhouses in New London

the mills in manchester are moving right along

Quiznos downtown is closed and gone, but a new place is allready coming its called Argora

Front Street is "open" streets opened to pedestrians a week ago. I walked through an hour ago. (feels like evergreen walk) not an insult really, just an obsevation.

there are a frekin ton more, but summer is here and its hard to pay attention or remember

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beash19 Unincorporated Area

beash19

Posted
Posted

yeah we have all been slackers

there actually been lots of interesting news lately.

I told my wife that I think I like pedro better than eddie allready due to his putting this at a high priority. lets hope he shows himself as a man of action and gets a developer to build something BIG here. much like the plans of yesteryear.

other news includes Hebron expanding and practicly building a downtown, a mixed use downtown. kinda cool.

also, AI engineers has a leasing date, this is usually a good sign and means the developer is committed. worst case imagine it being done 1 year later than they say WORST CASE.

also um townhouses in New London

the mills in manchester are moving right along

Quiznos downtown is closed and gone, but a new place is allready coming its called Argora

Front Street is "open" streets opened to pedestrians a week ago. I walked through an hour ago. (feels like evergreen walk) not an insult really, just an obsevation.

there are a frekin ton more, but summer is here and its hard to pay attention or remember

Checkers is coming to the region as well. I dont know much about it but sounds cool.

http://www.courant.com/business/hc-checkers-restaurant-hartford-0708-20100707,0,4842662.story

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Bill Mocarsky Hamlet

Bill Mocarsky

Posted
Posted

I don't get the enthusiasm. It's not like anything exciting is ready to be put in its place.

If it was the Capitol West building that was coming down, there would immediately be a visual improvement. You would actually see some of the older buildings on Asylum Hill (that were blocked) pop out.

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The Voice of Reason Town

The Voice of Reason

Posted
Posted

its really symbolic more than any actual change.

if you want to get all you know rational you can lament the loss of tax base at the cost of tax dollars.... bla bla.

but I think seeing it come down is in some small way proof that the city can back up its plans(a little)

if Capital west is next, and the rest of the major eminent domain plans go thru, we will definately be in an unparallelled tome of action from the city.

who knows.

for my part I will be ok with this since it seems to many to be a negative symbol of the city as if its existance somehow overshadows the development of the science center, hartford 21, and the convention center/mariott.

maybe with less negative items to focus on people might notice the positives.

I also have unfounded optomisim that with the last structure gone N of I-84 we might see the cities RFP actually answered by a developer or developers with a vision. luckily I am not holding my breath

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The Voice of Reason Town

The Voice of Reason

Posted
Posted

Clearly bill, Your wish is Pedro's command

http://blogs.courant.com/cityline/2010/10/city-in-talks-with-owner-of-ca.html

The city is in discussions with an owner of the Capitol West Building on Myrtle Street about the building's fate, according to a lawyer who represented the owners in the acquisition of the building.

If Pedro continues this fast pace I gotta say, I will be very impressed with the man.

now do these demolition improve anything? not really, the view maybe, the perception possibly, the tax base no, the parking situation hardly, the business climate, NO, bla bla bla

but, it is again possible evidence of a get it done kind of mayor and city.

now lets get some developers in here to build some housing.

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Woonsocketier Unincorporated Area

Woonsocketier

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Posted

The building came down late Friday. I have a full view of it from my office window and it was pretty cool to see. How great is this, though? The mayor said the building would be down by November 15th and it actually happened ON TIME. When was the last time a city project succeeded in that?

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