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WFSB Broadcast House replaced by High Rise


grock

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Another NYC bit of info.....

NYC residents pulled together when the city, state and goverment wanted to build a highway through lower Manhattan that would have destroyed areas like Little Italy, Chinatown and what is now known as SoHo. Residents fought for years and finally they won and a freeway was not built. SoHo thousands of historic buildings were preserved, artists, restaurants and botiques moved in. Chinatown is thriving today. This all would not have been possible if a highway was built...similar to a highway that was built through downtown Hartford.

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  • 4 weeks later...

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No, it's economics. And very simple economics at that.

If you can't fill one new high rise, there is no reason to build a second high rise.

Just like there is no reason to build a new office tower, when the exisiting office towers aren't full.

Nothing to do with Perez or unions.

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I don't always agree with Mikel posts, but he is right on this. If the project works somoene would build it.

While I do agree the mayor has gone from refreshing to a headache, if a project was truely profitable, they would build it.

Developers may not like dealing with cities or areas that aren't business friendly, but if there was money to be made they're building. An example is trying to get something built/renovated in the Back bay of Boston. You go through years of reviews, meetings with neighborhood groups, and with historicals before you can even get a building permit from the city. But right now over a dozen condo comversions of brownstones is going on a 4 block area.

Hartford had a real spurt of activity, it has slowed down for a while but will pick up again soon. There's just too many people with money to burn out there and they'll want to take a shot.

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I also agree that if the economics work, then something will be built ... but the economics have a lot to do w/ politics, to wit: property taxes! Municipalities are economic players in business / building development, so to say that a building won't get built b/c of economics, not the mayor, doesn't really make sense when the economics have a lot to do with the mayor. The regional market is ok for job growth, not great, but we're holding our own. Yet businesses leave Hartford and go to Windsor. Why? Well, for one, most of their current employees live in the burbs and like to drive to work and not have to deal w/ traffic. They suck, but that's that. Second, Windsor offers better tax incentives, i.e., it's cheaper. If you make it cheaper to do business in Hartford, then the businesses will stay. I actually think that the city should've used the money it put toward downtown residential development into attracting businesses into the city, which would then make for jobs downtown, and give people a reason to live there, thus allowing private money to develop the real estate but c'est la vie. Also remember that most of the "flight" from Hartford came from the neighborhoods--nobody historically leaved downtown. I support downtown living, absolutely, but when we talk about economics in Hartford, all I'm saying is that we're also talking politics.

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Sometimes there is enough room, but not enough room in one spot. For instance, if there was a new office building, Metlife might jump at it. As it is, we are hoping they can get enough room in CityPlace I because they want all their people in one spot. It isn't always about economics, or at least the economics you envision. There are always other factors involved.

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This is all about politics, not economics.

The city has a hotel room shortage. A high rise hotel replacing Broadcast House would be booked before being open.

It is cheaper and easier for developers to wait until after the election, in the hopes that a new mayor will not be as anti-business as the current mayor.

Let's face it, we have empty lots across the city and the economy is booming. The protests at the Convention Center and Marriott, along with the departures of ING, WFSB and Mass Mutual have put a chill into developers. They know they could potentially do very well with a new mayor, but why should they build now and be protested by the mayor and unions?

Met Life will be next.

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Under John Rowland's plan to build more housing downtown, per unit subsidies were given to developers whose projects fit the states criteria. One of the criteria was that the units had to be rentals which is why Trumbull Center, H21, Sage Allen, etc. were all built as apartments and not condos. Filling high end rentals in a place like Hartford is a lot harder than filling high end owner occupied units.

If luxury condo towers were built downtown, I think you would have a much easier time filling those than a space like H21. And for what its worth, people at Northland told me they expected it to take a full two years before H21 was filled. They are ahead of their own schedule.

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  • 2 months later...

Spris is actually very busy with conventioneers and business types. It also has the best outdoor dining of any restaurant in the city, and West Hartford.

It it very peaceful with great view of the skyline. No bus fumes you get on the streetside restaurants and WH Center. The fountain is very relaxing.

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I agree about Spris. They're always busy, and the main reason is they have excellent food. You can never do better than having fine food. Granted their business will decline slightly when Channel 3 leaves in August (I believe), but they should hang in there because if rumors are true and a Westin goes in where the Broadcast House is now, they'll have to beat people away with a stick.

I, too, love their outside dining. I always thought if that patio going around the south side of the building was a little wider, they could put people out there as well. But, they do great with what they do now.

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Is Phoenix planning to expand or bring people back to Hartford? I think it would be cool if they razed WFSB and the Clarion and built a SECOND Boat Building perpendicular to the existing one! It always bugged me that they didn't build it the same direction the river is going (north-south instead of east-west).
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