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Missed opportunities in Hartford CBD


The Voice of Reason

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You're awfully impractical for a voice of reason. Regardless, Schonberger and Co. will most likely come up with a hotel or housing plan eventually for the site. Any office space would be redundant. The project will ask for much subsidies. Nobody besides you wants to cut a hole through Pratt Street nor should they. It's still a parking lot and the best subsidies would be to get the current downtown commuters and visitors to stop driving into downtown, as a giant parking garage would likely be included today. Don't expect anything quaint or attractive to tourists, they just don't build things like that anymore. Nobody goes to Boston to hang outside the Pru. Faneuil Hall is not going to be replicated. Covering Pratt Street would be another massive mistake to add to the tallies.

Speaking of Boston, unless I'm mistaken I don't see the rush to build brand new LEED offices to replace older buildings there. Is it our inferiority complex that causes Hartford to rush too quickly to dismiss the old for the new (which pretty much always was a failure).

Also, around the world buildings built like the ones that were there will probably last centuries more. They would not have been Section 8 magnets, they probably would have had luxury condos by now. Main Street would feel a lot safer with the knowledge that someone could be watching you from a building 24 hours a day. Perhaps you should come up with a new plan on how to rehab old offices.

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MQR, I am totally with you on that road by the Hilton site. that land is owned by a few parties, so no idea how hard it would be to do. but the area is plenty big to divide, and still creat a huge project. Apparently the Chase family will develop the Hilton location after Northland condo is built(assuming it is built, and assuming it makes tons of money, and assuming financing is available)

I really am not into tearing stuff down, I just see one minor blood letting in this case could bring life to dozens of building facades that could really liven up the look of the heart of downtown. and yeah I would put this "concept" well behind easily a dozen other ideas. But I posted a crap load of other ideas above, and it was just time for me to post that little map thingie I made.

I would LOVE to see UTC build a HQ building here. untill they own, they could relocate to the burbs easily. I would like to see this city get them to build a building and consolidate some of their suburban offices here downtown.

and so we are clear on the building I would remove

IMG_1368-1.jpg

It is HL Unlimited

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Regarding breaking up large blocks with small side streets:

I would extend Haynes Street to Jewell Street. The Goodwin Hotel would have a direct connection to Bushnell Park.

I would then propose a development on the corner of Haynes and Pearl Streets that abuts the blank wall of the SBC building.

Then............there is that surface lot on Jewell Street.

Bird's eye view of SBC building

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I would also re-open Grove Street between Main and Prospect Streets. It could be vehicular or pedestrian only.

I know I shared this idea before, but we do get new members from time to time. And, ideas evolve.

The pic below is the Montreals World Trade Center (Centre de Commerce mondial de Montr

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Regarding breaking up large blocks with small side streets:

I would extend Haynes Street to Jewell Street. The Goodwin Hotel would have a direct connection to Bushnell Park.

I would then propose a development on the corner of Haynes and Pearl Streets that abuts the blank wall of the SBC building.

Then............there is that surface lot on Jewell Street.

Bird's eye view of SBC building

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