COMPLETED: Hampton Inn East Hartford

[The Voice of Reason]

I found this on my Bloomberg terminal.

I also found this link to a courant article that is no longer there, but it was on Topix

http://www.topix.com/city/east-hartford-ct...r-east-hartford

Gregg Sapere, a partner with First Merchants Group, the developer overseeing the hotel project, said construction of the $16 million project will begin in June. He said the hotel will be run by Hampton Inn & Suites and feature an indoor swimming pool, a health club and numerous meeting rooms.

I will type in what the topix snippin missed

Sapere said he expects the hotel to open by april 2009. his firm has overseen development at the entire 250000 square foot plaza project including the 20 story office tower.

the hotel project will be privately funded.

It also says East hartford has 5 motels and hotels including the Sheraton hotel that sits about a block from the site where the new hotel is to be built.

So here is my confusion

This company http://www.firstmerchantsgroup.com/corporate.html

built the new medical building in downtown EH and also manages the 20 story tower over by the river. The article gives an address near the new medical building, but 3 times refers to its closeness to the founders bridge, the 20 story tower, and the sheraton.

so.... where is it???

next to this

or next to this

[The Voice of Reason]

[HartfordTycoon]

He did not sound thrilled about the project, but very pleased with its size and in general its location. this is my inference only mind you. I think he would have liked a better building but is thrilled to have it on this corner and to be over 100 rooms in size.

thats all from here guys and gals

[MadVlad]

Too small.

[The Voice of Reason]

Too small.

[The Voice of Reason]

here are some shots of the area. namely the office tower and the condo

the office

[beerbeer]

It's a good sign that these medium priced hotels are entering the market. They fill a niche and would not compete with a high end urban hotel coming into the city. In a way, they are proving the market. They are also a needed asset - more rooms- for larger conventions. Big conventions attract customers to cheap, moderate and expensive hotels.

[The Voice of Reason]

Its is official

Ground has been broken.

As I drove home today I saw a huge dirt rectangle right here

[The Voice of Reason]

Not sure if they are driving pilings, or drilling water sampling wells or something, but there is something that looks like a water well driller thingie <=== tech speak I know

this baby is definately IN PROGRESS

[The Voice of Reason]

yesterday I saw that the area fenced in with a construction fence, and concrete systurns were lying around, and today I saw many many more huge piles of dirt.

they are certainly now digging foundation and sewage and all that jazz.

[The Voice of Reason]

this might be 150 rooms.

it was in one of those anual reports from East Hartford town.

we will see.

[The Voice of Reason]

Found this on my Bloomberg orig published in the Journal Inquirer.

The PZC will consider an application from Central Connecticut Hotel Associates LLC during its regular meeting at 7:30 p.m. in Town Hall council chambers.

The developer has proposed an 80-room hotel at 277 Roberts St. and 166 Simmons St. on 3.4 acres.

The article also puts the number of rooms at the Hampton Inn at 102 rooms.

what a shame.

I would much prefer less small hotel developments, but larger ones.

That being said, I am thrilled that the area is in the middle of a Hotel room Boom. and a mid market room boom at that.

85 in the Best Western, 102 in the hampton inn, and 80 rooms here.

and to save you from mapping this project it is right near the holiday in Express, and Margaritas along the Highway.

[The Voice of Reason]

10/06/08 after work ~6:20

[The Voice of Reason]

Today is a big day at the Hampton inn site. I randomly chose today, ok, it was not random it was because the bond market was closed and I knew I could leave work during day light.

Today they are putting in the pre fab floor panels for the 2nd level. There is a crane on site, and I even took the lamest video in the world. No, I really did, it is even more lame than that one, what was it called........ Star Wars Episode I: The Beginning.

there were no less than 5 trucks on site with the floor panels and they wre moving them into position

and yes many of these are bad pictures, but hey no one else is out there taking pics, so you deal with my lazyness in screening them and deleting the fuzzy ones.

[HartfordTycoon]

Great shots, VOR! Progress is nice to see. That area really needs more density. I wish the hotel was a high rise, but then I would just wish it was being built in Hartford even more.

[The Voice of Reason]

It looks like they are working on the 4th floor right now. It should be too cold to work with concrete over the next week or so, but i am guessing the 5th floor will be starting in a couple of weeks. with a topping off in a month or so.

[The Voice of Reason]

Taken 01/16/2009

[The Voice of Reason]

I think its fair to post this.

TOPPED OFF.

[MadVlad]

Too low, should be a bit bigger than that. Especially for that area, that could have been a major hotel, it's within walking distance of the Convention Center.

[HartfordTycoon]

It is a shame we get all of this low rise crap but it's good to have a new hotel. Glass half full I suppose.

[The Voice of Reason]

It is a shame we get all of this low rise crap but it's good to have a new hotel. Glass half full I suppose.

[HartfordTycoon]

Yeah, the word crap was more of a coded reference to generic and I do agree with MadVlad about this area being too close to downtown to really be satisfied with generic chain hotels coming in. However, I'm happy as hell that we are getting a new hotel. I just hope that one day Hartford's CBD and surrounding environs are desirable enough for us to see more originality. I would love to see a low rise boutique hotel either by way of construction or conversion, but that is some years off I'm afraid.

[The Voice of Reason]

Agreed.

looking at the credit situation, and the Hartford pipeline, I am going to take a stab and say that in 10 years Hartford will still mostly be made up of huge flat parking lots. There will however be SOME infill, and there may even be the Northland condo tower. there is definately no guarantee, but I see it as possible. There also MAY be a new arena, but without perez that is honestly less likely. He is a major pusher of NHL in Hartford, so unless our next mayor is PRO NHL, Hartford may lose a major downtown element.

This hotel is simular to the Best Western in the meadows. Sure that one is 8 stories, and if it breaks ground in spring as planned, they will be competing, but these generic chains are the big toe in the cold water. If they do well, other developers would be more inclined to invest in Hartford.

If the capewell project gets new life with the Obama plan ($8 million requested by Perez) the two hotels planned on the property might come to life as well.

All of these small generic projects make the foundation for larger projects.

You can not build a 2000 room convention center hotel in an unproven market. I am hoping that in 10 years Hartford will begin showing signs of being a proven market. I am also hoping that these little hotels add a few more feet on the street and help make downtown more viable in the mean time. Anyone who stays here at this hotel will be walking into downtown towards and past a New science center, and AI Engineers building under construction. It is certainly a positive view of town.

If we did not still have projects in the pipeline during this downturn I would be more worried, but it looks like this city will continue to have development during the worst financial crisis in ages. That is saying a lot concidering that there was no development at all during the .com boom in the 90s

[MadVlad]

I've never been an advocate of putting something in a spot just to put something in a spot. There are plenty of areas in the city that 5 story buildings would be more than acceptable, downtown and areas like this that are very close to downtown are not amongst them. It's this exact premise that bugs me about Front Street, it's going to turn out to be a piece of garbage because someone decided it was ok to put a 2 story building downtown. Well, there are obviously other reasons, but this is a main factor in it's impending failure.

[The Voice of Reason]

It's this exact premise that bugs me about Front Street, it's going to turn out to be a piece of garbage because someone decided it was ok to put a 2 story building downtown. Well, there are obviously other reasons, but this is a main factor in it's impending failure.