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PROPOSED: AI Tech Center


ConnMan

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  • 4 weeks later...

So... how goes demolition? I have not seen any changes besides the low leasing sign on columbus.

any updates?

teasers

tennants?

You haven't seen any changes because I haven't wanted you to! Especially when the festival of lights was ongoing, we were trying to be as low profile as possible...

But, inside the Broadcast House, asbestos abatement and soft demo (interior walls, etc) is nearing completion. Soon, then fencing will go up and the CAT excavators will start to get to work. Look for another announcement regarding that very soon.

As for the other things... wait. I can't use this forum as an official news release outlet, but there will be more made public fairly soon. Rest assured though that the project progresses.

Dan Whittemore

AI Engineers, Inc.

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Is this the news you were refering to?

glad to see about the financing.

I am really looking forward to see what kind of tennants you might get. I would love to have the building bring jobs downtown (in addition to the AI jobs of course :) )

http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/news7911.html

Counting the cost of acquiring the TV studio and its 0.55-acre tract, pre-engineering and design, "I've already put in $2 million,'' Islam said. And two out-of-state community banks have offered mezzanine and permanent financing for the building, he said. Islam expects to finalize those within the next several weeks.

Dan Whittemore, an AI engineer and the project's manager, said crews were due last week to finish asbestos-removal inside the 80,000-square-foot structure. Sometime in March, the project manager said, machine excavators will tear down the steel-reinforced concrete shell. That work will take about a month.

"We're looking at starting construction in the fall,'' Whittemore said.

Construction is expected to take about 14 months.

So it looks like based on expected timeline, we are looking at an empty lot from some time in april, lets call it May 1 untill Fall, so something like October. I am guessing we will start to see applications flowing through city planning soon at least for the demo.

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Amazing how AI can get this all rolling and done within 2 years while Front Street sits idle (or gets dirt moved from one pile to another) for 8 years.

Well to be fair, he is leasing 40,000 SF of thebuilding for his own offices, so that helps with financing. in addition he is putting his own money into this and is clearly commited to the project. this makes it easier to finance. unless the banks see AI Engineers as a bankrupcy risk, then this project is pretty easy to finance.

If Front street had pre sold condos, or a pre leased commercial space, then something would have happened there too.

and thats why front street is a huge frekin joke.

and the joke is on us

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  • 1 month later...

In case everyone doesn't know, Abul and myself are giving a presentation tonight at the Hartford Public Library in collaboration with the SoDo NRZ. The Courant's Cityline blog has the details:

http://blogs.courant.com/cityline/2009/03/...aza-broadc.html

Everyone is of course invited. We are going to describe the project, outline what is going to occur during both demo and construction, and hopefully have some time at the end for some Q&A.

Would love to see and meet some of you there if you can attend.

Dan Whittemore

AI Engineers, Inc.

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Dan, would there be any additional information presented possibly about tenants or design changes?

Having looked over the PDF several times I feel pretty confident about what you are doing over there, and since we have met I was thinking about passing on this so I can go for a run after work. But if there is a bunch of new info I think I would be inclined to attend.

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Dan, would there be any additional information presented possibly about tenants or design changes?

Having looked over the PDF several times I feel pretty confident about what you are doing over there, and since we have met I was thinking about passing on this so I can go for a run after work. But if there is a bunch of new info I think I would be inclined to attend.

There won't be new info, per se, just project info directly from the people behind the project...

Dan Whittemore

AI Engineers, Inc.

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Seems like a fine time to post this from the HBJ.

info on the meeting and such. I like that you guys are using the media to your advantage. or at least that the media is paying attention.

http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/news8282.html

In December, Islam announced plans for the 13-story tower to house AI's headquarters and space for other tenants. Lease talks are under way with some of them, Whittemore said. He declined to name them.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Yeah thats news.... the vaguest news ever!! :P

Care to elaborate on how much space they are taking?

A: less that a floor

B: a full floor

C: More than 1 floor

I can be vague too

ok Im not good at it, but its worth a shot.

Glad to see that you got one in hand. I think you should do well with the small professional services firms.

I would be thrilled if you could lure a major green energy company.

someone like GE Power

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Yeah thats news.... the vaguest news ever!! :P

Care to elaborate on how much space they are taking?

A: less that a floor

B: a full floor

C: More than 1 floor

Sure can. At this point, between us and the mystery tenant, a larger firm not already in the Hartford CBD, the builiding is now over 1/3 full.

Dan Whittemore

AI Engineers, Inc.

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VERY nice.

Lets hope that in 6 months you are adding floors :)

Ugh...does that mean more design? :o

Seriously, though, I will say one thing about this. Go back to the brochure, go back to the standard floorplates. Look at the larger core - the one to the west, where the main elevator bank is. Notice anything about it? Like a big, elevator shaped hole where there isn't one currently?

Just in case, my friend, just in case.

Dan Whittemore

AI Engineers, Inc.

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Some math.

Twelve floors of space to rent.

Two taken by owner.

For the building to be 1/3 rented means four floors need to be rented.

Ergo, the mystery company is taking two floors.

The "green" building definitely give the space a unique selling propostion.

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Yeah, Thats what I assumed as well.

It would be great if every tenant could come from outside of Downtown, and even better if from outside of the area. Bringing new jobs downtown and new industries downtown is what this is all about.

Couple this with the potential of connecticut river plaza bringing jobs in from out of state, and we could actually have some real positives in this part of the city. (COULD)

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Yeah, Thats what I assumed as well.

It would be great if every tenant could come from outside of Downtown, and even better if from outside of the area. Bringing new jobs downtown and new industries downtown is what this is all about.

Couple this with the potential of connecticut river plaza bringing jobs in from out of state, and we could actually have some real positives in this part of the city. (COULD)

If only the buildings across Columbus Blvd. were at all pedestrian friendly.

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So true!

The fact that my wife even makes comments about how damn ugly the Hartford Steam Boiler building is (at ground level) is pretty telling.

That one is definitely the worst. I have a friend who works in there that I meet for lunch fairly regularly. It's actually a nice building, the problem is that the bottom couple of floors are just a blank wall. I wonder if it would be feasible to revamp them to make the building welcoming from a pedestrian level?

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That one is definitely the worst. I have a friend who works in there that I meet for lunch fairly regularly. It's actually a nice building, the problem is that the bottom couple of floors are just a blank wall. I wonder if it would be feasible to revamp them to make the building welcoming from a pedestrian level?

I have asked myself this question a few times.

I have come to the conclusion that yes it is possible. It would likely be expensive and no owner would likely make that move unless the city changed GREATLY. A renovation like that would cost valuable parking spaces in an area where parking is fairly tight. I would love to see HSB as well as 1, and 100 Constitution plaza re-vamp their bottom 2 floors so that they interact better with the street. With the AI building looking like it will happen it will be the most street friendly building in a very unfriendly area.

A simple solution would be for UCONN to change their ground floor to have a door and maybe some retail. The ticker rocks, but its above a dead ground floor space.

But sadly HSB needs full scale renovation.

It is really hard for me to chose which corner needs the most help.

I think I still go back to Phoenix simply because I see it as a fairly easy fix. you know just knock down the base and re build it but outward looking and with retail.

the bunker years of Hartford have to be erased!!!

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I have asked myself this question a few times.

I have come to the conclusion that yes it is possible. It would likely be expensive and no owner would likely make that move unless the city changed GREATLY. A renovation like that would cost valuable parking spaces in an area where parking is fairly tight. I would love to see HSB as well as 1, and 100 Constitution plaza re-vamp their bottom 2 floors so that they interact better with the street. With the AI building looking like it will happen it will be the most street friendly building in a very unfriendly area.

A simple solution would be for UCONN to change their ground floor to have a door and maybe some retail. The ticker rocks, but its above a dead ground floor space.

But sadly HSB needs full scale renovation.

It is really hard for me to chose which corner needs the most help.

I think I still go back to Phoenix simply because I see it as a fairly easy fix. you know just knock down the base and re build it but outward looking and with retail.

the bunker years of Hartford have to be erased!!!

Agree on Phoenix. Every day when I go home I notice how easy that one would be to fix. Same thing with the building that NU is taking over.

Hopefully with AI coming it will get some momentum going to change up this area.

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