PROPOSED: AI Tech Center

[The Voice of Reason]

I am pretty sure Mr. Islam would need 1 more tenant (1 more floor leased) before his lender will give him the green light.

now I know that might be denied, but its generally the rule of commercial lending, even in an owner occupied situation (the owner will occupu just a small portion of the space, so he will need tenants)

I am 100% confident that this will get built, and the work may begin soon funded by me islam himself untill that tenant is found, you never know. but If they had another floor leased, I guarantee this project would be moving at full speed right now.

its a good time of year to pour a foundation

[GreenTea]

I go by there everyday... not much going on because of less activity thats going on there, but clear land. It looks like that they will start to built. Seems exciting.

[The Voice of Reason]

I go by there everyday... not much going on because of less activity thats going on there, but clear land. It looks like that they will start to built. Seems exciting.

Welcome to the boards Tea!

I think we are all excited about this project and its potential.

[Luca Brasi]

The financing for this project concerns me...

[mikel]

The financing for this project concerns me...

Islam better have had the financing set before he took down Broadcast House. If a hole is left there for a significant time, and we sure have had holes downtown already, it would be so shameful. This is why I was less excited about this project and more filled with dread. Hope I'm proven wrong.

[MichaelQReilly]

Surprisingly, the Advocate had an article on this project that has a little bit of new news. Looks like AI is still optimistic about breaking ground some time this summer, but they still haven't been able to land the necessary number of tenants to secure financing.

[drc72]

I got a bad feeling about this one.

[The Voice of Reason]

I got a bad feeling about this one.

well, this obviously has been delayed and such, but if you look at it from a different way, its not all doom and gloom.

AI bought the building out of his own pocket for something like 1.5 mill, then paid for demolition. he is into this for 2.5 or more million bucks. it would be a very bad for him to leave this as a parking lot.

the other thing is that he still owns his company and they are still doing fine I would assume.

I saw two of his guys at the HUB of hartford meeting a few weeks back. as a company they are likely getting less construction jobs, and more infrastructure jobs right now, but Its not like he is trying to build a spec building, he is trying to build his own HQ and to occupy it.

I would concsder AI and St Francais very very stable tenants, so I am not worried.

any other tenants would really be what makes or breaks this project

[beerbeer]

Took these Saturday morning. Whole lot of nothing going on.

[drc72]

Believe me I hope you prove me wrong, but the recession seems to be hurting a lot of companies these days.

well, this obviously has been delayed and such, but if you look at it from a different way, its not all doom and gloom.

AI bought the building out of his own pocket for something like 1.5 mill, then paid for demolition. he is into this for 2.5 or more million bucks. it would be a very bad for him to leave this as a parking lot.

the other thing is that he still owns his company and they are still doing fine I would assume.

I saw two of his guys at the HUB of hartford meeting a few weeks back. as a company they are likely getting less construction jobs, and more infrastructure jobs right now, but Its not like he is trying to build a spec building, he is trying to build his own HQ and to occupy it.

I would concsder AI and St Francais very very stable tenants, so I am not worried.

any other tenants would really be what makes or breaks this project

[Luca Brasi]

AI bought the building out of his own pocket for something like 1.5 mill, then paid for demolition. he is into this for 2.5 or more million bucks. it would be a very bad for him to leave this as a parking lot.

I wouldn't be so sure. Parking is a very lucrative business downtown. Remember when the Main and Asylum lot was cleared of the Main St. Market to make way for Rennaissance Place? Look what ended up happening there. The same story that has repeated itself a dozen times downtown... whether The Hilton Lot, The Oakleaf Lot, The Society for Savings lot...etc. All are now surface parking lots.

I think we are all rooting for this project but everyone is a little wary for the same reasons. Anytime a construction site sits idle for a period of time, it doesn't bode well.

[Theophrastus Bombastus]

Still nothing (construction-wise) - what the frack?

[MadVlad]

Unfortunately, DamielW is conspicuous by his absence...

[KyleB]

If anyone is interested in meeting Mr. Islam, he is the featured guest at an upcoming HYPE event (next Tuesday, June 22nd, 6:00). It's part of the Entrepreneur's Success Stories series, so the subject is more than just this project. However, it's an open forum/dialog type event, so there will be opportunities to ask specific questions. Check out the event page for more information, http://www.metrohart...lse&eventid=538

[Luca Brasi]

Anyone hear anything about this project? Its been sitting dormant for months now. The longer this goes on, the worse things look.

[The Voice of Reason]

no one has heard anything i can only assume, because nothing has changed. this project is waiting on signing more tenants.

Since this is an owner occupied situation, I have every confidence that it will happen, its just a matter of having the office market either slightly rebound, or have some interested party materialize from somewhere.

If I recall, the developer needs to rent a few more floors for this to get financing.

I would be hopeful for that to happen maybe this fall, but you have to understand that there is no urgency on the side of AI and for good reason. no way do they want to pay a $40 million construction loan, they want their tenants to do that, and so, they need at least 50% leased likely closer to 70%

With St Francais, I doubt they are above 25%

I am sure the number is in this thread somewhere though.

[drc72]

This project really died out.........

[The Voice of Reason]

This project really died out.........

actually, no, it has not.

I think in our summer slacker ways no one posted the article about this building officially leasing with a 2012 occupancy date.

this means AI, called his broker and said... DO IT

so he is VERY committed to this project as it would be a huge embarassment to not get it built by 2013 at this point.

Also, since occupancy was just announced downtown at 19.1% another small drop from 17.8ish (this is from memory, sorry)

leasing is TOUGH, but he came out with a actual price publicly, and people can really concider things. this also means that final construction costs are likely in, so he is likely pretty damn near ready to actually start, just needs a little more on the leasing side.

I think we are looking at another year and 2013 myself, but AI is not quitting on this project. I spoke to him personally at the riverfront Big MO and he is looking forward to hosting Big MO 2012 he said.

Edit

here is a link

http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/news13885.html?Type=search

[jcrc]

occupancy was just announced downtown at 19.1% another small drop from 17.8ish

You mean vacancy rate. That rate by the way does include tenants looking to sublet, the real number is about 22 percent of the market's space is available for lease. The reality is that AI is taking 1 1/2 floors which means 90% of the building is available for lease. I am guessing AI needs to get commitment for at least 60% occupancy plus their 10% in order to get funding.

[Theophrastus Bombastus]

Saw someone working on the bulldozer parked in the middle of the empty rubble pile today - my guess is they are taking it away because this project is dead in the water. Frickin-A

[mikel]

So sad, we're screwed again. Broadcast House might not have been the most up-to-date building, but it could have been used as some sort of studio or urban warehouse, or something else. It was a solid building that could be useful. It wasn't the most beautiful building in the world, but it was decent looking from a distance and could have served a role as the anchor of Hartford's modernist entry on State Street. It complimented the Science Center in a way, and certainly complimented the Phoenix building and the rest of Constitution Plaza.

Now we're left with another hole. AI could have tried to build their skyscraper in one of many empty lots, and we wouldn't have suffered the consequences. But Hartford drank the Kool-Aid and now we're stuck with the consequences. AI's lot looks like crap now.

[The Voice of Reason]

holy crap that just a pile of dribble!

if the developer, and owner, and primary tenant were publicly struggling as a company I'd get quite worried, but the fact is that this developer has announced a tenant not all that long ago, and lets not forget this is the worst recession in ages, so your gonna have to excuse some delays.

just chill out a bit, and if you are pre disposed to showing despair, try at least to wait for some kind of negative news. not just that someone saw someone tinkering with a bulldozer, and that must mean they project is dead.

wait for asphalt to be poured there before you fly off the handle please?

[drc72]

holy crap that just a pile of dribble!

if the developer, and owner, and primary tenant were publicly struggling as a company I'd get quite worried, but the fact is that this developer has announced a tenant not all that long ago, and lets not forget this is the worst recession in ages, so your gonna have to excuse some delays.

just chill out a bit, and if you are pre disposed to showing despair, try at least to wait for some kind of negative news. not just that someone saw someone tinkering with a bulldozer, and that must mean they project is dead.

wait for asphalt to be poured there before you fly off the handle please?

Broadcast house should of just stayed up..... There really was no reason to knock it down at this point, because apparently there not ready.

[The Voice of Reason]

well, when the call was made to knock down the building, the developer was certain he would be building right now, but credit continued to get tighter, so, what can ya do. in reality knocking the building down is the developers way of showing you are serious, and that your ready to build(to potential tenants)

its not ideal, but I am not worried about this project until I hear that AI as a company is struggling since this is not just some developer, its a guy with a stake in the community. and since I have spoken personally to AI, and most recently at the big Mo. this dude is gonna get something built here I can guarantee that. its just a matter of time. so, maybe its 1 more year, have some patience.

the econemy is still crap, and office occupancy is hurting. we need things to turn around some before anyone will commit to a multi year multi million $ lease. I bet there will be good news on this project by fall a year from now. if there is bad news, you can all come back and do I told you so's, but I just feel like we are talking about a owner occupied project and its not like the investor driven developers with no ties to the city/state. this guy is serious and stays involved in hartford.

[Luca Brasi]

I hope you are right. This project has sat idle for quite some time now and all machinery has been removed from the premises. Taxes, insurance and a host of other expenses need to get paid while this project sits as an empty lot and that is not a good thing. As we all know, time is money. And the last thing we need in Hartford is another surface parking lot.