Spent the week end in New Haven

[beerbeer]

Stayed at "The Study" small hotel on Chapel Street. The place was hopping on Friday and Sat nights. The bars were full, the streets Chapel, College, State were filled with people. Somehow they have a cigar bar that was packed and spilling out onto the streets.

I noticed there are more than half a dozen 8-12 story apartment buildings a block or so west of chapel.

The other thing I noticed was that there were public parking garages everywhere, not surface parking,though there were a couple of surface lots, but garages parking structures on almost every block.

Apartments and parking....Hhhhmmmmm.

[mikel]

Come on, this is not worthy of starting a new topic.

[beerbeer]

Worthy or not, here it is.

I think Hartford could learn a lot from New Haven especially in making the city accessible. Parking garages are the key variable for visitors and sidewalk traffic. Take a place like Santa Monica. Third Street is surrounded by inexpensive parking garages and the promenade is full of folks. Want to attract folks downtown, give them a cheap place to park. I still think the city should build a huge parking lot across from the train station where therre is currently only a surface lot.

Oh, BTW, what excuse did MetLife use for leaving downtown? Parking.

[The Voice of Reason]

Well, I think the leaders of Hartford are generally pretty well aware of what needs to happen to make Hartford a more viable city. Places like Boston, New Haven, Providence are all close by examples. The problem in Hartford is that before enough of the problems could be fixed the bottom of the market fell out.

Think about it. If the Northland condo tower was built, it would add 600 or so residents downtown. It would also add a significant ammount of parking and lastly it would replace an unfriendly streetscape with a pedestrian and retail friendly streetscape. This would be one MAJOR step towards "fixing Hartford"

The New Arena would be the other necessary step, but I think its timeline is so vague/drawn out that the current market might have little effect on it. but the plan is for an arena that will add to the parking stock, add to the pedestrian friendly nature of Pratt/Allyn street and will bring tens of thousands of people downtown for events.

Every single official plan or document from the city, sate, even private sector points to an interest in adding housing and parking to downtown Hartford while adding life to the streetscape and nurturing retail. I truely think everyone is onboard. It just takes time and money. Right now there is no money. not even in NYC is there lending going on, so we have to be patient and hope that the leaders have solid plans laid for when the money starts to flow again.

As far as parking I think the Parking at the train station is entirely within the realm of possibility. the DOT has one of the strongest budgets, and the commuter rail will likely make this even more attractive.

I think the lot next to the AT&T building would be very usefull if developed. Mind you I would want to see more than just parking there. I would like to see parking hiding behind ground floor retail and at least 3 stories of housing. Even if it is mainly a parking structure, asnything across from the goodwin needs to respect that building and not look like a garage.

make no mistake the potential in Hartford is MUCH greater than it is for New Haven.

[MichaelQReilly]

Well, I think the leaders of Hartford are generally pretty well aware of what needs to happen to make Hartford a more viable city. Places like Boston, New Haven, Providence are all close by examples. The problem in Hartford is that before enough of the problems could be fixed the bottom of the market fell out.

Think about it. If the Northland condo tower was built, it would add 600 or so residents downtown. It would also add a significant ammount of parking and lastly it would replace an unfriendly streetscape with a pedestrian and retail friendly streetscape. This would be one MAJOR step towards "fixing Hartford"

The New Arena would be the other necessary step, but I think its timeline is so vague/drawn out that the current market might have little effect on it. but the plan is for an arena that will add to the parking stock, add to the pedestrian friendly nature of Pratt/Allyn street and will bring tens of thousands of people downtown for events.

Every single official plan or document from the city, sate, even private sector points to an interest in adding housing and parking to downtown Hartford while adding life to the streetscape and nurturing retail. I truely think everyone is onboard. It just takes time and money. Right now there is no money. not even in NYC is there lending going on, so we have to be patient and hope that the leaders have solid plans laid for when the money starts to flow again.

As far as parking I think the Parking at the train station is entirely within the realm of possibility. the DOT has one of the strongest budgets, and the commuter rail will likely make this even more attractive.

I think the lot next to the AT&T building would be very usefull if developed. Mind you I would want to see more than just parking there. I would like to see parking hiding behind ground floor retail and at least 3 stories of housing. Even if it is mainly a parking structure, asnything across from the goodwin needs to respect that building and not look like a garage.

make no mistake the potential in Hartford is MUCH greater than it is for New Haven.

[The Voice of Reason]

The garage on Lewis Street that is part of the Trumbull on the Park development is a pretty good model for parking with ground floor space.

[mikel]

This thread is garbage because it's much easier to park in Hartford than New Haven. New Haven has far fewer garages and surface lots, yet is considered a more lively city. Go figure.

The garages in Hartford are mostly rarely even half full. But no matter what an American city does, people will complain incessantly about parking.

[HartfordTycoon]

This thread is garbage because it's much easier to park in Hartford than New Haven. New Haven has far fewer garages and surface lots, yet is considered a more lively city. Go figure.

The garages in Hartford are mostly rarely even half full. But no matter what an American city does, people will complain incessantly about parking.

[Bill Mocarsky]

Apartments and parking....Hhhhmmmmm.

[beerbeer]

Nothing wrong with a big powerful institution in your backyard especially one with a vested interest in your success. Must be nice.

But those cars pulling into the multiple parking garages were NOT Yale students they were young adults from outside the central city, coming down to be part of the scene.

[Luca Brasi]

This thread is garbage because it's much easier to park in Hartford than New Haven. New Haven has far fewer garages and surface lots, yet is considered a more lively city. Go figure.

The garages in Hartford are mostly rarely even half full. But no matter what an American city does, people will complain incessantly about parking.

[The Voice of Reason]

If UCONN were to move its Hartford campus to the parking lots North of Downtown and basicly expand the RPI campus towards downtown, the effect would be simular on Hartford to what Yale does. Mind you there are only maybe 3 schools like Yale in the whole country, but a positive effect could be achieved.

Before Hartford could be as lively as New Haven it would need to find a way to bring 12,000 young residents downtown to live. Hartford has plenty more people working downtown than New Haven, so the Employees of Yale are kind of irrelevent. Its those 12,000 students living downtown that make the difference. Think of the massive financial invest emt it would take to make this happen. Without a university, building 35 buildings like Hartford 21 would bring 12250 or so people downtown, but it would cost something like $4 Billion. good luck finding 35 developers with $115Million to spend on Hartford. and good luck finding so many people looking to live downtown in short order.

I university not only builds dorms much more cost effectively, but also creates its own demand for the housing(and even adds jobs on top of that)

none of this is going to happen unless somehow The Hartford as a last Hurrah before selling off all of its parts donates its entire corporate campus to create a land trust university in the name of its Mark Twain..... Also not Happeneing

[jcrc]

Stayed at "The Study" small hotel on Chapel Street. The place was hopping on Friday and Sat nights. The bars were full, the streets Chapel, College, State were filled with people. Somehow they have a cigar bar that was packed and spilling out onto the streets.

I noticed there are more than half a dozen 8-12 story apartment buildings a block or so west of chapel.

The other thing I noticed was that there were public parking garages everywhere, not surface parking,though there were a couple of surface lots, but garages parking structures on almost every block.

Apartments and parking....Hhhhmmmmm.