IN PROGRESS: 777 Main Street Residential Redevelopment

[The Voice of Reason]

BB,  I would go a step further and say that this also will enliven Asylum and Pearl.

Pearl is likely to gain the most as there is significant street frontage here and currently ZERO activity.

 

 

I am curious where the vacancy numbers are going to be come mid to late this year...

 

60K SF just were taken by Cohen Roeznik

200K SF I think are about to be taken up by Health

there is talk of another 60-100K SF being taken by the mayors office

 

This building is 300K

The 101-121 Pearl is another 200+

79 Allyn is 70K

 

and then there is the state gobbling up all the space in 2/3 buildings that represent I think 1 million plus SF (cant remember at all)

I was told this project will start within two weeks

 

 

I know you have great sources LB, and this is one project I really hope you are right on!!!

[Luca Brasi]

I'm willing to bet on it VoR

Another nice thing about the state offices moving downtown is that the apartment conversions will start on Elm and Trinity Sts. The architectural drawings are already done. 55 Elm is one of my favorite buildings in the city.

[The Voice of Reason]

55 Elm is probably the best residential conversion opportunity in the city.  Once the park is adjusted and the circle made friendlier and smaller, 55 Main is going to be a GREAT place to live.

 

too bad it is North Facing!

 

the Swing of population around the park has the greatest potential to right Hartfords ship.

 

there is alot of area near that park and it truely is a desirable place to live near.  it just has not caught on yet because there are very limited options.

 

glad you have such confidence LB!

[MichaelQReilly]

http://touch.courant.com/#section/2225/article/p2p-79756898/

Boom. Let's change this thread to "in progress."

This one has the potential to be a game changer. This is ground zero for downtown and should have a ripple effect once it's on-line.

[The Voice of Reason]

I am still so incredibly interested in what they plan on doing with the ground floor.  thats a seperate project remember and includes building new retail space and such.  It should be interesting.

 

and tha fact that it will be leasing some units by years end is great.

 

I think it makes sense that you dont dump nearly 300 apartments on the market at once here in Hartford.

 

it cities with larger downtown populations it would not be an issue, but here that is a massive ammount based on % of total market.

 

 

other comments..  Even with some units opening near the end of the year, Hartford wont really feel too different until Spring 2015, but more on that in a different place.

[HartfordTycoon]

So, they have construction fencing up around the old drive through teller terminal. I also noticed lights on inside the building on the first floor while walking by on Friday. Looks like things are getting started. This is really exciting. The visibility for this project is so huge. I'm sure the average downtown worker even has no idea that anything is going on with it yet though so once the real activity gets started it'll probably come as a pretty big surprise to most people who are downtown daily.

[The Voice of Reason]

I can also confirm that as of 8:30 or so this morning there are workers inside the building specifically on the top floors.  Swinging of a hammaer was seen and there is a large dumpster like thing on wheels.

 

Demo is underway.

 

Since they intend to be finished with the top floors first, Im guessing demo crews are just gonna start at the top and work their way down.

 

 

 

regarding visibility however...

When early on in this project it was announced that there waw a low income property portion that is all many people heard.

 

I say this from actual experience where some very senion execs were talking crap about hartford and this new welfare tower yada yada.

its really a shame that the actual truth is not out there.

I honestly think that mayor pedro should go to every major company in the city and pitch to the execs about the changes coming and also to address their fears.

 

Perception is that there is gonna be 300 welfare families put into the heart of downtown.   And with all the people hanging around BK and the bus stops, I can understand that this is the result of the xenophobic suburban executive mindset.

 

Unfortunately, some people of power will never see the positve changes.  In fact it has been heard said that downtown has consistantly just gone down hill

(that was said this year)

now, there is NO WAY that anyone paying any attention thinks downtown is worse today than it was say 10 years ago.

and again there is no wau that statement should be repeated in another 10 years.... but it seems as though this is where some people are mentally stuck no matter how many excelent projects are started.

 

I do however really hope that the upcoming developments lead to a major shift of thought to the next generation of leaders.

[The Voice of Reason]

I forgot to update this:

The top 5 floors were seemingly fully gutted about a week ago.

my wife is a pretty good view of the top floors from where she works.  Not sure sabout lower floors though

 

[The Voice of Reason]

top few floors are mostly framed in.

 

and here is the developers site for the project.

 

Not too much extra info but it does provide a little extra color

 

http://www.beckerandbecker.com/777.html

[The Voice of Reason]

Seeing more and more activity at this location.   Lights are on about a third of the way down the tower now.  they continue to demo and re-frame the space.

 

they closed the loading dock area and are using it for dumpsters and staging.  this project is really moving along now and picking up steam

[Hollin.Tolland]

Anyone seen a timeline on this project? I'd imagine it'll be a while based on the sheer size... I can't imagine anything would still open on schedule later this year or in spring, right? Also, @The Voice of Reason, are you seeing it from up high? Do you have any pics?

 

Seeing more and more activity at this location.   Lights are on about a third of the way down the tower now.  they continue to demo and re-frame the space.

 

they closed the loading dock area and are using it for dumpsters and staging.  this project is really moving along now and picking up steam

 

On the 777 site on Becker and Becker it reminds us that the building was designed by renowned master of concrete 1960's wrongness Welton Becket. It seems his work was so influential in the 60's that RTKL Associates got onboard when designing the Travelers Plaza Building in 68. I'm wondering with the removal of the 'butt ugly building' in DoNo a little while back, does the Hartford National Bank garage building become the biggest eyesore downtown? Yeeesh.

[The Voice of Reason]

most recent thing I read was that some penthouses will begin to come available in September I think.

 

Ill have to find that again.  it was in the HBJ series on a new Hartford from a week ago might have to re-read but it came from becker himself I think

[The Voice of Reason]

Building looked amazing last night all dressed up for the big Mo!

 

they had a lavender LED system lining the roofline that looked terrific in the skyline.

 

We dove into town to greb a beer and burger because we were just too damn busy to do the Mo this year.

 

downtown was ablolutely crazy packed.  country at the meadows, Tom Petty at XL, someone else at Infinity Hall, and every bar in town was just simply hopping.

 

Heck I saw a big formal party at the elks lodge and there was a wedding reception in city steams richardson room.

 

nights like Saturday are what give you hope for citys in America

 

[The Voice of Reason]

There is a nice article about this project in the Courant.  you need to register now, so, no link

 

but the article mentioned that the first units will come available in March with all of them available by the end of summer

 

it meantioneed that each floor will have one 2 bedroom in the NE corner overlooking the statehouse and with the best views of the river and the city. 

 

he expected the whole building leased within 2 years (I assume of completion?)

 

 

I have to assume that the first units will go pretty fast as they are upper floors units and demand is high and they have an advantage over other ongoing projects with that height/views

 

 

[The Voice of Reason]

Blue state coffee added as first retail tenent.  they will have a cafe area outside facing the old statehouse

 

 

[beerbeer]

A fire broke out on one of the higher floors.

 

http://www.courant.com/breaking-news/hc-hartford-fire-0329-20150328-story.html

 

It was contained pretty fast. Wonder if this event will alter the schedule?

Edited March 28, 2015 by beerbeer

[The Voice of Reason]

it surely will make a few rooms later, but the article said there was almost no damage to the intreior.. so thats good

 

 

this could have been really bad!!

[The Voice of Reason]

Tennents are moving in

 

http://touch.courant.com/#section/2279/

 

This is it fellas

 

Downtown is now really going to start to feel different

 

 

about a dozen move ins already

 

the article also mentions that 43% of the units are under deposit.   thats 124 units

thats alot for this little downtown.

 

based on my match we have 400 or so for rent when you include Colt

 

and of those .. we are at about 100 new residents already (30 at colt alone)

the other 100 lined up here at 777 will really start to come fast

[The Voice of Reason]

Also... CVS will be moving into this building from across the corner and leaving 750 main empty

 

 

[gtru1981]

Also... CVS will be moving into this building from across the corner and leaving 750 main empty

CVS is moving? When and where?

[The Voice of Reason]

not sure exactly when, but they are going into the larger space at 777 Main

[The Voice of Reason]

We can probably   un-pin this now.  its open and renting up fast

We may well want to talk about the retail aspect though... Blue State coffee is the only tenent, and they are already open.   Nothing else that I have heard of besides that.

 

 

 

[Luca Brasi]

CVS will moving from their present location to a bigger one at 777 Main.

[The Voice of Reason]

I posted that 5 comments ago on June 3rd... I finally had info Luca didnt!!! YAY    lol    of course I then forgot it.  joking aside, the Pharmacy should take up most of the old bank lobby I assume, but Im not sure because I have not looked in and around there with all the scaffolding.  the apartment lobby surely has some of that space too.      

I am curious how many SF will be added and what the new space will look like... Meaning additional products and or services.    Im sure there will be some additional food options which will make people happy.

 

Google is amazing stuff...

I didnt realize that CVS opened in 1992 and its 6600 SF

http://articles.courant.com/1992-10-10/business/0000111417_1_cvs-drugstore-downtown-lease-drugstore-chain

With how busy that place is, I could imagine CVS going whole hog here.    maybe even include a minute clinic  

 

Nationally they average 13,000 SF.

 

 

[beerbeer]

The current location closes at 3 PM on Saturday and is closed all day Sunday. It would be good if the move also coincided with longer week end hours.