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Possible Development at Hilton Lot?

grock

By grock
in Greater Hartford

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  • 2 weeks later...
The Voice of Reason Town

The Voice of Reason

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"I think it should include an observatory along the lines of Seattle’s Space Needle. Could be a big tourist attraction." Bingo, Dennis, you win the prize!!

when I read that I thought of you vlad

but I gotta say that Dennis' optimism might be a little overzealous.

The highway plan might help, but it would also introduce an additional 14+ acres of land just as atractive as the hilton lot.

The high speed rail, and more near term the commuter rail, will however help.

but the part about Mrs chase saying ... "She envisions a landmark skyscraper with condominiums at the top, commercial in the middle and retail on the ground level. "

makes me think it would literally take forever to find a company interested in building such a thing. Sure housing is the best bet right now, but we have yet to get 101 and 111 Pearl Street done yet. Once those two are started i will maybe have some faith in somethng happening elsewhere. like maybe the YMCA building? I mean think about it, the chase family does not need to rush, they are not loosing money on that land, and will only make more if they hold out till after everything around them is more attractive. Think about it would you pay big money to be on the "edge" of the city next to abandoned buildings and a highway/train track that will some day be hidden by development, or have the ideal plot of land abuting the park as well as a nice new YMCA residential tower and re done train station with rails you dont see/hear, and a several new buildings rather than a highway trench/overpass. If the highway/train are to be under way by 2015, I could see development begining around then so that once the building is done, the other infrastructure is also done. but again that would be a stretch. cant blame 20 years on the econemy.

its called complacency

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beerbeer Burg

beerbeer

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The question that begs to be asked is: what took her so long, that lot has been empty for two decades...

Blame the Pope and Chase's Polish roots. In the 90s, The Pope (Polish at the time) asked Chase to help his people (the Poles) who were just coming out of communism after the fall of the iron curtain. Chase helped modernize the country while enhancing his fortune. That's where Chase's time, energy and fortune have been invested for the last two decades. Now he's back.

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drc72 Burg

drc72

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I would absolutely LOVE to see a proper UTC world HQ built on one of Hartfords downtown parking lots. 50+ stories of course :P

I hate to say it, but I think UTC completely wants out of CT judging by the plant closings they proposed. I hope I'm wrong though

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beerbeer Burg

beerbeer

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I hate to say it, but I think UTC completely wants out of CT judging by the plant closings they proposed. I hope I'm wrong though

Why, because the AG keeps suing them? Or because this is one of the most business unfriendly states in the country? Don't they know that the state of Connecticut must punish greedy corporations with greedy CEOs like UT?

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The Voice of Reason Town

The Voice of Reason

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Property tax is assessed by the city. Changing the mil rate so that empty lots and parking lots are charged more than properties with structures has been talked about for years but of course nothing has been done and its just more of the same old story.

well, while the city stes the mil rate, the city has no other controls due to state law. Hartford is in a special tax zone because of some old state legislature stuff.

anyways, its currently set so that there are almost no taxes on land, and lots of taxes on buildings. so this has for the last 50 years or so encouraged developers to tear buildings down way before a project starts. and also people who have owned a buildinf for a while might tear it down rather than pay taxes. you know, vacant store fronts and a few empty apartments are not worth the hassle when you can tear it down and your parking revenues will pay the taxes and mortgage

thats why the whold city is just flat parking lots

What would be required? Is there a possibility that you can adjust the Mill Rate depending on the usage of the property? I'm assuming that's how it works but I really have no idea...

they can set the mil rate by category, but not by land use.

so, commercial residentia, industrail, and thats it.

with the burden on the building not the land in all instances.

its something like 25% land 75% building.

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MadVlad Town

MadVlad

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So do both the State legislature AND the City have to change tax structures? If I'm reading correctly, the City could restructure the Mill rate to even 50/50 (land/building) and have some marked improvements happen. If they went even further, say 40/60 or 30/70, that might be the incentive needed to get some things built around here. What would the State have to do to change this? Also, I have another idea, but it has nothing to do with the Hilton, so I'll start a new thread.

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The Voice of Reason Town

The Voice of Reason

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So do both the State legislature AND the City have to change tax structures? If I'm reading correctly, the City could restructure the Mill rate to even 50/50 (land/building) and have some marked improvements happen. If they went even further, say 40/60 or 30/70, that might be the incentive needed to get some things built around here. What would the State have to do to change this? Also, I have another idea, but it has nothing to do with the Hilton, so I'll start a new thread.

the way I understand it...... you are way off, so ill try and explain what I understand to be the case a little metter. now mind you I can not be sure I am 100% correct.

the city: they set the mil rate for R,C and I. currently those numbers are artificially inflated in order to keep the city operational. see, hartford has some weird tax law that makes it so the city properties are assessed at half the value they would have outside the city (I think say in West hartford, you are assessed at 2/3 the value of the property, but by state law Hartford is assessed at 1/3 property value) the state was supposedly covering the difference something to do with all the non taxable state agencies or something. anyways, in order to stay afloat over the years, the mil rate in hartford has slowly risen from something like .35(in line with surrounding towns) to something like .76. while this means that property taxes in hartford are simular to surrounding towns due to the way they are valued (as noted above) it also means that "real property" is hammered at that .76 mil rather than .36 mil making owning a car in hartford very expensive. it also makes it really expensive to run a business here since photocopiers and such are taxed at the same rates.

make sense?

The State: there is some strange law as stated above that set the valuation in Hartford at half of other towns, but it also sets other taxation rules, so that basicly, Hartford does not control its own tax structure. the city can only change mil rate. the state law would need to be changed in order for the city to change the valuations on property. this would allow the city to move the valuations closer to 50/50 or 25/75 to encourage development. but right now that can not be changed without that state law being changed.

more info on what mill rates mean

http://www.ct.gov/opm/cwp/view.asp?a=2987&q=385976

A mill is equal to $1.00 of tax for each $1,000 of assessment. To calculate the property tax, multiply the assessment of the property by the mill rate and divide by 1,000. For example, a property with a assessed value of $50,000 located in a municipality with a mill rate of 20 mills would have a property tax bill of $1,000 per year.

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  • 4 weeks later...
The Voice of Reason Town

The Voice of Reason

Posted
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Mayor Pedro is on Malloys 22 member transition team, and apparently he is pushing the taxes issue

I posted it here because its what we were talking about last here

http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-segarra-transition-team-1213-20101212,0,4794320.story

A key priority, Segarra said, is to address the city taxes.

"We're very limited in terms of how we're permitted to collect taxes," he said. "That's all ruled by state legislation."

He suggested exploring the option of a hotel tax that would benefit Hartford, a local sales tax or taxing vacant properties at a higher rate.

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