Heading into another development cycle....

[The Voice of Reason]

For agruments sake, lets say that development is on its way back.

(it may still stumble I know, and yes, there may be the urge for some to post something negative and political but dont! OK?)

Usually when the world wakes from a slumber and starts to build again the early proposals are built universally, then the next phase of ideas that come along are more 50-50, then the huge pie in the sky ideas start to come forward and most of those never happen, at the same time as pie in the sky many institutional projects and government projects start for gather steam, and those often get built while the pie in the sky ones languish.

IF we are moving towards development, we have quite a few projects allready on the docket, and to me this is pretty damn exciting because if the historical norm continues, they are very likely to be built.

1: Hartford Hospital : Parking Garage

2: Hartford Hospital : Emergency room expansion

3: Hartford Hospital : office conversions (4 small properties near campus)

4: Hartford Hospital : 12 story office tower

5: Constitution plaza apartments

6: Hollander Apartments Part Deux

7: IQuilt (or at least parts of it)

8: Re-design I-84

9: 50 Elm Street

10: Busway

11: S-H-NH Commuter Rail

12: Swift Factory redevelopment

13: Dutch Point continued development

Some question marks would be

1: 95-101 Pearl

2: 111 Pearl

3: New Arena

4: AI Tech Center-

5: YMCA tower

6: Front Street Phase 2

7: Coltsville

8: 777 Main Street condos

And there are plenty of other things going on within the region that seem like strengtheners like great pont village and Storrs Center and Bristols new downtown

so, are all of these going to happen? I know it may not always look that way, but if everything written above seems to be "not dead, and we are on the begining of an upswing in development, are all of these developments actually possible in the next 5-8 year development cycle?

thoughts?

where would this put Hartford as a place to live in say 5 -8 years?

random discussion commence

[beerbeer]

The two projects that would really make a difference are the Constitution Plaza Apartments and 101 Pearl Street. The influx of people would liven the city. It would turn two dead buildings into active spaces. Neither project is cost prohibitive. Both feature studios which there is a proven demand.

I can't see any business development right now with two huge buildings (BOA and UHC) sitting empty. So the city would be wise to focus on residential.

[The Voice of Reason]

The two projects that would really make a difference are the Constitution Plaza Apartments and 101 Pearl Street. The influx of people would liven the city. It would turn two dead buildings into active spaces. Neither project is cost prohibitive. Both feature studios which there is a proven demand.

I can't see any business development right now with two huge buildings (BOA and UHC) sitting empty. So the city would be wise to focus on residential.

Interesting to see two recent articles...

The one on 777 Main today mentioned the national upswing in apartment demand even while condos and single family homes falter.

Is this strong demand for apartments doing to lead to some new conversions or new construction?

The 777 Main Street location is interesting because its not even being marked as an office building any more. I think its oficially hit the end of its lifespan as an office. So maybe it goes mothballed, maybe the city/state figures out a way to fix the asbestos problem with some funding source.

If this thing does sell however it make for the very real prospect that this location will be repurposed.

Its a stunning location with actually quite a bit of land. Imagine a developer removing the old bank branch and the drive thru and that pathetic garage and the now vacant shops under it.

there is a real opportunity to fix up the streetscape of Asylum, Main and Pearl Street. and if you walk around this property you can see that literally anything would be better that what is currently there. Imagine someone leaving the highrise mothballed and even just building some kind of 5 story mixed use building with a better garage on the same footprint. the tower could eventually get repurposed or whatever, the land is where the value lies.

The other article was the one in the times that quoted Mr. kenney about his interest in jumping back into developing something downtown to meet the current demand. To me this sounds like it might be 101 Pearl

I could die a happy man if the buildings on pears as well as 777 main were turned into apartments along with the clarion and Hollander II. That would be just absolutely staggering.

[beerbeer]

The killer for 777 Main is parking. In fact, that is one of the big killers for downtown development in general.

[The Voice of Reason]

thats why i say the value is in the land.

thats a great great plot of land.

if a buyer were to buy the property for peanuts, tear down the low lying stuff, leave the tower alone, and just build on the land including an appropriate parking garage, say put 40 million into the peoperty, you could have a great little property there. hell, I bet the Hartford parking authority would even help out with the parking lot.

the tower could be renovated or repurposed later,