Chessplayer

What are we complaining about? The timetable is set for a May/June construction start; I wouldn't expect to be hearing about anything right now.

Spiritus opened today. http://www.northland.com/news/release_single.php?id=49

Office vacancy rates were just posted: http://tinyurl.com/37yxuq Looks like the cbd has improved as a whole, although class A office space has seen an increase in vacancy over last year (10.88% in 2006), not surprising since we've seen the departure of MetLife and the reconversion of the former Stilts Building from class B to class A, which last I've heard is still only 50% occupied. These numbers are a bit encouraging (the cbd is beating the average and these numbers are similar to other healthy cities), though the rates will need to drop to around 10% or lower for serious new office construction to begin; even then the lack of a major anchor tenant willing to move downtown will hurt prospects. Lastly take a look at the historic numbers: http://tinyurl.com/ynv624. Hartford was in some seriously bad shape in the late 90s, though I assume most of the improvement that took place in lowering class B and C vacancy rates was by residential conversion.

What a fantastic development for New Haven: a new tallest and a grocery store. Damn.

I assume this snippet refers to the Steel Point project. Anyways, the estimated starting date is August 2008. http://www.bidclerk.com/project.676699.html

Another six month wait? Now how many times have we heard that before?

The article doesn't say anything about "phase 1" and "phase 2." Dare we hope that abysmal plan has been dropped?

Uh oh. Colt Facing Foreclosure Financial troubles overshadow federal nod towards landmark designation By Laura Schreier Despite Colt Armory

I've always thought a history of CT museum would be perfect for the Colt complex, something like Lowell MA did with its old factories.

Fantastic news for this project and the city.

Can you please tell us where the hell you hear this? If this is true it is fantastic, simply fantastic. Burying the highway; geez I was 10 and I daydreamed about that. Final designs? Actual retailers on board with this project?? WFSB house being reused??? Already???? Another highrise!?!?!? I might have to resort to emoticons to express my excitement. Please tell us where or from whom you're getting this information so I can give a little perspective to this news.

I was not expecting the development to be that massive. This looks fantastic for Bridgeport (even if the architecture is generally uninspiring). I'm very excited.

I'll keep my fingers crossed, though I thought the latest news had the developer wanting to break ground by Spring.

Here's a relevant HBJ article: http://hartfordbusiness.com/news3479.html "In Flight, Bigger is Better" Bradley Officials say larger planes would boost airport usage

It's astounding how much opportunity has been squandered. And the worst part is that as the project stands now (in two phases with no committed retail) I am seriously thinking it will be a day late and a dollar short...

I found this snippet in the HBJ today. Bridgeport takes another step for major waterfront development Bridgeport has agreed to transfer a 50-acre waterfront site to a developer for a 1.2 billion dollar project that would include thousands of houses, a hotel, marina, shops, restaurants and night clubs. Mayor John M. Fabrizi calls the long-awaited Steel Point plan the greatest economic development project in the history of the city of Bridgeport. The project is on the city's East Side. A number of legal and procedural hurdles remain, including the creation of a special zoning district, the issuance of 195 million dollars in bonds, and City Council approval. Officials say the development would take almost a decade to complete, create 20,000 construction jobs, 10,000 permanent jobs and 30 million dollars in annual tax revenue. http://hartfordbusiness.com/news2943.html

So...renderings yet?

I haven't seen them before on the CCEDA website, so perhaps these are the actual plans. They certainly do look quite attractive but mention nothing about phase 1 and phase 2, so it may be that these are old renderings and I simply missed them on previous perusing.

Try replying and quoting one of the "Hartford Photos" posts to see how photos were added. I think they were just copied and pasted. Edit: Upon trying it myself (copying a picture out of Corel Photo Album and pasting it here) it seems I have no idea what I'm talking about . Glad to hear the plans are nice though; hopefully they look better than this: http://www.fusco.com/past/images/1stAdrianensLanding2006.jpg. I wasn't a fan of that design.