The Voice of Reason

Delta LAX was pretty populay IIRC before fuel price spikes killed it Why would United go to SFO?

WORD!! The 737-800 has a Maximum Range of 3,115 nautical miles The flight itself is 2522 Miles And google told me that this may have been just a crappy plane to use. http://planes.findthebest.com/compare/231-269/Airbus-A321-vs-Boeing-737-800 anyways, yeah it seems like this flight could easily be profitable to an airline and at 80% likely was for AA, they are just rationalizing their routes post merger. I think that this flight has very good potential in general and dont see why another airline wouldnt pick it up... *AHEM* Jet Blue! Jet Blue uses A321 For trans continental. So the above link is a reasonable compare. http://www.jetblue.com/travel/planes/ they are rolling out some nice cabins too. If anyone can make a profit here its Jet Blue Also they added a second daily flight to San Jose recently and did so very quietly. Jet Blue is doing quite well out of BDL I wonder if adding LA would help their network? I mean seriously they have no flights to the West coast out of any of the BDL connections. So this means that LAX to BDL could link to Puerto Rico and Florida and Washington DC etc.

OK, so essentially you build down to the S E The only concern there is thats in direct line with runway 19 is it not? Id expect that to be an issue also.... sad news http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/article/20140723/NEWS01/140729976 The Los Angeles flights were operating at about 80 percent capacity, Wallace said, but American wasn't getting a high enough yield per seat to make the flight economical. My wonderment here is as to how you lose money at 80% full. the 737-800 is a 150 seat plane BTW they should be able to sustain that flight and that seems appropriate demand. they must not be getting enough business class bookings I suppose. The AA and US merger must be a major cause also. this 80% number I truly hope could bring in another major airline with maybe some different equipment to make it profitable and something that can grow over time. I know that many business travelers just as well get their driver to bring them to NY or Boston because they end up on better equipment. again I will cite my recent trip to Europe. Out of JFK they put you on a 767 and its just an older tired plane and not nearly as nice as the brand spanking new A-330 out of Boston. When you are spending several hours on a plane and likely sleeping, the equipment goes a LONG way. I do not know what the ideal plane for this flight would be but I am assuming that efficiency is an important factor when margins are limited with low Business class bookings. Also Id then assume that comfort has to play a little larger of a role. while many of the smaller jets have the range, I am not sure the customers whant to sit on a cramped plane for a 6 hour plus flight

I dont see Ryan atlantic happening. we depend so heavily on corporate travel here in HFD, so any trans atlantic would need to be on one of the big alliances if you ask me. As a UTC employee I would not even be allowed to book Ryan Air as its not designated a preferred carrier our 25000 CT employees and countless visitors figure heavily into BDL usage. also... Awesome info man, you clearly know a ton about the industry. post that design will ya I am not quite seeing it looking at google maps

from what I have read, the issue is not just the number of gates. Terminal A is a great terminal for regional jets but it has limitations for larger jets. part of the reason the Terminal B is good for the airport is that is will be capable of handling larger planes more easily such as A 330 B747 and A380 etc. these bigger jets require different sized areas to turn around and taller concourses etc. I dont pretend to know the difference, but since I was on an A330 from Amsterdam to Boston last week, it was obvious to me that I was another 10-15 feet off the ground from when I fly outta BDL Terminal B will also house a proper customs area and likely a Lounge in an effort to help attract and support International business travel. as an FYI... while checking an extra bag the Delta/KLM lady said that the US flights are ALWAYS packed so we would want to get right to the gate. I am wondering why Delta/KLM dont just throw nice 767 at BDL help with the bookings

Not seen any but now I am googling http://www.masslive.com/business-news/index.ssf/2014/02/bradley_airport_officials_see_plans_for.html The demolition will make space for the new ground transportation center, which will have a rental car facility, about 800 public parking spaces — to augment the existing garage’s 3,500 spaces — and a transit center with curbside services for limousines, taxis, and buses and a passenger area and amenities. Shuttle buses would continue to go to and from nearby hotels, valet parking facilities, and outside parking lots. They also will go to and from the Windsor Locks train stop, Bruno said. that article outlines the other stuff too

I am all for Hooker to move downtown but have the same concerns I did at the Front Street location. Breweries are semi industrial uses and I wouldnt want the future built environment her to be negatively affected by a commercial brewery. I truely hope that this announcement catches the attention of the potential bidders though. it is perfect to say... Hey, we are interested, please include us!! The resulting development should absolutely include something like this where the production facility could be a little outta the way and the customer facing side should be front and center. I dont exactly want industrial style loading docks anywhere near an entertainment facility or pedestrian friendly insersection.

The parking component is the most interesting for sure. If the parking charges 7 bucks per game (the same the rock cats do, you are talking about 3000X7 per game 21K per game will add up quickly

Its pretty insane I agree. What defines an entertainment district? I am pretty sure every large town to large caity would need to classify "downtown" as an entertainment district Lot 12 B is decidely in Hartfords downtown. We can call it a new area or whatever but just because its on the otherside of a 150 foot wide divider (I-*84) does not make this a residential area. Hell its smack between XL and the Meadows and then there is Hartford Stage, and I suppose Citysteams Comedy club counts too right? the skate park is entertainment right? West India social club... every city is entertaining

I agree HT Big time goof up here I think of t this way though. they set the bar low people got pissed now they are going to be able to make a bigger announcement and the deal looks better in the end there are people who will always say something about potholes or about giving millionairs money for sports... but when the bigger project comes out many of the other petty squabbles should go away. If 38 million in new city bonding brings a total of $500 million in new development I call that a steal.

HT, I agree with your sentiments in general, but the Grocery store thing was technically killed by that change I would be happy to talk to you off-line with the info regarding my source who is 100% on this development deal. The financing company the loan fund was using has a rule about lending in entertainment districts, so the financing dried up when this became an entertainment district. With the sweetheart financing gone, Shoprite pulled back. Remember it was the grocer that had to be lured to this project with sweetheart financing and grants to solve the food desert thing. Regarding the developer, I bet they are not really done with the idea because they were primarily in it for the housing component and the Hartford apartment market. just the same, the deal kinda dies without a grocery store leasing up all that retail space. The biggest issue here in this thing was the city not talking to the loan fund leaders. I suspect this torpedoed the deal just as much. I hear that Deller is pretty ruthless, but obviously he is pretty effective also. Thats maybe what Hartford needs, but I think he has ruffled feathers. I am confident that this RFP will reap rewards in terms of these developers coming back to the table... IO mean look at it this way You are a major developer and you win the right to put 600 apartments and 100K SF of potentially lucritive real estate along with say 2000 Parking spaces literally in a citys downtown.... this is a 300 million project if its $1 if in order to win the bid, you need a grocery store operator.... well you already know shoprite was interested, so who do you call first...

Im not sure about that 300 housing unit number as a minimum. Based on the associated map, I would sure like to see way more than 300 units in that large of a footprint. Id say there is certainly room for 500 easily

i agree to.... um a degree ryming anyways, I almost think that as these first apartments open they will lease up quite well which will kick off more projects and make Hartford an easier market to get financing in and find investors etc.... so, I dont want get locations to be filled with crap when if maybe they wait a moment they can be filled with something better.. 179 Allyn Street 121 Ann will open pretty soon I bet. Heck 121 must be close When On the plaza opens and when 777 Main start opening units, I think we will really start to see the market respond with new proposals turning into projects

There has been several differend good and bad reads on this subject. the thing thats crazy is that you would think the city was trying to build an 800 Million NFL stadium with the kind of media attention there has been. This is really about changing an already public plan to redevelop the area north of 84 22 million or so is for highway realignment and stuff like sidewalks utilities and screet scaping. If instead we look at this as 38 Million for a stadium and XYZ to support a housing/parking development I think the community might have reacted differently

that post was from December and was about the Clarion AI engineers buileding has its own topic

http://www.courant.com/business/real-estate/hc-development-proposals-hartford-conn-ballpark-20140627,0,6666828.story \ now this.... I repeat THIS is exactly what I was talking about total development might exceed 500,000,000 that seems high, but that fact that they decided to go to an RFP is proof that they have too many interested parties to deal with it directly. this will in all likely hood force some partnerships that will leed to more successful and cohesive developments. This is more likely to resemble what Richmond has proposed and possibly be more impressive

I got some additional info on this supermarket proposal yesterday that might dissapoint some of you... The project was indeed real. there are some hurt feelings now because, again the city was kinda sneeky and too quiet, and ultimately derailed the grocery plan which they were aware of in favor of the sexier baseball stadium. The project had financing, and real financing. so, the issue here was that one of the lenders is an organization that supports projects like this which help fix food deserts. This project would have gone a long way to solve the food desert that is Hartford, and the northers part of Hartford more specifically. So they were backing this big time. part of their policy is a hard and fast rule about loaning money in an entertainment district. with the baseball stadium, this area became an entertainment district therefore making them unable to make the loan. the store was going to be 50,000 SF -I dont care about the size personally because honestly it doesnt take too much space to serve the community if used correctly (not like the Hartford 21 grocer) The apartments.... very much real this is the sad part.... I asked directly to again a person very very much involved... How many apartments? and was it real? the answer... an exasperated "hundreds" "literally hundreds" this made me sad. the developer was a large successful urban developer and was going to bring hundreds of apartments to a long vacant parcel. Now the other issue was that the operator, shoprite had apparently also done urban grocerys and successfully, so it seems thay had a great team. the grocery store though, in my opinion sounded more like it would be a suburban store in an urban setting. that worried me before and still worries me now. The rendering is nice, but do we want a 5 story building covering a huge block in the center (North center) of the city in the long term? I know, 5 stories is not bad, and something is better than nothing, but we do end up really shooting ourselves in the foot when we try and force things to happen rather than just supporting things that are already underway as an example... AI came to town to build a building and the state supported him to a degreee, but they didnt support his grander plan. the 185 unit apartment. so instead he is left struggling with a 40 unit motel. this grocery store was designed and cobbled together will almost entirely public or charitable monies. it was artificially created to a degree. who knows... For me, I will be glad to see a baseball stadium but I expect to get a 30,000 SF grocery store too, located at 1000 Main Street with a large parking garage and 120 or so apartments to me this works. it works especially well if the other lots around the stadium see some development as well Ideally more dense than 5 stories and ideally containing a mix of residential of rent and sale

I think thats a fair assessment of where we are. I know AI is a good dude and he really wants to help Hartford, but he did screw up his timing and he is out 2 mill or so of his own money so the issue is really that he and his company do not have the resources to really build an appropriate building for the location. so they need to settle for an underwhelming projet. I truely wish there was a better option. I want to see AI succeed, yet I want more here than 40 apartments There must be demand for hotel rooms in that location... cant he add like 150 hotel rooms?

Sorry, I seem to have left this bit out... The lot attached to the hotel there will also be part of a larger announcement I would think. this I think would be housing and parking but mist likely be the grocery site. regarding the scale, these are HUGE lots Talcott, I think would be a booring 4-5 story wrapped garage. Basically 1-200 units of housing wrapped around a large parking garage because lets face it, LAZ is a parking guy. The Raddison surface lot would in all likelyhood be a bit taller and again contain the grocery store or at least a large retail component because it would be very visible and I think do well as retail space. again, im thinking 150 housing units and of course more parking than I normally would like. The city hall site with the residential component on the butt ugly block... This is a tough one. Imagine 300K SF 12 story city Hall/Office then parking behind it and mid rise housing wrapping it. these last 2 developments would be on city owned land and Id think announced together as the carrot for the stadium voters etc... the 1000 Main location might be secondary but a little more likely a CRDA project no idea how that data center will be redeveloped but it seems as though it could easily become 100+ apartments and there is room for additional if townhomes are considered

I wanted to start a topic called "Connect-the-dots A-la-La-la" but thats just dumb... anyways This topic may well come the holder for all the rumors, but some need addressing. We have the article about the Downtown North Grocery store being canceled that included a wonky rendering We also had the city study a new City Hall more so, LAZ has closed 1000 Main street to study redevelopment with the city and now today an article about a buyer for the old BOA Data Center next to the stadium.... http://courantblogs.com/ct-real-estate/long-vacant-building-near-planned-hartford-ballpark-has-a-buyer/ So here is the scuttlebutt that is readable in the paper, and in some of those articles, there was mention of up to 10 suiters for the site next to the stadium (Butt Ugly) So let me just lay this out in my connect the dots way.... The city needs economic development to get this Baseball stadium built.... its just a fact they also need to invest to make changes after 30 years of NOTHING! so I dont think they would announce the stadium without some more hidden cards... and I think some are showing 1: LAZ can redevelop 1000 main street into a large parking deck with a significant housing component and some sweet man street retail... the state, through CRDA can help make it happen this helps the stadium and takes 0 dollars from the city this very much helps the area connect over the highway by making the first step towards the North The state has plenty of reasons to work with LAZ on this one 2: New buyer at data center rennovates that building to be literally anything and its a win for the park and it will get funding from every authority. partly because its old and ugly and hard to develop location 3: a buyer/developer is announced for Butt ugly site development connects the North to Trumbull, the state helps a bunch the site is mostly housing but contains one office b uilding that strangely looks alot like a city hall 4: The state buys city hall and donates it to the Wadsworth on condition they invest $XXX and use it as museum space I kiinda sorta feel like this could almost entirely be announced as one massive package I also think that Malloy would likely need to be re-elected to make this possible, or for the state to get financially involved as much as they would like. *edit: I think that this may or may not include a grocery store but I also dont care because I dont like forcing it... if there is demand it will happen

With financing in the bag I bet they just wait to finish of 179 Allyn and see how it rents before starting this. You never know though they may just start it because of market confidence. either way... GREAT news for the city to bag another project fully financed and the fact that its on the edge of downtown is great. this area is becoming more mixed income so adding this apartment will accelerate the gentrification. 80% market rate no mention of unit #s in article but I can only assume its still 114 If we can start to see more developments like this it is the begining of populating the Southern edge of the park. http://www.courant.com/business/real-estate/hc-hartford-conn-apartments-capitol-avenue-20140620,0,1525297.story

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

Hmm interesting. I think it makes sense because it is store frontage but also kind of a shame because those set backs make that street VERY nice. i will have to see when its more complete as to how it affects the area. also, I noticed on Monday evening that they were up 2 floors and I think starting the 3rd from the East. Im sure they are well into the 3rd by now Luca, for retail, I prefer fronting the sidewalk. but I hope they have enough sidewalk space here for outside seating. who knows... the iQuilt future plans though make the entire area a plaza, so I suppose it will remain very nice

the suite is a stupid talking point because like you guys say... its standard for the city to have one. I mean people are really looking for anything. This may become another thread some day but Ill put it here for now http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/article/20140618/NEWS01/140619900 the garage behind 1000 Main Street is closing while LAZ talks with the city about plans to "redevelop the entire block" this was announced the same day that the grocery store article joke came out I am thinking that 1000 Main is the best spot for the Grocery store, a redeveloped garage and a but load of apartments the parking would serve the downtown office workers, the baseball fans, the meadows and excel too i suppose, but more importantly serve the grocery store. additionally the store would be closer to the 2500 downtown residents

good point X2 I read that article and it seemed as though it was a political piece designed to torpedo the stadium and not actually about a real supermarket that would ever happen one funny detail that my wife laughed at was the bit about game day traffic detering customers. it seems, based on that part of the article that the developer expects people to drive to this grocery store as if it were in Glastonbury the operator, shoprite, has a location on the Gbury/EHartford line and Id agree that game day traffic might deter peoplw from shopping in that scenerio, but an urgan grocery store is NOT designed for people to drive to from the burbs and load up a car with food stuffs every week or 2 in cities, people walk or ride to stores and occasionally drive. they typically go several times a week and buy smaller quantities.... they do this because apartments have small fridges and because its convenient to go more frequently when you dont need to mess with cars and parking... stupid stupid stupid "article" one thing I saw in there through was that while they may have lost this long shot deal (which might have cost the city and state more than 60 million) they now have 7-10 developers calling about the site NEXT TO THE STADIUM