Luca Brasi

While Im sure nothing will happen here for years and we are a long way off from apartments actually getting built, this is very positive. http://www.courant.com/business/hc-constitution-plaza-hotel-0201-20110131,0,3985007.story

"Also, did you see Dennis House's blog where he mentioned lowering a portion of I 91 and creating a contiguous zone for development from Adriaen's Landing to Coltsville? That would truly be epic. A national park a short walk away from our Convention Center? It could happen. There is a possibility that Adriaen’s Landing could expand eastward. On Face the State last year, Congressman John Larson said if Coltsville becomes a National Park (and he thinks it will) he will propose legislation lowering the stretch of Interstate 91 from the Colt Armory all the way to Interstate 91. That would free up acres of land for development east of the Convention Center, Science Center and Marriott. " Do they mean lowering the highway to street level? How would that free up land? They don't mean underground, do they? The Park River makes that impossible. Do they mean more platforms over the highway? Not sure I understand this...

I have to say this is very promising... Its something unique to the Hartford area and its something designed to draw in people with disposable income. Not so sure I like the idea of the theater taking up practically the entire Phase 1 (diversity is needed), but this is a great anchor tenant to have. This type of venue will draw people all week and hopefully make it easier for other tenants to now commit.

Unfortunately I think a lot of things are working against this project. Personally I think it was a huge mistake not including apartments in this development. I liked the original plan in which the retail was below 3 floors of walk-up apartments. Just having the residential brings SOME activity for when conventions are not happening. I also think most of the conventions booked are daytime type meetings with no overnight stay which sevely limits how successful a restaurant or bar can be. And lastly... which isn't brought up here often enough and I think the biggest deterent... Hartford is without a doubt the worst place to open a small business in the area. Property taxes, high real estate taxes, a hostile city government, etc. make Hartford a very unattractive place to take a risk. The reality is there are competing areas outside Hartford that are much less risky and much more attractive to bet your life savings on.

Remember Painter's idea for a "College Park" a couple years ago in this area? It seems the UConn idea is kind of along the same lines... http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.php?/topic/1447-college-park-downtown-hartford/page__p__1077673__hl__rensselaer__fromsearch__1&#entry1077673 Please keep in mind this is only in discussion right now, but it makes sense. EDIT: WOW! Hard to believe that thread was from 2003!

Yes they are in the know and very influential people in the Hartford business community. The idea under consideration is to move the medical and dental schools downtown freeing up space for John Dempsey to add the beds it needs. The health center would get the space it needs to expand both its care and research facilities and UConn would get a brand new educational facility close to two major hospitals. It makes sense that the students would now live downtown and be much closer to the industry they are studying much like the UConn Business School and the future St. Joseph's School of Pharmacy. I guess that Capital Community College has a very good nursing program which would only get better with UConn practically next door. Students would then live downtown instead of out in Farmington where most live now. A move like this makes sense all around, would be less expensive and would tie in a lot of advantages for both students and UConn. Bob Painter is behind this. He is a former member of City Council, a surgeon at St. Francis and teaches surgery at UConn. Hopefully, people will listen to someone who seems to know more about this than just about anyone.

I heard from some people that the idea being kicked around now is to leave John Dempsey in Farmington as a hospital and build a new UConn medical school downtown just north of 84. All educational facilities would move downtown giving students easy access to both Hartford Hospital and St. Francis. In my opinion, that is by far the best and most reasonable scenario I have heard yet. That would be HUGE for downtown. Lets hope it gets further than just talk.

Its a done deal from what I was told by someone ion the industry a couple months ago. If that is accurate, Iook for it to happen later this year.

"Marie has also warned that if the busway plan is halted, Connecticut would have to repay nearly $50 million in federal money that has already been spent on engineering studies, designs and consultants' fees." How on earth is it possible that the state has already spent $50 million on this?! On studies and designs??? You have got to be kidding....

Can anyone tell us who prospective tenants are? I haven't heard anything about ESPN in a while.. are they still part of this?

This is very disappointing. With the one story buildings, the abscence of residential and the whole "phase 2" BS, this project has become a mere shadow of what it was supposed to be which leads me to believe it will have a shadow of an impact with downtown. 1,000 new apartments downtown will not create a lively downtown streetscape. You are going to need at least 10,000 people living downtown. This was a golden opportunity to add to the existing number of residential units downtown that has been completely blown. I hate to say it, but unless there is a large convention in town, the Front St. area is going to be a tough draw to consumers. Look no further than Blue Back Square and the recipe there. If the developer was unable to secure financing for say... 8-10 story buildings with loft style apartments/condos above... the state should have financed it. They have as much at stake here as anyone.

Seems to me Nitkin is looking to put up as little as possible of his own cash while getting the biggest possible return while the city gets no bang for their buck. There was a time when The Atheneum, ESPN and Brooks Brothers were all committed to this project. Seems like a smaller boutique hotel with retail at the ground floor would work well in this spot too since we are always hearing about a shortage of hotel rooms being the biggest obstacle to drawing conventions. The convention center has been open 3+ years now and I have to believe that having no amenities to offer convention goers has to hamper marketing efforts for the CC. This project is now a mere shadow of what was first envisioned for this site over 10 years ago. You would think someone would have gotten it right in that amount of time. Its shameful.

How did I know this would happen? As soon as I saw examples of Nitkin's prior strip mall work, I knew we were in trouble. Its hard to imagine that Casden Properties was dumped as developer years ago because their plan included TOO MUCH housing. Now this is what we are left with. As soon as the state stepped out of the Front. St. project, things deteriorated quickly.

The idea of recreating Front St's Little Italy was floated a couple of years ago by Nitkin. I don't know that its still being talked about. I can only imagine that the businesses on Franklin Ave. all own their own property and weren't interested in moving or opening another location a few miles away that would compete with their existing business. Regardless, I thought it was a great idea.

They were committed to Front St... through 3 developers and about 7-8 years. It always seems that things progress at a snail's pace in this city and a lot changes in 10 YEARS. If they indeed aren't committed to it anymore (I haven't heard their name mentioned with this project in a couple years now), its a shame because it would be a huge first step and a great tourist draw to Front St.

Wow. Dagny's. I used to go there every weekend when I was a student at U of H. I am amazed someone else remembers!

If I'm not mistaken, Nitkin has missed his deadline. He has also reduced the scope of the project and broken it into "Phase I" and "Phase II." The city can take this project away from him for breach of contract, and give it to Northland under the conditions that Northland develop it at its original size and all at once. I agreed two years ago that it wouldn't be a good thing if Northland controlled too much of downtown development but now I feel like they are the only ones interested who can get this done. It is a joke how long this development has been kicked around considering how much the state has contributed.

It would seem to me that taking more vehicles off the road would have a much more postive impact on the environment than NOT building a track adjacent to an existing track. This all seems so stupid. It is absurd how much talk there is in this area as opposed to action regarding mass transit.

Its on the corner of Trumbull and Church

There was an article in the Advocate regarding what I had posted a couple months back. The people behind Crobar nightclubs (NYC, Miami, Chicago, Buenos Aires) are putting a restaurant/club in Hartford 21.

The design is done, but from what I'm hearing, they can't get a deal worked out but are still working on it. The rent is an issue.

Coach's was actually sold to the group that operates the Black Bear Saloon in other locations throughout Connecticut. It will reopen after renovations as a Black Bear Saloon.

Not Jet. I probably shouldnt say anything else until they have a deal closed. I understand they are very close.

Hahahaha... Huge club/restaurant by a well known name from Miami and New York.

The old Hartford "Phase 1 and Phase 2" story.... If construction costs are up and prohibiting the development of Front St, why are other developers moving forward with projects all over the northeast? And without the subsidies Nitkin is receiving?