St. Paul Travelers

[ctman987]

When was NBC30's station built in West Hartford. It looks very outdated now as I drive by it. Also in a pretty bad location...near the mall and off the interstate....Yuck

[mikel]

When was NBC30's station built in West Hartford. It looks very outdated now as I drive by it. Also in a pretty bad location...near the mall and off the interstate....Yuck

Which is probably why these stations are able to be so far from the city center and the action, the highways. Yes, the highways are STILL killing more of our cities. And we invest so much money into those things, it's like we just cannot stop shooting our feet!

[drc72]

When was NBC30's station built in West Hartford. It looks very outdated now as I drive by it. Also in a pretty bad location...near the mall and off the interstate....Yuck

Channel 30 should snap up the WFSB building. It would be a great location for them, especially with all the the things going on downtown.

[beerbeer]

http://www.courant.com/business/hc-travele...-headlines-home

[uconn99]

http://www.courant.com/business/hc-travele...-headlines-home

This is great news. How many different spots does Travelers have employees at in the city? Wouldn't it be better for them to just build a new office tower so they could keep everyone in one place? I know this is good for the cities vacancy rate but from a business standpoint isn't it kind of foolish to have 5-6 different locations for a company in a city?

[drc72]

Now we just need the name changed from ST. Paul to the Hartford.

[robm324]

Pushing the vacancy rate down from 18 to 13 percent is a big first step.

Travelers has had a lot of positive movement in the past 12 months with the title sponsorship of the GHO, the loss of the "St. Paul" name on the company....could they be positioning themselves for a move of the headquarters to Hartford?

I'm not sure why the Courant used the name St. Paul Travelers....maybe the name change is not official yet. I did hear that the name was changed to just "Travelers" correct? Otherwise I'm going insane....

[Luca Brasi]

Its true - they are dropping "St. Paul's." Its a smart move by the people at St Paul's. They realize the brand recognition that Travelers has and are using it to their advantage.

If I remember correctly, St. Paul's was a smaller company. If so, it makes sense to let Travelers run as is and even move more jobs or corporate headquarters to Hartford where there are FAR more industry skilled workers.

[MadVlad]

Here's the deal as I heard it from a friend who works for Travelers: St Paul was doing poorly and needed a bailout, but Travelers couldn't actually take anyone over due to part of the agreement settled with Citigroup when they split. Bob Lipp and Jay Fishman were both Travelers guys for a long time, and got the scheme together so that it appeared (in all the ways that mattered) that St. Paul was more the acquirer, not the acquiree. They left the "headquarters in St. Paul, but everything basically goes on in Hartford, including most of the decision making. To the point, we already have the headquarters, just not officially.

As far as what buildings they have, as of 2002, they had: the 5 main buildings (including Plaza and the Tower), some in City place, some in 3 State House Square Buildings, Windsor Street, 242 Trumbull, one of the Constitution Plaza buildings (100?), and in the Uniprise building by I-91. They also had 2 buildings on Rt 4 in Farmington (Farm Glen), and one little office by Bradley. Since then, they've split from Citigroup and gotten all changed around so I'm unsure where they have all their people....

[drc72]

Pushing the vacancy rate down from 18 to 13 percent is a big first step.

Travelers has had a lot of positive movement in the past 12 months with the title sponsorship of the GHO, the loss of the "St. Paul" name on the company....could they be positioning themselves for a move of the headquarters to Hartford?

I'm not sure why the Courant used the name St. Paul Travelers....maybe the name change is not official yet. I did hear that the name was changed to just "Travelers" correct? Otherwise I'm going insane....

The vacancy rate dropping, could mean a new tower if trends continue. But I am not holding my breathe quite yet.

[beerbeer]

300,000 square feet of office space with some retail on the ground floor probably translates into a 15-20 floor office tower. Put some condos on top and you could get up to 25 floors.

That is undoubtably what Nitkin was negoiating for Front Street.

[ctman]

Here's the deal as I heard it from a friend who works for Travelers: St Paul was doing poorly and needed a bailout, but Travelers couldn't actually take anyone over due to part of the agreement settled with Citigroup when they split. Bob Lipp and Jay Fishman were both Travelers guys for a long time, and got the scheme together so that it appeared (in all the ways that mattered) that St. Paul was more the acquirer, not the acquiree. They left the "headquarters in St. Paul, but everything basically goes on in Hartford, including most of the decision making. To the point, we already have the headquarters, just not officially.

As far as what buildings they have, as of 2002, they had: the 5 main buildings (including Plaza and the Tower), some in City place, some in 3 State House Square Buildings, Windsor Street, 242 Trumbull, one of the Constitution Plaza buildings (100?), and in the Uniprise building by I-91. They also had 2 buildings on Rt 4 in Farmington (Farm Glen), and one little office by Bradley. Since then, they've split from Citigroup and gotten all changed around so I'm unsure where they have all their people....

after the p&c spinnoff, TL&A occupied the trumbull st office space and cityplace floors 2 - 19 were TL&a also. 242 trumbull is empty and day berry howard is moving in there and metlife is on the floors TLA occupied in cityplace.

[HartfordTycoon]

Here's the deal as I heard it from a friend who works for Travelers: St Paul was doing poorly and needed a bailout, but Travelers couldn't actually take anyone over due to part of the agreement settled with Citigroup when they split. Bob Lipp and Jay Fishman were both Travelers guys for a long time, and got the scheme together so that it appeared (in all the ways that mattered) that St. Paul was more the acquirer, not the acquiree. They left the "headquarters in St. Paul, but everything basically goes on in Hartford, including most of the decision making. To the point, we already have the headquarters, just not officially.

As far as what buildings they have, as of 2002, they had: the 5 main buildings (including Plaza and the Tower), some in City place, some in 3 State House Square Buildings, Windsor Street, 242 Trumbull, one of the Constitution Plaza buildings (100?), and in the Uniprise building by I-91. They also had 2 buildings on Rt 4 in Farmington (Farm Glen), and one little office by Bradley. Since then, they've split from Citigroup and gotten all changed around so I'm unsure where they have all their people....

This is pretty much how it went down. Everything is still run from Hartford. My mother has been there for over 25 years and the unit she leads replaced their counterparts in St. Paul after taking over all of their functions. I have a hunch they will be coming back to Hartford as the evidence seems to be alluding too. Job levels are basically lower than ever for Travelers in St. Paul. The corporate name is still St. Paul Travelers though and they have announced that they won't be changing it at this time. This is most likely a move to keep people in St. Paul calm so they don't get quite as hysterical as they see the first company in MN begining to disintergrate forever. The consumer name that they market is now only The Travelers.

[robm324]

This is pretty much how it went down. Everything is still run from Hartford. My mother has been there for over 25 years and the unit she leads replaced their counterparts in St. Paul after taking over all of their functions. I have a hunch they will be coming back to Hartford as the evidence seems to be alluding too. Job levels are basically lower than ever for Travelers in St. Paul. The corporate name is still St. Paul Travelers though and they have announced that they won't be changing it at this time. This is most likely a move to keep people in St. Paul calm so they don't get quite as hysterical as they see the first company in MN begining to disintergrate forever. The consumer name that they market is now only The Travelers.

Thanks....I get it, for marketing purposes they are "The Travelers", but legally still St. Paul Travelers.

[ctman987]

I know it seems funny to have offices at multiple locations but I would rather keep it that way. Why add more office space because they will just be moving all their operations into a new building and leaving more vacant office space. Also if there are multiple locations I am sure there are people going between the downtown buildings.

The last thing we need is a huge new office building that has its own parking garage and inside food court so employees can drive right in, stay inside for lunch and leave at the end of the day without ever stepping foot downtown.

[HartfordTycoon]

I know it seems funny to have offices at multiple locations but I would rather keep it that way. Why add more office space because they will just be moving all their operations into a new building and leaving more vacant office space. Also if there are multiple locations I am sure there are people going between the downtown buildings.

The last thing we need is a huge new office building that has its own parking garage and inside food court so employees can drive right in, stay inside for lunch and leave at the end of the day without ever stepping foot downtown.

I agree. I like the current set up. It makes for diversity of working environment for Travelers employees and like you said I'm sure it encourages more of them to be kind of Downtown minded so that they do venture out more often.

[jcrc]

Plus if the new owner of Stilts fix the building properly, then it will be a class A office building again.

[MadVlad]

The last thing we need is a huge new office building that has its own parking garage and inside food court so employees can drive right in, stay inside for lunch and leave at the end of the day without ever stepping foot downtown.

Mmmmm, I'll have to disagree on this one. Evn with food courts or an interior cafeteria, people still leave for lunch. When I was in Travelers, I would leave the building 4 out of every 5 days for lunch (usually the chicken man in State House Square Courtyard). Sometimes, I'd get something from the cafeteria, then still go out for something else later. It just gives people some more options, but it won't really stop people from doing something new. I think a new office tower could really be good for the city. It's a buzz factor, it's showing that things are finally really turned around, and it gets the competition going so the other building owners get their acts together to rent their spot (see Stilts).

[HartfordTycoon]

Mmmmm, I'll have to disagree on this one. Evn with food courts or an interior cafeteria, people still leave for lunch. When I was in Travelers, I would leave the building 4 out of every 5 days for lunch (usually the chicken man in State House Square Courtyard). Sometimes, I'd get something from the cafeteria, then still go out for something else later. It just gives people some more options, but it won't really stop people from doing something new. I think a new office tower could really be good for the city. It's a buzz factor, it's showing that things are finally really turned around, and it gets the competition going so the other building owners get their acts together to rent their spot (see Stilts).

Well, I do totally agree that we could use the buzz factor a new office building would generate. I also like what's already there being properly utilized finally and hope this will create market demand for new office construction Downtown. They are still building new office space in the burbs.....

[Bill Mocarsky]

I know it seems funny to have offices at multiple locations but I would rather keep it that way. Why add more office space because they will just be moving all their operations into a new building and leaving more vacant office space. Also if there are multiple locations I am sure there are people going between the downtown buildings.

The last thing we need is a huge new office building that has its own parking garage and inside food court so employees can drive right in, stay inside for lunch and leave at the end of the day without ever stepping foot downtown.

I think Grove Street (pedestrian only) would make a great focal point for the surrounding buildings. It would also provide a link between Main Street and the Marriott. A skylight spanning the buildings could protect the street from the elements. Below are some pictures I found on the web for inspiration.

The Galleria in Milan

Cafes on the walkway in Melbourne

Cafes on the walkway in Melbourne

Edit: If the pictures don't show, you can view them and others HERE

[beerbeer]

Bill,

I think this is one of your best ideas.

[Bill Mocarsky]

Bill,

I think this is one of your best ideas.

Thanks beerbeer.

I wish we could get the ear of Travelers.

[mikel]

I think Grove Street (pedestrian only) would make a great focal point for the surrounding buildings. It would also provide a link between Main Street and the Marriott. A skylight spanning the buildings could protect the street from the elements. Below are some pictures I found on the web for inspiration.

The Galleria in Milan

Cafes on the walkway in Melbourne

Cafes on the walkway in Melbourne

Edit: If the pictures don't show, you can view them and others HERE

I really like the idea, the street would be perfect for this. The only thing is I don't necessarily think its essential to cover it.

[jcrc]

I think two or three years ago Pratt Street was closed off to cars from 11 am to 2 pm during the summer months with very much the same concept. I just spoke with Art's Concil about starting that again.

[Theophrastus Bombastus]

I think you should try to submit a formal proposal to Travelers. Also, if you are going to cover Grove St. why not cover Pratt St too? A year round outdoor venue would be awesome (no cars allowed of course!)