Hartford 21

STATE AUTHORIZES $30 MILLION FOR THE CIVIC CENTER [STATEWIDE Edition]

Hartford Courant - Hartford, Conn.

Author: MIKE SWIFT

Date: Feb 12, 2000

Start Page: B.1

Section: TOWN NEWS

Text Word Count: 858

Document Text
(Copyright @ The Hartford Courant 2000)

The long-promised rejuvenation of the Hartford Civic Center mall took a giant step Friday when state development officials approved $30 million to convert the troubled mall into a high-rise apartment tower linked to a "town center" development.

Construction is a year away, and the developer still needs to cut complicated deals with the city, current mall-owner Aetna and other state agencies, but Friday's vote by the Capital City Economic Development Authority provides a financial foundation for the $120 million project.

"I think this is an enormous boost. It gives us a great deal of momentum," said Lawrence R. Gottesdiener, chairman and chief executive officer of Northland Investment Corp., the developer. Northland plans to secure $80 million in private financing for the "Two Pillars" project.

The 35-story, 250-apartment tower, one of the "Two Pillars" in the project's centerpiece, would be among the biggest projects in a downtown suddenly crowded with developers racing to build housing for young professionals and empty-nesters.

On Friday alone, CCEDA heard proposals from developers who hope to build or renovate 566 apartment units in or around downtown, including a $40 million, 22-floor apartment tower on Bushnell Park proposed by Konover Investments Corp., and construction of 75 new apartments at the Colt armory complex.

Wednesday, Gov. John G. Rowland in his "State of the State" speech proclaimed that Adriaen's Landing would include "hundreds of housing opportunities to lure young people back to this city." Latest plans for the riverfront project include as many as 400 housing units.

All told, there are proposals to build as many as 1,600 apartments and condominiums in various stages of public discussion, projects that could easily top $300 million in development costs. Downtown had just 975 housing units in 1990; more than 100 have been lost since then.

It's highly unlikely all the proposed housing will be built.

Developers and officials say the rental market could not absorb that many new units in the next few years, and there is not enough public subsidy money available to build everything.

"When we first went out with requests for proposals [for housing proposals], we were like, `My god, is anybody going to submit something?' " said R. Bartley Halloran, chairman of CCEDA. "And then you just get a flood of proposals. We have far more proposals -- and good proposals -- than we have money for."

The $35 million in state money that CCEDA does have to invest in downtown housing is one big reason for the flood of proposals. But developers and state officials say at least three new market studies also show a strong demand for downtown housing.

A resurgence of downtown living is a national phenomenon.

One recent national study found that, out of 21 U.S. cities, all but one expected the number of downtown residents to grow by the year 2010. Aging baby boomers whose children are grown want an alternative to a big house, and younger people are rejecting the Brady Bunch suburban environment their parents embraced in the '60s and '70s, observers say.

Still, to imagine what a "new" Civic Center mall might look like, people should think of West Hartford Center, rather than Boston's Faneuil Hall, Gottesdiener said.

Northland is interested in a mix of restaurants and local shops, including "service retail" such as drugstores, travel agencies and dry cleaners that would be used by residents of the apartment high- rise. Gottesdiener said the space is too small to attract the class of retailers who do business at urban "festival marketplaces" and big regional malls.

Gottesdiener said it's unclear what will happen to the restaurants and shops that remain in the Civic Center. Talks with current tenants are expected to begin soon. The Civic Center coliseum will remain, being the second pillar in the "Two Pillars" plan.

The plan calls for the demolition of the entire southwest section of the mall along Asylum Street to create a public "park" space that would slope up from the corner of Asylum and Ann streets toward Trumbull Street. It could be developed at some point down the line. The apartment tower would feature amenities such as a health club and high-speed Internet access, Northland says.

CCEDA refused to release exact terms of the financing agreement until the document is signed by both sides, but $15 million of the state aid would be a grant. The $15 million balance in subsidy for housing essentially would be a low-interest loan, with Northland liable to repay as much as $20 million to the state through sharing revenues from the project, or if it were to sell the complex in less than 20 years.

The Two Pillars project would receive more than 40 percent of the money CCEDA has for downtown housing, while producing just 25 percent of the 1,000 units the authority is supposed to create downtown.

But Halloran said the CCEDA board decided to provide a greater subsidy because of the timing, size and relative importance of the Civic Center to downtown.

"We want these projects, especially the first ones, to be landmark projects that will be sure of success," he said.

[Illustration]
MAP: 1(B&W); The Hartford Courant; Caption: Hartford housing proposals

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.

Abstract (Document Summary)

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.