Hartford 21

36-FLOOR STORY HARTFORD GETTING A `24-HOUR NEIGHBORHOOD'

[5 NORTHWEST CONNECTICUT/SPORTS FINAL Edition] Hartford Courant - Hartford, Conn.

Author: TOM PULEO

Date: Jun 24, 2004

Start Page: A.1

Section: MAIN (A)

Text Word Count: 711

Document Text
(Copyright The Hartford Courant 2004)

Nearly 30 years after it opened, Hartford once again is pinning downtown renaissance hopes on the Civic Center mall.

Only this time, the concrete bunker will get turned inside out in a new design intended to transform downtown's sleepy sidewalks into an outdoor commercial crossroads.

At a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday, the developer even updated the name from "Town Square" to "Hartford 21" to reflect the new century's metropolitan spirit.

"This will be a 24-hour neighborhood," said Lawrence R. Gottesdiener, chairman and chief executive officer of Northland Investment Corp., "a catalyst to make Hartford the place to work and play in the daytime, nighttime, anytime."

Northland's $160 million project, six years in the making, will feature a swanky, 36-story apartment tower that will stand as Hartford's fourth-tallest building and the tallest residential address between New York and Boston.

Retail stores would open onto Trumbull and Asylum streets and plans also call for restaurants, offices and public gathering spots. The project is expected to open in the summer of 2006.

Under abundant sunshine at the Trumbull Street entrance, a parade of top public officials rose under a huge "Hartford 21" banner to proclaim the project's importance.

"It's clearly the one that has the potential to have the greatest impact," said Chuck Sheehan, executive director of the Capital City Economic Development Authority. The authority worked with Northland to put together a complex financing package that includes $61 million of public money in a combination of grants, loans and equity positions.

Because of its central location, Hartford 21 is expected to influence downtown streets more than the new Connecticut Convention Center and Marriott Hotel now rising at the 30-acre Adriaen's Landing parcel just south of the I-84/I-91 interchange.

All of these projects are being developed under the state's $1 billion downtown initiative.

"This project is going to be the envy of everyone in New England," Mayor Eddie Perez exclaimed to about 200 people gathered on both sides of Trumbull Street.

Despite all the fanfare, one big question about the project remains: Who will live there?

Northland intends to lure both young and old people to the 236 luxury apartments -- a "core constituency" of so-called empty nesters and urban professionals, a formula that has helped revive downtowns from Boston to Seattle.

One city resident attending the 11:30 a.m. ceremony questioned the chances for success.

"I'm really concerned about why they're putting apartments in here," said Jay Duran, 69, of Buckingham Street. "You ever been here on a Saturday and Sunday? Not a damn thing is moving in Hartford."

Northland went ahead with the ceremony even though it has not yet closed on all of its private financing. That paperwork is expected to be finalized by Friday.

Northland has staked a lot of money on Hartford's future. In recent years the Boston-based, privately held real estate investment firm has acquired several properties, including: CityPlace II across from the mall on Asylum Street; Trumbull Place across from the mall on Trumbull Street; and the nearby Metro Center.

As the ceremony wound down, an eager Gottesdiener picked up a sledgehammer and prepared to sink it into a hollowed-out section of the mall's base concealed with a few loosely patched bricks.

"I'd like to ask Mayor Perez to join me," the executive exclaimed, his voice deepening in emphasis, "to tear down this mall!"

[Illustration]
PHOTO 1: COLOR PHOTO

2: COLOR, PATRICK RAYCRAFT / THE HARTFORD COURANT PHOTO

3: (B&W), COURANT FILE PHOTO GRAPHIC: (B&W), WES RAND / THE HARTFORD COURANT;

Caption: PHOTO 1:

TAKING AN AX to a second-floor plaster wall at the Hartford Civic Center Wednesday is Laven Smith, 39, of Manafort Bros. in Plainville. Wednesday marked the official start of the "Hartford 21" project, which includes tearing down most of the Civic Center mall.

PHOTO 2:

AT WEDNESDAY'S groundbreaking were, from left, Daniel Ouellette, senior vice president of Citizens Bank of Massachusetts; Chuck Sheehan, executive director of the Capital City Economic Development Authority; state Senate President Pro Tem Kevin Sullivan; and Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez.

PHOTO 3:
THIS VIEW from Ann and Asylum streets in 1974 shows the Hartford Civic Center. The coliseum building, with its original roof, is in the background.

GRAPHIC: Mall Makeover LIBRARY NOTE: This graphic was not available electronically for this database.

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

Abstract (Document Summary)

PHOTO 1: COLOR PHOTO

2: COLOR, PATRICK RAYCRAFT / THE HARTFORD COURANT PHOTO

3: (B&W), COURANT FILE PHOTO GRAPHIC: (B&W), WES RAND / THE HARTFORD COURANT;

PHOTO 1:

PHOTO 2: AT WEDNESDAY'S groundbreaking were, from left, Daniel Ouellette, senior vice president of Citizens Bank of Massachusetts; [Chuck Sheehan], executive director of the Capital City Economic Development Authority; state Senate President Pro Tem Kevin Sullivan; and Hartford Mayor [Eddie Perez].

PHOTO 3:

THIS VIEW from Ann and Asylum streets in 1974 shows the Hartford Civic Center. The coliseum building, with its original roof, is in the background. GRAPHIC: Mall Makeover LIBRARY NOTE: This graphic was not available electronically for this database.

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