Columbus and State Street intersection, The former Channel 3 "Broadcast House" site. Now a vacant lot for several years
Photo from the Hartford Courant article below
The Hartford Courant story below is about a property and its delusional development that I have written about here a few times previously. You can read the Courants story here :http://www.courant.com/real-estate/property-line/hc-constitution-plaza-new-tower-20160125-story.html
Maybe we could at least have local artists design a "Welcome to Hartford " mural for the exposed walls of the vacant lot
8 comments:
How much $$$ did the developer get so far from the city and state for his "promise to build?"
This "developer" goes back to the good old days of Segarra Caviar and Deller The Seller.
I remember this developer presenting his "dog-and-pony" show at P&Z. To Sarah Bronin's credit, she didn't green-light it right away. She made them return at least twice until the specs were more detailed. Unfortunately, it still ended up being a wash.
Now I'd like to know what is going on with the Zaaco Group, from upstate New York. Three sketchy guys showed up at city council three times before the councilors voted on a resolution which ultimately allowed them to buy a "blighted" property on Broad Street, near the corner of Park Street, for $1. Oddly enough, these entrepreneurs/developers had no business cards on any of their visits. They own a business in New York that makes high-end cabinets & countertops. Their plan was to raze the Broad Street property, establish that business on the first floor (in an admittedly low-rent part of town), and develop apartments above. Some concerned citizens vetted the company, and found that Zaaco was on the New York "Developer's Wall of Shame". This information was presented to the council by said citizens, but they okayed the sale anyway. Zaaco also had their eye on the historic flatiron building near the Public Safety complex, which they proposed to renovate with apartments on the upper floors and and an "upscale diner" below. As far as I can tell, that sale is still pending. The did, however, manage to buy a site on Park Street near Broad Street which they said they wanted as a parking lot for the Broad Street apartments.
The bottom line is that today--about 10 months later--nothing has been done with that Broad Street property that they scored for a buck. I suspect that they're waiting to flip it for a lot of money, the same way SINA did with 95 Park Street. The city sold SINA that "blighted" property for $1, and SINA flipped it to Hartford Hospital for a huge sum--in less than 48 hours; money that the city could certainly have used.
Really, does Park & Broad seem like the ideal location for a high-end cabinet/countertop business--especially when there are three established similar businesses in Hartford and West Hartford?
And while we are asking questions, what ever happened to Papa Cloud's development of City property at 101 Pearl Street, the old HPD Academy building, wasn't there a time limit on that for the property to revert to the City if they did nothing? It doesn't look like anything has been done there
That 101 pearl street building just recently had a major flood. The pipes were all stolen. The entire building needs to be over hauled 100 percent. There is no way the city has that extra money to do that. That building should be sold immediately. It has been sitting empty and useless for a decade.
Anonymous at 4:50 pm: The property at 95 Park St. was given to SAMA for $1, and a portion of it was flipped to Hartford Hospital for over 1/2 million dollars. Corrupt councilman Alex Aponte was involved in this dirty deal. However, unlike what you stated, SINA was not involved in this transaction.
Anonymous @10:39 p.m., You are correct. I apologize for my slip.
Don't you worry, anonymous @12:24AM, both SINA and SAMA are corrupt organizations, feeding their executives well and screwing all others, pretending that they're here to help Hartford.
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