Plans to convert two major downtown Hartford buildings into apartments — the former Bank of America tower on Main Street and the old hotel on Constitution Plaza — got a big boost today, winning state approval for funding intended to promote affordable housing.
The redevelopments could add nearly 500 apartments — at least 80 with rents affordable to low- and moderate-income households — to the downtown area, many of them sorely-needed studio and one-bedroom apartments. The hope has long been that with more people living downtown, more shops and businesses would follow, leading to greater vibrancy in the evenings and on weekends.
The former hotel on Constitution Plaza, seen at far right in this 2007 photo, is slated to become apartments. The former Broadcast House in the foreground has since been demolished. Photo by Kenneth R. Gosselin/The Hartford Courant.
“The city desperately needs this type of product,” Jeffrey D. Ravetz, president of New York-based Girona Ventures, a partner in the conversion of the former Sonesta hotel on Constitution Plaza, told me today. “More people don’t live downtown because there aren’t the options.”
The two, high-profile projects in downtown Hartford were among 10 announced today by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy in one component of a sweeping, 10-year, $500 million commitment to create and renovate workforce, supportive and congregate housing statewide.
Both the redevelopment of the former bank tower at 777 Main St. and the hotel qualified for up to $4 million from the Competitive Housing Assistance for Multifamily Properties (CHAMP).
The state subsidy will make it possible, Ravetz said, to convert the old, 12-story hotel — a costly venture in itself — and still keep rents down.
The late 1990s saw a push for more downtown housing, with more than 1,000 apartments added over the next decade, most notably the soaring Hartford 21 tower.
City officials have said the downtown area could absorb as many as another 3,000 residential units in the coming years, including smaller, one-bedroom and studio apartments – for which there are now strong demand and waiting lists.
Thomas Deller, Hartford’s new development director, praised the funding today, telling me he himself was thwarted in his attempt to find an apartment downtown when he recently accepted the post with the city.
Have you had a tough time finding a studio or one-bedroom apartment in downtown Hartford? Tell me about your search.
The $26 million hotel project calls for 199 units, at least 40 of them affordable, with construction beginning early in 2013 and lasting about a year.
The majority of the units will be studios and one-bedroom apartments, with a few two-bedrooms. Sizes will range from 450 square feet for studios to 1,050 square feet for one-bedrooms.
Rents are expected to begin at $700 a month for studios and $1,000 for one-bedroom units, Ravetz said.
The state funding is contingent on the projects putting together complex financing packages, with both expected to include historic tax credits, federal housing funds and support from the city, including property tax abatements.
The former Bank of America tower on Main Street in Hartford could be converted into 286 apartments. Photo by Stephen Dunn/The Hartford Courant.
The $80 million conversion of the 26-story, Main Street tower — vacant for more than a year — calls for 286 studio, one- and two-bedroom units with 35,000 square feet of retail space on street-level.
Fairfield developer Bruce Becker did not immediately return a call and an e-mail today seeking comment on a construction timetable. The former bank tower is owned by Michael Grunberg, who has been open to selling the building.
In addition to the downtown Hartford projects, state funds also were approved for the elderly housing at the M.D. Fox School in Hartford and seven other projects in Bridgeport, Norwalk, Norwich, Guilford and New Haven.
Nick Lundgren, director of housing and community development at the state Department of Economic and Community Development, told me the approvals are consistent with the governor’s vision for creating housing needed to support the state’s job growth.
“It is doing so in a way that catalyzes further development, and creates community in and around these developments,” Lundgren said.
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63 Responses to Downtown Hartford Housing Projects Win State Funding
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The renovation of the BOA tower and the old hotel on Constitution Plz is one of the more fantastic ideas of bringing housing into the city that I’ve heard of; especially since its been a dream of mine to locate into the BOA building. Along with the renovation and housing initiative of the State Treasury building at Bushnell Park (another idea floated around that is doable and I hope comes to fruition) makes for a great beginning on the road back to a sustainable city…one I welcome and hope succeeds.
Stellar idea. Having more residents in that part of downtown would be beneficial.
More of OUR tax money being given away by DANNY BOY. Wake up taxpayers of CT and kick the LIBERAL TAX AND SPEND DEMS OUT IN NOVEMBER or I GUARANTEE YOUR TAXES WILL GO UP BY ANOTHER $2 BILLION NEXT YEAR. It’s in the works
As much as I agree with you on Gov. Malloy, the grossly ineffective Mayor of Stamford elevated to grossly ineffective Governor, these are projects that absolutely make sense. Affordable to moderate priced housing to bring young professionals downtown. Hartford must succeed for the region to succeed. Housing is a critical component.
I commend trying new ideas to mitigate a long slow rot for downtown Hartford…..but I just question the strategy of building more rental apartments downtown and the rest will follow. Affordable housing is so important in a state like CT but to think that low income housing is going to revive the retail possibilities in Hartford may be an overstatement which includes art galleries more culture etc. Additionally, in order to have sustained growth, Hartford should build condo that people purchase rather than rent because with renters come high turnover of people moving out of the city…of course recognizing that the real estate market is extremely soft. Also dont we currently have low to moderate income housing that seems largely vacant on Asylum Street across from the park…so lets add more ????
Im not sure if having more apartments is the key…certainly important but people dont move downtown because of crime, no services e.g. supermarkets, retail chains, art etc. and parking is a fortune when compared to other metro markets in the US. It just doesnt seem like Hartford and the State have a comprehensive plan to revive Hartford as the demographics have changed in the past two decades. Hartford use to offer all the things we long for today. Diversification of the businesses(and thereby attracting a younger demographic) in Hartford would also be a great step in the right direction because the insurance industry employees have families and they wish to raise them outside of Hartford because of poor schools, high taxes. So build away let the state pump more money into downtown and time will be the ultimate litmus test. But given the suburbs have more to offer with less crime….not sure if its going to work especially in a small city of less than 150,000 people. But on the other hand I suppose having a filled building is better than having a vacant building.
Colby,
I understand your concern, but there are a few inaccuracies in your comment that I wanted to address. First, these projects will have an affordable component to them, but largely they will be market rate one and two bedroom apartments whose target audience is the single young professional in their 20s. Out of the 200 units in the hotel building only 40 will be affordable; the rest are market rate. The same ratio holds for the BOA building.
I completely agree with you on the condos – Hartford needs townhouses and condos that people can purchase downtown and in the neighborhoods close to it. Apartments like the ones being built are fine for your mid 20s, but what about late 20s early 30s when you’re young enough to want to live downtown but also want to put down roots?
Finally – the building you mention on Asylum across from Bushnell park is actually pretty full. The street level retail is empty but the apartments themselves have renters.
Agreed on all points! 410 Asylum is a great housing success and an ideal location for a restaurant or shop sometime in the future. Unfortunate how little it is mentioned but it is a magnificent building in a perfect location.
This is great news; however, there would not be the need for a subsidy if downtown Hartford was vibrant.
A new – or dramatically refurbished – XL center (which will attract a broke NHL team from Florida or Long Island), along with a new baseball park (for UCONN and Minor league team)(Rock Cate attract 350k in New Britain), would create a sufficient vibrancy to breathe life into the downtwon. Add an updated trolley (on wheels) system to get around town (e.g. to Bushnell and Mark Twain, and Science Center) and you’ll have a big demand for housing — and no need for public money.
Or, we can spend our tax money to subsidize housing so folks will be willing to live in a rotting city with no pulse.
Thanks Bri for clarifying this…good to hear…but isnt there a building right next to the aparts on Asylum largely vacant….my only real fundamental point is if apartment build outs are what officials think is the fundamental driver in the revitalization of downtown and Hartford as a whole then we have bigger problems. While it is part of the solution until crime is dealt with, poor schools (also historically mismanaged) high property taxes the revitalization puzzle will not be solved. Also I think the riverfront project could have been so much more than it is and that in part would have made consitituiton plaza more viable given its close proximity to the riverfront and could have avoided the current state of constitution plaza, a plaza by the way which was for years the most important area of the city.
Colby,
that building next door you mention is a vacant office building slated for an additional 40 low/mid income housing. So, once they get funding lined up, these two buildings will be effectively the same mix.
I wanted to address something in your first post as well. There is demans to live downtown right now. there are waiting lists, and downtown apartment vacancy is less than 5%
These new apartments will satisfy that demand, but will also bring new customers to as yet unopened business and make the downtown much more vibrant. this vibrancy will therefore create further demand for retail as well as additional housing.
There is proven demand for rental units downtown right now, but as this population grows there will be increased demand for condos. it is the natural progression for downtown residential development where previously none existed.
The first wave is apartments and bars to compliment the daytime eateries and expense account resturants…
the next wave is more apartments, more resturants and some neighborhood/lifestyle type store fronts (the yoga studio, the tea shop/gallary, the movie theater and more grocery type options) We are currently in this phase of development. It is a precarios place to be as there is limited critical mass and the storefronts are not as established as if there were another 1500 downtown residents as evidenced by the grocery closing.
the third phase is really the promised land for Hartford and includes ground up construction of ownership buildings and more permanancy to the storefronts. A grocery store is likely to stick at this point, and more and more “interesting” stores begin to test the waters. most importantly, at this point the downtown becomes self sustaining with stakeholders living downtown and creative types starting new companies. the general vibe helps companies recruit workers, and therefore attracts conmpanies to open offices downtown. Minneapolis is a good example of this stage.
the 4th stage is where Minneapolis will be in say 5 years, or where Toronto was 5 years ago. there is always demand for housing at this point even in recession. examples here would be Portland OR, Seattle WA, San Francisco CA, NYC, Toronto and Vancouver CA, Chicago, Boston, and Washington DC. Miami FL is also now firmly in this category.
baby steps
Great..now the north end is going to be on Main ST…Terrible idea….Hartford is going bye bye
Our office is located next door to this planned monstrosity. Thanks, Danny, for spending my business’ tax dollars to facilitate the poor’s living closer. Nice to know we can look forward to their increased hassling of our employees and customers on the street, more frequent robbing of our cars (parking garages right next door are easy targets!), and generally contributing to the demise of whatever shred of “professional” downtown Hartford remained. Wasn’t it enough to surrender the north and south ends of town to the poor – now they have to come downtown too? Can’t wait for our lease to end so we can get out of this armpit
Nice …
Amazing the negativity in the greater Hartford populace. Its like everyone wants Hartford to fail. And then compound it with GROSS HATRED AND IGNORANCE. So”businessperson”, you assume that the buiding will be occupied by panhandlers and muggers??? Maybe people living downtown create SAFER conditions. You are truly an idiot. I would love to know who you work for, don’t want to do business with companies that employ people like you.
I lived in Stamford and am familiar with Malloy. He has some issues. I also believe he is the best thing to happen to Hartford in a long time. Ct has not had great Governors and Hartford has had its fair share of scumbag mayors. Malloy is a step up. I believe Hartford needs some new businesses downtown before anything else and he is the man to do that. If he fails, good luck.Cause that would mean Hartford is officially finished.
WOW!
thats just absurd!
This is not section 8 housing moving downtown its working class housing that got a boost from the state. even then, its just 40 units, the rest are full rent and will be young professionals. the kind of people you employ, or should employ if you want your company to be around in 20 years.
The reason your employees are hassled and such is the locations of the local bus routes and having many stops in front of the old state house and the gold building.
The residents of 777 Main will not be criminals they will be young professionals mostly. 777 Main will also include some people getting a little break on their rent.(in NYC its called rent control) this will be people such as waiters, bar managers Parking attendants, cooks and store clerks.
these are apartments for people who make 80% of the median household income in Hartford county.
read that again…. not welfare…. 80% of the 2nd richest county in the richest state in the richest country in the world….
The Median household income in Hartford County is something like $67,000. This means these are people are making $53,600 or less. I hardly think a single 24 year old resturant manager making $45,000 is going to make your employees cars less safe.
businessperson…
Hartford is dead. You want to keep it that way so that your boring business can have it’s boring office easily accessible to your ugly mcmansion. You fail to notice that Hartford is crumbling around you because no person or company worth a darn will locate there, and you don’t care as long as your mediocre life keeps moving in it’s mediocre direction. The city needs to get rid of your type and get younger more interesting people to actually live downtown. Right now, you would have to be either really unfortunate or really lame to live downtown. If Malloy can bring people with jobs to live downtown, it will create the feet on the ground that is needed to jumpstart Hartford. People with jobs, that pay rent are not the people you are talking about. Besides being selfish, you are just plain wrong.
>most importantly, at this point the downtown becomes
>self sustaining with stakeholders living downtown and
>creative types starting new companies.
Translation:
U.S. demographics among native born children (you not an adult if you stay on Mommy & Daddy’s insurance policy, right? Because why would an adult depend on someone else?) is changing significantly — with them largely delaying starting families, they want to be located close to bars they can party in every evening.
And of course, employees who have no children are willing to work for less and are less expensive when they do get onto a corporate group health plan…so they can take jobs at corporations unwilling to pay what they paid a decade ago.
This is what’s driving the resurgence in many downtown areas. It is what it is, and hey I’d invest in downtown apartments right now — the trend looks well established for this generation.
Once the kids grow up and start families, my guess is most will return the standard U.S. model and move out the suburbs (hopefully in-filling the existing nearby suburbs instead of further sprawl). They’ll want some lawn, even if it’s a small one, for Dick & Jane to play on. And hopefully a combination of salaries recovering and housing prices declining will once again return those suburbs to affordability for them. People haven’t abandoned the suburban lifestyle, they’re just delaying joining it for about 10-15 years longer then their parents did.
Those prices are still high for “affordable” housing. A single person would still need to work 2 jobs to pay rent and utilities. I dont think this state is even capable at this point of creating housing that is truely affordable and not still overpriced dumps. Buying houses are still out of the question for most non high income people, rents are as much as a mortgage simply because thats what the landlords feel they are entitled to and there are no laws to say they cant charge their whole mortgage for a substandard apartment with no ammenties or included utilites. Why go the route of Florida and have nice apartments with pools etc at prices that people can afford on one job vs having a regular job during the day and working a part time one at night just to survive on what CT views as whats an appropriate price for rent. What kind of a life is that?
“A single person would still need to work 2 jobs to pay rent and utilities.” Seriously?? I can’t imagine anyone not being able to pay $700 or even $1000 rent!!
The fact that you can’t imagine anyone not being able to pay $700-1000 rent isn’t all that shocking considering your first comment. To be honest, I can imagine a very long list of things you can’t imagine. Did it ever occur to you that young professionals who work in the city have other expenses like student loans that would prevent them from being able to afford much more?
they should either seek real employment or remain in the north and south ends where they belong.
I graduated in 2010 and I’m a CPA (again, thanks for asking). Does that qualify as a real job? I’m having a tough time believing someone like you actually owns a business.
Every time you leave a comment you prove what an ignorant, arrogant and out of touch person you are. Just read the stories to yourself please.
Are you kidding me, America and Americans are in Big Trouble, unless you work in the Public Sector or you are one of the One Percent!
Very simple. Hartford is TOO SMALL geographically. As a result, rents will always be too high vs. salaries. All of CT’s central cities are too crowded. Until we solve the problem of RACE in this country, you will NEVER get families to live in central cities, where they are forced to rub elbows with people who are very different from them.
the thing i can LEAST imagine is anyone (young professional or otherwise) even remotely interested in living in this city, much less downtown. in case you haven’t spent time there lately, it is a dead city at best, and a crime-ridden ghetto at worst.
Great restaurants downtown, decent bar/ club scene on the weekends, close proximity to the office to save on gas or get huge mileage reimbursements for travel…sounds really awful. Maybe if you didn’t flee the city in terror at 5 everyday, you’d see something a little different. Is it perfect? Of course not. It needs work. Isn’t that the goal of this project?
hmmm…you must have a really nice employer if they are handing out “mileage reimbursements” – “huge” or otherwise. those of us who actually OWN a business don’t get such a perk. we business owners also don’t get to “flee the city in terror at 5″ or any other time of day. my usual workday ends with me leaving downtown at 10 or 11 pm and i’m sure by then you are tucked away in your cozy bed, or enjoying one of those bars and clubs you mention. this city throws away the tax dollars that we business owners contribute, then we’re supposed to feel good when scofflaws spit on the sidewalk as we walk by, or punks exchange drug signals in broad daylight on main st, or drunks accost women as they walk to their cars in the evening, or crackwhores peddle their “services” as we walk down main st, or malcontents push us as they ride their bikes and skateboards down the middle of the sidewalk, or any number of other personal violations experienced by my colleagues, customer, and me in the past few years. i haven’t seen a policeman walking the beat on main st in my 10 years working downtown every weekday. even when there is violence (flash riots on main st last year), they sit locked in their cars and talk over a loudspeaker while the ghetto dwellers beat and stab each other. spend time working downtown day after day after day, and you’ll soon change your tune.
Well, I certainly can’t knock you on your use of synonyms. Yes, I’m very fortunate to work for a pretty large firm downtown, and travel to my clients is reimbursed. I actually work 70 hour weeks though, thanks for asking. I totally missed the flash riots by the way…such a shame. Anyone else catch those?
Wow businessperson – you sure sound like a barrel of fun.
This website would screen out the words I would like to use to describe you businessperson. The fact that the apartments downtown ARE rented and ARE waitlisted proves there is demand. You obviously dont want to live here so DONT. I appreciate you not being here when I eat in the great restaurants and go to the amazing theaters.
Every plan that envisions success needs a naysayer such as yourself. It’s what drives the people who are involved to give their best using the very same comments you offer to improve upon what is still a great idea – regardless of what one who can only espouse negative ideas believes. Your position will most assuredly be discounted in a few years when life and vibrancy return to the core of this city.
Businessperson,
I couldnt disagree with you more and in fact, my husband and I are so committed to Hartford and the postive things happening there, we’re a getting ready to sell our home in the suburbs for a place in this city you seem to know so little about.
Great things are happening in Hartford and if you can’t see that, then that’s a huge loss for you.
CRIMINAL (not “great”) things are happening in downtown Hartford and if you can’t see that, then YOU haven’t been here lately. Continue deluding yourself. Oh, and enjoy your move. Given your rose-colored glasses, I bet it certainly won’t be located anywhere near downtown.
I’m finding it harder and harder to believe you’ve actually ever seen Hartford…
I’m with JDP01001 – great changes, like this new project, are happening in Hartford and I’m going to do what I can to support that effort. BP, maybe you should consider spending an afternoon enjoying the Wadsworth, or catching a show at TheaterWorks, dine on local produce at Firebox or a delicious cocktail at Salute, plant a tree with Knox Parks or attend an LGH After Hours event. Hartford is alive, well and growing everyday.
nice activities, sure. so you think the addition of hundreds of more ghetto dwellers will enhance these experiences? i doubt it. just going to get less and less safe, unless an actual police presence is established downtown.
I’d hardly call $1,000/ mo. apartments the ghetto…Look, you’re clearly not with this whole project due to some delusion that Hartford is actually more like Gotham City after Bane took over (#popculture). I’ll tell you what: I give you permission to not enjoy any of the wonderful restaurants and bars downtown…more room for the rest of us.
Did you even read the article you are commenting on so frequently? You go ahead and stay in your suburb, you’re negativity and name-calling isn’t what our community needs.
This is fantastic news for Hartford with UConn Hockey joining Hockey east and an AHL team downtown the extra foot traffic is really going to increase the value of having a business downtown and it could invigorate the XL Center which is also in serious need of a State funded face lift. This is the beginning of Hartford returning to being a Major League City. Keep the revitilization going Hartford needs to get busy living instead of busy dying.
pollyanna
UCONN hockey joining hockey east is good news; however, only in so much as it will help force leadership to invest and upgrade XL center (e.g. 185 mil versus 300 + mil for new place). UMASS is a member of hockey east and has an “on campus venue (Mullin center).” They were ranked 10th last year in attendance. BUT THEY ONLY AVERAGED JUST NORTH OF 5,000 fans per game. The AHL draws similar numbers. Plus Calhoun will soon be retiring, and Geno won’t be too far behind. Either we upgrade at 185 million or we die. BTW: this investment will attract an NHL franchise with 100% certainty. The NHL experiment in the south has failed and the teams have already started migrating north again. The Whalers were always in the black and while Hartford is a small city, Connecticut is 3.5 million (3.1 million within an hour of Hartford). High per capita income and good hockey foundation. What i fear is that the leaders believe that UCONN hockey and an AHL franchise will somehow equal a vibrant downtown. They can’t be so delusional can they? Again, i’m optimistic that UCONN hockey will combine with UCONN bball x 2 to force the leadership to step-up on with 185 million for XL center. There will be private partnership on this as well (easily 25% of cost can be passed to private investment; the remainder will be recaptured in tax revenue from having a vibrant downtown).
Please keep up your comments expressing how you feel! Stakeholders need to see all positions!
I’d like to see all positions, but I can’t tolerate hatred, racism, ignorance. Its amazing, I cant believe “businessperson” actually owns a business and rents downtown. He hates it so much please move!!!
mike….you make some interesting points
But lets be clear about some things….the grocery store closed because of its outrageous prices regardless of what income bracket you were in and certainly I would assume having been in the consumer products industry that the low to moderate rents and the people they bring will hardly be able to afford higher food prices etc. I also think it is bit of a phalacy to think that with rentals come condo’s and come businesses. These rental apartments will attract a very migratory crowd and they will later leave Hartford. As for the cities you compare hartford to is like comparing apples and oranges. Minn,Portland, Seattle, Miami….are you kidding these are such larger cities with larger infrastructures. You cant possible compare Hartford with an international city like Miami or Seattle. Also about building more rentals bringing more people downtown and businesses will follow. According to your post there is a waiting list for rentals….what about Hartford 21 and all the people that has brought to downtown…why has that ignited growth of other businesses? And these new rentals why BOA is building is empty, I see office space vacancy at an all time high but will there be any jobs for these people who are coming to live downtown….
Colby, sorry for the late reply, I was out of town…
first, please re read what I wrote, I was comparing further developmental stages that cities experience. I think it was pretty clear that Hartford is not yet at the same stage as Minneapolis, and even more so concerning Seattle.
The grocery store had high prices due to the design of the space… did you ever go in there? it was designed in a way to require an employee to hand you the goods you were after. It was shocking how many employees that place required to operate, and all of those employees are fixed cost and overhead. those costs along with rent are what cause high prices and made the business impossible to operate.
Hartford 21 did bring alot of people downtown. it has high occupancy as well, but it also is the best building downtown, so there are MANY corporate apartments in there that will remain leased out but will only bring minimal foot traffic. I remember seeing a difference right after H-21 opened. there were quite a bit more people especially hanging out at TK after work. That building and resturant are just loaded with Lawyers for some reason. There are also absolutely more storefronts filled than there were before that building opened. and we had a bit of a downturn since 2006
Each of these two buildings will bring more feet on the street than H-21 did. Once they open I guarantee you will see a huge positive impact to the street feel of the city.
as far as the eventual demand for condos, its simple. people who rent places eventually want to own, and we can argue the actual % but a certain% will always want to own wher they were renting or very close by. so as the rental population rises, there will be at least some increase incondo demand… more so if the rental area is fun, hip, cool, or whatever…
Imagine all the pajama people that are now going to be parading around downtown. I don’t care where it is, I would never rent an apartment in a building that has affordable housing aka low income housing as part of the unit mix. Good bye to the little that is left of Downtown Hartford. Hello Bridgeport North.
I’ll say it much more plainly than Todd, you’re a racist
Let me state the obvious…some of the comments are shall we say “cloaked in metaphor” and not specifically germane to the story line but which uses the vision expressed here as a vehicle to express some not so friendly POV’s aimed at some real or imagined members of varying cultures.
As one commentor stated, we leave you to your own devices so that the rest of us can work on living an improved life that’s inclusive while you stay hunched over dead ideas.
My question would be, if the low-income section 8 housing? If so, 40 out of 200 Section 8 apartments is plenty to turn the building into a ghetto house. Haven’t you liberals learned yet from your past mistakes? I lived on a street in East Hartford that has two Section 8 renters, and all of a sudden, everyone’s bikes were missing, it was harder to sell our house, and the police were regular visitors. Hartford isn’t big enough absorb these issues by dilution. We need jobs for the under-educated and the poor…not more low income housing. So again, does low-income mean Section 8?
We have been down this road so many times before. “Affordable housing” simply means that the taxpayer is paying your rent, or some part of it. Think “Section Eight” vouchers. Folks who are paying the full market value for their apartment soon get tired of living next to folks paying little or no rent, and treating their building accordingly. Crack dealers in the stairwell, grafitti in the halls,trash in the elevators, etc… Soon the building is entirely Section Eight – taxpayer provided housing. It always happens; the developers make their money and the middleclass flight to the burbs continues, with a re-stocked supply of housing for the next wave of illegals taking advantafe of “sanctuary city” policies.
Oh my God people, affordable housing is NOT SECTION 8!!!!! Know of what you speak. There are income limits set for certain number of units in each project. They are for working people under a certain income bracket and the brackets are generous. I don’t recall the specific number, but 410 Asylum has some units. Look how happily everyone can coexist when they aren’t hateful bigoted people. Again, you dont want to live here, dont.
does “low income” mean section8?
oh lord, downtown would soon look like the neighbor”hoods.”
“businessperson” is a phony right-wing GOP political hack troll. Ignore him/her/it.
Do any of you actually realize how frankly prejudiced and yes racist you guys sound, not to mention small minded? Yes, CT is a state where most people want their own ranch house in small mostly white town surrounded by woods and chain restaurants, but at least TRY and realize there is a bigger world out there beyond ten minutes from your house no??
I’ve have here for 3 years and it shocks me how many people NEVER EVER go to or have ANY desire to go to Boston or New York…cities are looked down upon here. I hear liking the suburbs, but Berlin and Bristol aren’t exactly centers of culture, no offense to anyone.
Small minded is right! I grew up in Wethersfield and moved to Chicago after college. So I have to laugh every time I hear complaints about the high cost of parking in Hartford or the unbearable commute times. Or even the fear many have of Hartford. So how many suburbanites have been killed on their way to the Wadsworth Athenuem? How many have been mugged before or after visiting the Science Center? Is there a long list of out of town conventioneers that have been killed? I have come back the last two years to run the ING Hartford Marathon and have survived even though I ran down Park Street. I come back every Christmas and attend events and dine in one of Hartford’s many fine restaurants. I must just be lucky because I have missed all the flash mobs! Hartford has a lot to offer and is better off without the likes of businessperson!
Amen!
uh, it’s the business folks who pay the taxes in Hartford. The section 8 renters don’t.
I swear its impossible, I give up. Thanks Mark for a true perspective from former resident who can look at it from both sides. The successes we have are more amazing given the negativity of our own people.
“The city desperately needs this type of product,”
Huh? When you need to subsidize anything, it’s because the market of supply and demand is telling you the opposite.
The funniest thing I’ve seen in Hartford lately is the street signs reminding me to remove all valuables (like the last GPS I had stolen in Hartford). And that was in a “safe” city-owned garage that charges $17 per day.
Last one out, take down the flag and turn off the lights
Mr. Gosselin,
It would have been useful in this article to explain what exactly “affordable” units are. As you can see from the comments there is an extremely high degree of misinformation here. Affordable housing offers a lower rent for certain units based meeting certain income thresholds. Those thresholds are usually high enough that the potential renter must be gainfully employed (the number I’ve heard is between 30-40k)and must be able to prove that to the landlord. Section 8 housing is where the government provides you a voucher to put toward renting an apartment. Twenty to thirty percent of these buildings’ units will be affordable units – saved for individuals whose income (and they must have a certain level of income) is between the stated parameters.
I certainly wouldn’t pay $700.00 monthly for a 450 sq ft studio and then have to pay utilities, parking, exhorbitant car insurance rates (due to location)etc. That’s a rediculous amount of money to live in the downtown area of a city that only has restaurants/bars and minimal amenities.