[RunD1987]

Nothing against Hartford. Logistically New Haven seems a better location for a Capital city. Wonder why they never kept it as a Capital city.

[Mr_250]

Originally Posted by RunD1987

Nothing against Hartford. Logistically New Haven seems a better location for a Capital city. Wonder why they never kept it as a Capital city.

Hartford at one point in history was very significant because of the manufacturing of guns and other important items. Plus Mark Twain lived there and it's a big tourist draw.

[ayoskillz]

Originally Posted by Mr_250

Hartford at one point in history was very significant because of the manufacturing of guns and other important items. Plus Mark Twain lived there and it's a big tourist draw.

But new haven is more of a tourist destination than hartford. Not saying hartford isnt a nice city but nore people know new haven outside of ct. Actually bridgeport is more known outside of ct than hartford but bpt is known for the wrong reasons

[RunD1987]

Think it be more of a Boston. Has a harbor. Could of had two access points to NY via a ferry or the train. Could of dubbed it the "Gateway of New England".

City could of had a belt way reducing traffic. Probably a trolley. Definitely have room for diverse neighborhoods. Have the shoreline. Could of built a mall and outlet store. Kept the arena and baseball team.

Hartford isn't bad it's just feels away from a lot of places in CT.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

Here is a number that is kind of encouraging:
The downtown Class A office space vacancy rate is 16.8%. It was 26% in 2012. You want it closer to the national average 12% but 16.8% is healthy. 26% is a disaster.

Citations:

This is from last month:
Downtown Hartford To Get Boost From United Bank Headquarters Move - Hartford Courant
This is from 2012:
Greater Hfd. ended '12 with fewer vacancies | HartfordBusiness.com


Until there are some signs of gentrification in the residential housing stock to increase the tax base enough to make city finances viable, I don't have a heck of a lot of enthusiasm. 5,000 child-free office workers living in upscale downtown housing doesn't solve the problem. You need to reclaim the city one block at a time the way it happened in Boston. I remember when the South End was a slum and how it went residential condo in the 1980's. I see 2,500 square foot houses 20 minutes walk from the XL Center selling for $75K. Less than 25% of the housing stock is owner-occupied. Until gentrification starts happening, Hartford will remain an edge city where all the office workers flee to the suburbs at 5pm.

Actually downtown Hartford has added thousands of apartments and they are being rented pretty fast. More are currently being planned. Hartford has one of the tightest rental markets in the country and has had it for a couple of years now. Despite what others here say or think, things are changing and changing for the good. Jay

Hartford's robust apartment market paces healthy CT rental housing | HartfordBusiness.com

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by Raider111

Had to come down 91 through Hartford a few Monday evenings ago. What an epic disaster the traffic was. Had to take some other route, then the Berlin turmpike to get around it all. Can't imagine how people who live in the Hartfod area have to deal with that. Glad I don't live there.

Wait, Hartford is a dying city according to some here. Traffic can't be getting worse. Same for New Haven and Stamford right?

Next year the state will begin service on Hartford's first commuter rail line. That should help a bit with traffic along I-91. Jay

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by JayCT

Actually downtown Hartford has added thousands of apartments and they are being rented pretty fast. More are currently being planned. Hartford has one of the tightest rental markets in the country and has had it for a couple of years now. Despite what others here say or think, things are changing and changing for the good. Jay

Hartford's robust apartment market paces healthy CT rental housing | HartfordBusiness.com

You can walk 20 minutes from downtown Hartford and find lots of vacant apartments. Few people with white collar office tower jobs would want to live there. It's hardly "the tightest rental market in the country". Like I said, 5,000 office workers living downtown in fortress apartment towers isn't critical mass. You don't turn the city around until anything walkable to the downtown office towers is gentrified.

[Henry10]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

That's Dunkin' Donuts Parc. With the letters in "parc" transposed.

I'll take a jelly stick, pleeeeze.

I'm not sure how you achieve critical mass with a Downtown North mixed use space project. The closest thing to it is Baltimore Inner Harbor. That has an MLB ballpark, an NFL team, a top-10 university at Johns Hopkins, it sits on the Northeast Corridor Amtrak line, it has a major hub airport 5 miles away at BWI. To make Downtown North viable, you have to get 10,000 college educated professional/white collar workers to want to live there. If there were high speed rail so you could zip to Manhattan in an hour, maybe.

Hartford is currently 3 hours away from NYC by train. Cutting it down to one hour is an impossibility in the foreseeable future, and a lot thing would have been transformed or transforming for that to happen.

In fact we are seeing it real-time in Stamford.

Rather than Baltimore, I see Hartford to be similar to Albany.

Originally Posted by RunD1987

Think it be more of a Boston. Has a harbor. Could of had two access points to NY via a ferry or the train. Could of dubbed it the "Gateway of New England".

City could of had a belt way reducing traffic. Probably a trolley. Definitely have room for diverse neighborhoods. Have the shoreline. Could of built a mall and outlet store. Kept the arena and baseball team.

Hartford isn't bad it's just feels away from a lot of places in CT.

Not long ago Hartford was the Insurance capitol of the world. Some people say it still is. New Haven is a one-trick pony. Hartford has at least two -- insurance and aerospace. Besides there is no comparison between Bradley and Tweed.

Besides New Haven in NOT centrally located, which is not best suited to State's Govt offices. Not gonna happen.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

You can walk 20 minutes from downtown Hartford and find lots of vacant apartments. Few people with white collar office tower jobs would want to live there. It's hardly "the tightest rental market in the country". Like I said, 5,000 office workers living downtown in fortress apartment towers isn't critical mass. You don't turn the city around until anything walkable to the downtown office towers is gentrified.

You are obviously referring to the North End which is the worst part of the city. There is a reason those units are empty and it has nothing to do with demand. Hartford has a 3.5% vacancy rate which is insane. Anything below 5% is considered full-occupancy. Jay

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by Henry10

Hartford is currently 3 hours away from NYC by train. Cutting it down to one hour is an impossibility in the foreseeable future, and a lot thing would have been transformed or transforming for that to happen.

In fact we are seeing it real-time in Stamford.

Rather than Baltimore, I see Hartford to be similar to Albany.





Not long ago Hartford was the Insurance capitol of the world. Some people say it still is. New Haven is a one-trick pony. Hartford has at least two -- insurance and aerospace. Besides there is no comparison between Bradley and Tweed.

Besides New Haven in NOT centrally located, which is not best suited to State's Govt offices. Not gonna happen.

Hartford still is considered the Insurance Capitol. It has the highest number of Actuaries in the country by far. Jay