Major project in Hartford's ambitious Bushnell South redevelopment falls apart
A rendering of the 233 apartments New Jersey-based The Michaels Organization had planned for a 2.8-acre parking lot south of Hartford’s Bushnell Park.
Unable to make the financing work, the Capital Region Development Authority and a New Jersey developer have broken off a two-year push to redevelop a parking lot near the Bushnell Theater in Hartford into hundreds of apartments and a handful of townhomes mixed with commercial development.
“I think we all just reached a point of recognition this thing needs to go back to the drawing board,” CRDA Executive Director Michael Freimuth told his board during a meeting Thursday.
Freimuth, on Thursday, said The Michaels Organization, the preferred developer for the lot at 165 Capitol Ave., required too much public financing that was out of proportion with other CRDA-supported developments in the area.
After much back and forth and efforts to adjust plans, the company and CRDA agreed to part ways, Freimuth said.
In November 2022, a CRDA-affiliated selection committee picked the Michaels Organization out of four applicants vying for the right to develop the 2.8-acre, state-owned lot at 165 Capitol Ave.
The Michaels Organization, a company operating multifamily housing in 35 states, was selected based on its broad vision for 360 units of multifamily housing mixed with retail space, with an estimated $129.6 million cost.
The developer fine-tuned its plans to 233 apartments and 15 townhomes, along with about 10,000 square feet of commercial development.
The CRDA was expected to provide low-interest gap financing and property tax relief, while steering the project to meet local development guidelines. But on Thursday, Freimuth told his board the size of the CRDA subsidy request was unpalatable.
Now, Freimuth said, CRDA staff and local officials have to adjust their vision to one that is economically viable for the location. That next round of developer selection might also delve deeper into financing plans to determine upfront what subsidies will be needed, he said.
This could also be an opportunity to work in more homeownership opportunities, Freimuth said.
Freimuth also noted that the CRDA might now choose to bundle redevelopment of 165 Capitol Ave., with a 2-acre lot just to its east across West Street.
The CRDA will have to launch a fresh search for a preferred developer, Freimuth said. The Michaels Organization could be among the next round of applicants, he said.
The push to develop the lot at 165 Capitol Ave. is part of a broader effort to redevelop about 20 acres of vacant lots and underused buildings south of Bushnell Park into a neighborhood of about 1,800 residents in multifamily housing, mixed with retail and small park-like spaces. The agency is working with different developers on individual plots to push the larger vision, outlined in a 2021 plan produced by Boston-based architecture firm Goody Clancy.
With development on hold, the CRDA board on Thursday also approved spending $300,000 on repaving the lot, which is heavily used by Bushnell Theater patrons.
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