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Dreams For DoNo: Vision For A New Urban

Neighborhood

In Hartford, Restitching The Ties That I-84 Tore Asunderb'*3'(; 7G> 7?"8f4; `SEESZ[ YJ da##S0@E> L2.,,1&$*g6.3('*)J6.%> Z


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owned by the city. The area covers a broad swath, stretching from the newly renamed RadissonHotel on Morgan Street west to the city's new public safety complex on High Street. It includes a

portion of Ann Uccello Street, formerly Ann Street until it was renamed in honor of the formermayor.

The vision is certainly ambitious, estimated to cost $325 million with construction in phases overa decade or more. The city estimates that it could eventually reap $7 million annually in much-needed property taxes .

Right now, DoNo is just a vision outlined in a soon-to-be released city report. The tough workwould then begin: finding developers, holding hearings and lining up financing and, probably,

public subsidies.

I-84 Not Only Obstacle

The struggle to reverse the effects of the 1960s urban renewal-era highway construction is hardly

new and is being confronted by cities elsewhere in Connecticut.

In New Haven, the Route 34 connector, which wiped out an entire neighborhood, is goingunderground with new buildings constructed over it to reunite the city.

On a smaller scale, New London's Hodges Square long separated from city's downtown byhighway overpasses plans improvements to attract more visitors and revitalize the area.

Hartford has been studying the DoNo area since 2008 and bore down on those efforts last year.Housing would be a key component, with more than 800 apartments and townhouses envisioned,

the city hoping to tap into a trend nationally of people wanting to live in the cities.

DoNo faces considerable obstacles, including I-84 itself. The stretch of Main Street that runs inthe area of the highway is among the least pedestrian-friendly in the city, yet it is a crucial link toDoNo.

The vision also could generate some push-back.

Some are already saying that planning should include a possible location for a new sports arenashould the XL Center need to be replaced in the next decade.

Some also wonder if the city is economically ready for a development of this size and scale.

"The biggest challenge is, downtown is kind of a soft market," said Donald J. Poland, senior vice president of urban planning at commercial real estate service firm Goman + York in EastHartford.


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High office vacancy rates, difficulties attracting private investment and the need for publicsubsidies to get development moving are all struggles downtown Hartford has faced in recentyears, Poland said.

Certainly, conditions have improved , Poland said, and downtown is clearly healthier than it

was a decade ago. But downtown still has a ways to go and it remains hampered by modest jobgrowth.

"Until you have a strong kind of downtown market to attract investment, it's going to be kind ofhard to attract investment in the area north," Poland said. 'It's not impossible, but it is going to bea challenge."

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In the 1880s, the area now christened DoNo was a fashionable address for some of the city'smost prominent families. But by the early 1900s, the neighborhood was already changing as the

wealthy moved, building expansive mansions in the city's West End. The area morphed into acommercial district with a heavy concentration of housing for the working class , manyemployed in factories along Homestead Avenue.

The prospect of a highway, first known as the "East-West Highway," that would cut through thecity was raised as early as the 1940s. In 1955, The Courant reported that there was concern"among businessmen along that part of Main Street that a bridged highway will act as a barrierdiscouraging shoppers from spreading northward up the street."

Turns out they were right.

"We built interstates in all sort of cities and they destroyed urban neighborhoods," said AndrewWalsh, a professor of urban history at Trinity College in Hartford. "Zones were made thatcouldn't be crossed easily . It was hard to reach these areas psychologically."

Case in point: Main Street's H.B. Davis building, which landed on the north side of the highway.Once home to a thriving department store, the building survived the demolition of all of itsneighboring structures but sank into a slow, painful decline. The structure's physical disrepaireventually earned it the dubious moniker of "Butt-Ugly Building," and the city finally tore itdown in 2010.

Walsh is quick to point out that it wasn't just the highway that led to the downward spiral.There were broad socio-economic factors: the riots of the late 1960s, the flight to the suburbs, aconcentration of poverty, and ever-growing automobile traffic.

The rise of the suburban office park in the 1970s led the city to designate the DoNo area as akind of urban office park. Two data processing centers were built as well as the HartfordGraduate Center, now Rensselaer, but the success was mixed.


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In recent years, the city invested $77 million in a new public safety complex on High Street, onthe outskirts of DoNo, and the nationally recognized Capital Preparatory Magnet Schoolmoved into renovated space on Main Street.

The city had hoped the University of Connecticut would establish its downtown Hartford campus

at the corner of Main and Talcott street, a location that would have provided another potent boostfor DoNo. But UConn backed the old Hartford Times building near the Front Streetentertainment district instead.

UConn President Susan Herbst told NPR that the university preferred an established area and nota "frontier."

Housing Is Key

The centerpiece of DoNo is housing over street-level retail and would come on top of effortsalready in motion downtown. Four projects, totaling $30 million in public investment , are now

underway and, if completed, would add 400 apartments in the next two years. An additional 600are on the drawing boards.

While vacancies at downtown apartment complexes such as Hartford 21, Trumbull on the Park,and others are said to be in the low single-digits, the market for the next wave of construction isas yet untested.

"The city needs a plan for that area," Poland, the urban planner, said. "But we have to be cautiousgoing forward and be realistic about the market demand and what can be supported there."

Poland said Hartford also faces competitive pressures in the apartment market from thesurrounding suburbs that a city like New Haven, which has experienced a surge in renter interest,does not. The immediate area around New Haven doesn't have a suburb like West Hartford thathas the power to draw prospective tenants .

"For Hartford, there are other options, with West Hartford being key here," Poland said. "I don'tsee a comparable competitor to New Haven."

Deller said the number of apartments now envisioned isn't unreasonable, given currentvacancies.

"We breaking this into phases," Deller said. "It's not all at once. There's no reason this couldn'thappen in a five- to 10-year period."

Concerns about pedestrians crossing Main Street over I-84 haven't changed much since theywere first expressed in the 1950s.

"The pedestrian needs to get higher priority," Deller said. "These roads were built for cars 'Let's get people in and out' and not for pedestrians."


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The vision for DoNo does not contemplate narrowing roads, but it does reconfigure them.Landscaped boulevards, bike lanes and on-street parking would be added to encourage foottraffic. The intersection of Main and Trumbull now the epicenter of a "no-man's land" could become a town center.

"We have to think how can a person walk and feel comfortable," Deller said.


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In Minor -League Cities, Stadium Use Key ToJob Creation

By STEVEN GOODE, [email protected] The Hartford Courant

12:43 p.m. EDT, June 16, 2014

HARTFORD On summer nights, fans in Fort Wayne, Ind., flock to the city's ballpark towatch the Single A TinCaps play. But it's the year-round use of the publicly financed stadiumthat has generated 600 part-time jobs, helped revitalize downtown, and could provide a blueprintfor Hartford's future as a minor-league baseball city.

When Hartford officials announced the potential move of the New Britain Rock Cats to a $60million park north of downtown, the projected creation of the equivalent of 650 full-time jobs

drew strong skepticism. Hartford officials and a city consultant said the key to those jobs will bekeeping the park in use throughout the year with lots of concerts and other events, just as FortWayne has.

"That's the number of jobs that will have to be filled," said the consultant, Jason Thompson, avice president at the Brailsford & Dunlavey management firm.

Of five minor league franchises surveyed by the Courant, two said they use their stadiums allyear. In addition to Fort Wayne, the Birmingham Barons opened a year-round downtown

ballpark in 2013. In the other cities, the stadiums are used only for baseball and generate 20-30full-time jobs and 150-200 part-time seasonal jobs.

In Hartford, where the plan still needs city council approval, officials envision their ballpark as ayear-round entertainment center, hosting concerts and performances, university and communityevents, ice-skating and hockey, trade shows, food and beverage festivals and corporate events.

"Brand new, successful ballparks operate this way," Thompson said.

Thompson, whose Washington, D.C.-based company has consulted on dozens of minor-leaguestadium projects, said his projections include 35-40 full-time positions for the baseball team,including ticket sales, public relations, marketing, grounds crew and concessions.

If the park attracted events all year, 600-700 part-time positions would be needed, he said.

After the stadium opens projected to be in 2016 businesses nearby would need to hiremore people to handle extra hotel, restaurant and bar visits, Thompson said.


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When Birmingham opened its new park, the team's full-time staff grew from a dozen to 25 andthe part-time staff more than doubled. On game days 200 to 300 people are working in the park,and 100 to 175 work at non-baseball events, said Barons general manager Jonathan Nelson,adding that they expect to increase that number as they bring in more events.

Nelson said there was skepticism that the ballpark would bring people downtown or change the perception that it was unsafe. The team drew 400,000 fans last year and construction of anapartment complex just beyond center field will begin next month.

"We're generating civic pride and excitement," he said, adding that when he walks around the park, he often hears people say, "I can't believe I'm in Birmingham."

Dan O'Connell, president and CEO of Visit Fort Wayne, said the TinCaps ballpark, which was built five miles from an old park in 2009, has made a difference in revitalizing downtown andattracting groups to the city's convention center, which does about 50 conventions a year forgroups of 500 to 2,000 people.

"We don't get a convention that doesn't ask about ballgames and other events," O'Connell said."It's a heck of a lot more than a ballpark."

A $100 million private/public project that includes a five-story parking garage, five-story officetower and 13-story residential building with townhouses, apartments and condominiums is also

planned largely as a result of having the stadium downtown, said Greg Leatherman, FortWayne's director of community development.

As part of the move, the stadium went from being used 70 times a year for games to about 600times a year for events that include concerts, weddings, receptions, corporate gatherings, beer

expos and more. As a result, the full-time, year-round staff nearly tripled from a dozen to 30 andthe number of people working part-time grew from about 150 to nearly 600, according to team president Mike Nutter.

"In our case, it's light years," Nutter said of the change between the old baseball-only model tothe new multi-use model that he estimated attracted more than 90,000 people to the park last yearfor non-baseball events.

Experts who study the relationship between sports stadiums and economic development havesaid some of Hartford's projections are inflated.

"Certainly 600 seems way out of the ballpark," said Nola Agha, an assistant professor of sportsmanagement for the University of San Francisco. "You're never going to get close to that 600number in reality.

Leatherman also cautioned that Fort Wayne spent years on financial and infrastructure planningin advance of the team's move.


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Problems With New Britain Stadium Put

Solomon On The Move

Jeff Jacobs8:58 p.m. EDT, June 13, 2014

Rock Cats owner Josh Solomon doesn't like being called a liar. Nobody likes being called a liar.And that's probably as good a place as any to start.

Solomon, who has reached a tentative deal to move the Double A baseball team 13 miles from New Britain to Hartford in 2016, said Friday he regrets not reaching out to New Britain MayorErin Stewart sooner than he did. He said he wishes that in the bustle of an outdoor newsconference at Hartford City Hall on June 4 that he had given people more insight into his love of

baseball and how a 25-year lease shows exactly how committed he is to the overall growth of theCapital Region.

Yet there were two things Solomon isn't backing down on: He does not apologize for bringinghis father, Art, into discussions with Hartford leaders. And he said Friday that when he

purchased the team with his two siblings he meant every word of this in March 2012: "This is anideal location. We're absolutely committed to New Britain. When you look at what these ownershave done here this franchise is a gem."

"With Rock Cats Move, Truth Strikes Out"

And this in the New Haven Register:

"Rock Cats owner breaks promise made when team was bought"

What if it's more complicated than liar, liar, pants on fire? What if the field conditions at NewBritain Stadium played a substantial role in Solomon's thought process in the succeedingmonths? What if an ankle injury to a Red Sox prospect named Jackie Bradley Jr. in late Augustof 2012 was involved, too? Would you be more open to debate?

With a season and a half still to play at New Britain and enough hard feelings over the move,Solomon said he wanted to steer clear last week from heaping anything negative on the city left

behind. Then he got called a liar and a bunch of other unpleasant things.

"Absolutely, we were fully committed to staying in New Britain," Solomon said. "But in the firstyear of ownership, there was a whole host of things I hadn't really known about that popped up.


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And still we were fully committed to completing the duration of our lease, four years, through2015.

"Our fans are tremendous, and I have nothing bad to say about New Britain. We had issues withthe field and that is something I didn't want to get into last week. I wanted to be positive. There

was a number of communications that took place where the field was not kept to a standardnecessary to have a professional baseball team there. That was communicated to me on a numberof occasions by minor league baseball. We even had a Red Sox prospect get hurt at the stadiumand it hadn't rained, because of the way the field had been kept. We have worked with [the city]to get this resolved, but really to no avail."

Solomon said he could not recall the exact date he first reached out to Hartford officials, but TheCourant, through more than 300 emails obtained by a Freedom of Information Act request,indicates an initial meeting in late November 2012. Mayor Pedro Segarra talked last week about18 months of negotiations. The timeline of Solomon's remarks Friday lines up.

Reports of Portland's 4-3 victory over New Britain Aug. 21, 2012, showed Bradley, now with theRed Sox, slipped trying to get back to second base. An ankle injury turned out to be not asserious as first feared, but it's worth noting in the account in the Portland Press Herald, "thegrounds crew spent the next 22 minutes spreading an absorbent over the infield, although ithasn't rained in days."

On Friday, The Courant obtained correspondence from Eastern League president Joe McEacharnthat showed twice over a period of five years he urged New Britain officials and the Rock Cats toimprove the quality of their field. In January 2007, McEacharn wrote to then-Mayor Timothy

Stewart, the current mayor's father, that the "condition of the turf, drainage and slope have alldeteriorated to the point where both short and long-term solutions are needed." McEacharn wrotethat he had received numerous expressions of concern from several league sources, including

players and umpires, about the field conditions. In September 2012 not long after the Bradleyinjury McEacharn wrote to the Rock Cats that, on behalf of minor league baseball and majorleague partners, he had urged the city to allow the team to take over maintenance of the field toensure the safety of the players.

When he purchased the team, Solomon said he wasn't aware of the seriousness of the field problems.

"Once we started having issues, I started getting communications from people who had beenaround a lot longer than I have. This has been an issue the team had been struggling with foryears," Solomon said.


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Asked if he feels the field is still not in good enough condition, Solomon answered, "Absolutely,it isn't."

In the previous five years, the Rock Cats lost more dates (27) than any team in the EasternLeague, about twice as many as half the league's teams.

"We've lost games because the field and its drainage are not up to par," Solomon said.

Solomon said the situation where a $30,000 a year payment to Berlin in lieu of taxes jumped to$300,000 and subsequently was negotiated down to $164,000 played only a "small part in thestory."

"The parking [all the revenue goes to the city of New Britain] is incredibly difficult," Solomonsaid. "If you get there early, it is great, it's fantastic. If you don't, you can end up waiting in thatline to get in for a half hour. I have four children. I'm never on time for anything. I've sat in thecar for a half hour to get into the stadium."

The $60 million deal to build a stadium and bring the Rock Cats has brought extraordinaryattention, much of it negative, and there are so many tentacles to it. It still needs city councilapproval, although Segarra has said he is confident it is a done deal. That's certainly debatable. Ihave voiced my strong support for baseball downtown and what so many warm-weather datescan mean for the vibrancy of a city. I also stressed that while it is impossible to assign an exactdollar amount to its overall impact, the ability to make good on the annual debt service mustmake some sense. I also doggedly have been on Solomon to talk more. Friday, he did.

Because his father owns two minor league teams, including the New Hampshire Fisher Cats,

some critics suggested that maybe this was all Daddy's show. Seeing that Josh Solomon is co-founder of the DSF Group, a real estate investment firm that oversees $1.6 billion in commercialreal estate investments, that's a sketchy accusation.

"It my sister's, my brother's and my money," Solomon said. "I love my father as I do my motherand will continue to get advice and guidance from them on business, family life, all things. Ilisten to my father on baseball. He has a lot more experience than I do. I make no apology forthat."

He did apologize for one thing.

"If I had to do it over again, I would have reached out to the mayor [Stewart] earlier," Solomonsaid. "And for that I am sorry."

That doesn't mean Solomon intended to re-open negotiations with New Britain.

"I wasn't going to pit one against the other at all like that," Solomon said.


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In February 2012, The Courant reported that the former owners needed an assurance that theteam would remain in New Britain. In recent days, The Courant has substantiated that ColemanLevy and Bill Dowling had conversations with Hartford officials about potential for a teamdowntown. So maybe Solomon's pants aren't on fire as much as some with matches would like.

"The commitment for us to go from paying approximately $100,000 to $500,000-plus a year, wedon't take that lightly," Solomon said. "We have done significant due diligence. We are fullycommitted. Just as we are in New Britain, we will be in Hartford for the full life of the lease, 25years at least.

"Absolutely, I believe this is going to happen," Solomon said. "The shock of it, I think spookedsome people. But I am incredibly optimistic about the deal."


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Potential 'Ga me -Changer' A Risk WorthTaking

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If this were to happen, perhaps the cycle cited above might be broken or at least stalled enoughto allow other positive efforts to improve Hartford's image to kick in.

It is often said that perception is reality. Hartford's future reality is very much tied to today's perceptions. The new baseball stadium is not a magic bullet. In the short term, however, it will

create positive energy for Hartford and, in the long term, could be an integral part of new, vibrantidentity for the city.

There are few, if any, ideas aimed at the critical need to reshape perceptions of Hartford withmore potential bang for the buck than this one. City officials should be applauded forrecognizing this and being willing to subject themselves to criticism inherent in adopting a bold

but risky measure. It may fail and the naysayers can say I told you so, but only time can judgethe wisdom of the initiative. Let's give it a chance.

David Urbanik of Farmington is a visiting member of The Courant's editorial board.


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Coordinate I -84, Rock Cats' Plan Or Else4; ZaE@ da0T f A0B9S Z


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Then there is parking. My favorite statistic about Hartford is that since its peak population of170,000 in 1950, it has lost 50,000 residents and gained 50,000 parking spaces. It's reassuringthat no new parking is part of the project.

The final and most enticing transportation issue is the long-discussed Main Street trolley. Mayor

Pedro Segarra touted the opportunity for the stadium project to reconnect downtown to the NorthEnd. Nothing could make that connection better than a street car, not to mention connecting theSouth End, the new UConn campus, and Windsor and Wethersfield as well. Now, there's a fan

base for the team. And guess what? No parking required just like a real city.

And where is the state in all this? Hiding under a woodpile, if it's smart. There is no visible stateinterest in moving the baseball team, but there is a state interest in solving the city'stransportation problems. The state could should make sure the highway planning iscoordinated with the stadium planning.

These transportation issues are the biggest question marks regarding the project. If the team and

the stadium and the politicians can meet them, that would be a home run.If not, then let the Rock Cats go to Springfield.

Toni Gold, of Hartford, is a transportation consultant, a member of the I-84 Public AdvisoryCommittee and on the board of the Connecticut Main Street Center.


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ST@ZaY@B0

Rock Cats Deal A Hit Out Of The Park

Bring back baseball to the city that once hosted Babe Ruth,Lou Gehrig

ST@ZaY@B0 Z


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and the claims often turn out to be overstated. But even if not 600, a significant number of jobs and fans will come, if the city builds it.

New Britain

Stadiums and arenas do help some cities. One of them was New Britain.

For the Hardware City, to paraphrase the great Tug McGraw, you gotta bereave. New Britain-area fans have supported the team superbly, making it the most successful minor-leaguefranchise in the state. Let's hope city officials can bring another team to the 16-year-old NewBritain Stadium and the state ought to help them do it.

Hartford apparently didn't poach the team. Mr. Segarra said it would have left the state had henot intervened. It's far better that it remain in Connecticut, in its capital city, once the host ofsuch greats as Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.

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