Apartments, businesses planned for Bow Tie parking lot
HARTFORD — A mixed-use development with 180 apartments is being planned next to the former Bow Tie Cinemas movie theater in Hartford, according to a proposal heard by the city’s planning and zoning commission Tuesday.
Jim Diamond, the owner of the shuttered, New Park Avenue multiplex, plans to sell about 40% of his 13.4-acre property to Massachusetts-based developer Dakota Partners Inc., which would replace the barren surface parking with a four-story residential and commercial project.
The project requires multiple city approvals, starting with subdividing the property into four parcels so Diamond can sell the three southern-most lots to Dakota Partners. Hartford Planning Director Aimee Chambers is recommending the planning and zoning commission approve that proposal, according to the staff report to the commission.
Dakota Partners plans to add three buildings next to the movie theater, which closed in mid-March but will reopen following renovations. Its new tenant, Apple Cinemas, is downsizing the multiplex from 17 screens to 12 and adding an arcade, bar and possibly other attractions, Diamond said in June.
The newdevelopment would feature 4,500 square feet of ground-level commercial space fronting NewPark Avenue, project engineer Benesch wrote in a June report to the city.
The storefronts would be “ancillary” — or secondary to the apartments — and would not draw cars to the development, according to Benesch, a Chicago-based company with a Glastonbury office.
The planning documents also cite a traffic study that states the project would have an insignificant impact on traffic.
As the reports note, the city is aiming for greater density in future redevelopments, with a minimum of five stories for such mixed-use projects.
While this project would be only four stories, the city states that it aligns with other goals, such as encouraging the development of quality homes near the CTfastrak station.