Bushnell Park South
Redevelopment study examines how pandemic could change city living
A barren expanse of parking lots near The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts has long been seen as ripe for redevelopment, and a new study will help shape that vision. The Bushnell, the Capital Region Development Authority and Spinnaker Real Estate Partners are joining to commission a study that will examine how the pandemic could affect development, how much public funding would be needed and how to develop a cohesive neighborhood.
Abarren expanse of parking lots near The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts has long been seen as ripe for redevelopment, and a new study will help shape that vision and howthe pandemic might alter it. “Everybody’s wondering what kind of impact the pandemic is going to have on urban centers and everything else,” David Fay, The Bushnell’s president and chief executive, said Monday. “We said, ‘Look, let’s use this kind of slow time in the next six months and really analyze what the post-pandemic world is going to look like.’ “
The Bushnell, the Capital Region Development Authority and Spinnaker Real Estate Partners, a major property owner in the area, are joining together to commission a study that will examine how the pandemic could affect development, plus sequencing of development, how much public funding would be needed and how to develop a cohesive neighborhood.
The study is expected to cost up to $150,000, and its findings are expected in the spring.
“It’s a lot of real estate, a lot of moving pieces,” Michael W. Freimuth, executive director of the Capital Region Development Authority, said. “Honestly, it’s probably a 4-, 5-, 6-year program, when you get started and if you were to charge hard, so laying out a road map is the point that we are at.”
Bushnell Park South encompasses about 20 acres south, north and east of The Bushnell, divided in half by Capitol Avenue. Full development could run into the hundreds of millions of dollars and would certainly require public investment, including the potential, Freimuth said, for a special taxing district or other similar measures.
“Everybody’s wondering what kind of impact the pandemic is going to have on urban centers and everything else. We said, ‘Look, let’s use this kind of slow time in the next six months and really analyze what the post-pandemic world is going to look like.’ ”
— David Fay, The Bushnell’s president and chief executive
How quickly — or to what extent — public funding through CRDA is available is uncertain, given a tighter rein on borrowing through bonds by Gov. Ned Lamont and new, pressing priorities in the pandemic.
Bushnell Park South is seen as a key connection between Bushnell Park and the Colt manufacturing complex to the south where a federal historical park is planned.
For years, Bushnell Park South has been seen as a prime location for housing, and there was significant optimism prior to the pandemic. And while there had been a leasing slowdown in new rental projects downtown, there has been a bit of rebound in the past couple of months — though not yet to the level of a year ago.
The recent, $205 million renovation of the 1931 State Office Building across Capitol from The Bushnell, a new park at its entrance and a parking garage for state office workers on have been credited as a catalyst for further development.
The parking garage on Buckingham and another now under construction on Capitol — also to be partly used by state workers in a shared parking strategy for the area — freed up a massive lot just east of the State OfficeBuilding, key to future development.
Other pieces needed for the area’s rede
velopment puzzle also have fallen into place this year.
Spinnaker Real Estate Partners purchased 55 Elm St. on Pulaski Circle and three nearby parking lots for $6.8 million in January. Since then the Norwalk-based developer has been working on a new vision for them.
Matt Edvardsen, director of asset management and acquisitions at Spinnaker, said plans for the redevelopment of 55 Elm — probably a combination of mostly apartments, but also hotel rooms, extended-stay or furnished rentals. . Spinnaker intends to seek CRDA funding for 55 Elm, Edvardsen said.
In addition, Spinnaker has an option to purchase a roughly two-acre parking lot at the corner of Capitol and Hudson streets. Spinnaker also has an agreement allowing The Bushnell to become a part owner in the property and have a say in its future development, should the purchase take place.
One key goal of the study will be to determine how the Spinnaker properties will fit into the overall development of the area, Freimuth said.
Fay said taking a financial stake with Spinnaker doesn’t mean The Bushnell is interested in more buildings or venues for itself. But The Bushnell is interested in having a say over uses that would complement both the theater and the broader
surrounding neighborhood.
Although how the redevelopment will unfold is still to be determined, it is expected that housing will be a prime component, Freimuth said.
It is possible that row houses could be a component on Buckingham Street and on some cross streets. They could resemble the housing that stood on the site a century ago but were gradually razed to the accommodate parking lots for state office workers commuting to the city from the suburbs.
Along Capitol Avenue, Freimuth said, taller buildings of 4-to-5 stories are possible, with apartments and storefronts with restaurants, a coffee shop, delicatessen and, perhaps, bars.
“Who knows what the marketplace is going to be on commercial, right?” Freimuth said. “You could do some small scale commercial. It’s walkable to the State Office Building, the Capitol — lawyering, accounting, lobbying, those types of operations.”
Freimuth said “small medical” is also a possibility, given Bushnell Park South is just a block or so from Hartford Hospital.
Bushnell Park South also will include the future conversion of two historic buildings on Trinity Street, including one occupied by the Secretary of State, where state workers are moving to other locations.
“All the pieces are starting to fall into place,” Fay said, “but, of course, in the middle of a global pandemic.”