Parking lot could be key to growth near Capitol
The state is selling Frog Hollow property, a prime spot for redevelopment
As Hartford examines the future of parking lots at key development locations in the city, the state of Connecticut is putting up for sale one it owns a short walk from the state Legislative Office Building, making it ripe for redevelopment that could build on recent projects in the Frog Hollow neighborhood.
The 1.2-acre surface lot at the corner of Broad Street and Capitol Avenue is on a priority list of state-owned properties located in federal “Opportunity Zones” that could be sold for redevelopment, with the intent of strengthening city neighborhoods, getting the properties back on the property tax rolls and giving investors tax incentives.
“It is a very rare opportunity to develop a piece of property on Capitol Avenue,” said Shane P. Mallory, administrator for statewide leasing and property transfer for the state Department of Administrative Services, which is handling the sale. “So we think it has a lot of potential.”
The parking lot — now used by state employees during the week and the public on weekends — comes up for sale without an asking price as the debate over the number of parking lots in locations around the city prime for redevelopment has again heated up in recent months.
A proposal by city Councilman
John Q. Gale to significantly raise licensing fees for parking operators to encourage redevelopment was put off by the council in January — at least for the near future. But the city is pushing ahead with a comprehensive study of parking needs throughout Hartford, not only surface lots, but garages and on-street parking.
One issue is likely to be the development of the $200 millionplus “North Crossing” — the former Downtown North — which will gradually replace surface lots used by downtown workers and visitors to Dunkin’ Donuts Park over the next five or so years.
The Capitol Avenue parking lot is located in an area that may be poised for larger change.
Just to the north is the former Broad Street headquarters of The Courant, which reportedly is for sale. But brokers in the city say there is no active listing for either sale or lease. CBRE, the commercial real estate services firm representing the property, declined to comment.
The lot at 340 Capitol Ave. has existed for nearly 20 years, replacing a former factory that was converted into an office for state workers in the late 1960s. At the time, the developer crowed that the 4-story structure — dating to the early 1900s — looked like a “solid, sound structure that would last 200 years,” according to a story
in The Courant.
The building’s life span proved considerably shorter, however, as it headed for demolition in 2002, 1-inch cracks discovered in walls with a foundation that was slowly sinking.
The state had purchased the building for $3.8 million in 1984, a section of the Park River, enclosed in a buried conduit, on the property’s northern border.
The area is zoned for mixed-use redevelopment and could potentially build on other recent redevelopment projects in the area, the largest being the conversion of the former Hartford Office Supply building — now the Capitol Lofts — into 112 mixed-income rentals. The $36 million project. which included $7 million in state-taxpayer backed loans from the Capital Region Development Authority, was completed in late 2016.
Sarah McCoy, co-owner of the Story & Soil coffee shop on Capitol Avenue across from the Capitol Lofts, said she would like to see a redevelopment with more retail — a restaurant or shops.
“When people come into Story and Soil and ask, ‘Where should we go next?’ — kind of using us as a concierge for the city, we can point them to great historical things and we can point them to Pratt Street, but there is not that kind of retail hub that tourists are necessarily looking for,” McCoy said.
The city clearly wants to extend the success of Capitol Lofts and small businesses like Story and Soil, which will enter its fourth year on Capitol Avenue in July, said I. Charles Mathews, the city’s director of developmental services.
“I want a developer to come and think outside the box, come up with a concept consistent with zoning that may work and that’s fundable,” Mathews said. “As you well know, with all developers — their concept is only as good as their ability to get financing for the project.”
It is also conceivable that a buyer might want to keep the property as it now is, just for parking.
Michael W. Freimuth, CRDA’s executive director, said the quasi-public agency has not been approached by any potential buyer for possible public financing.
One challenge to the redevelopment, Freimuth said, is the requirement that the buyer replace the 160 spaces now used by state employees, either on the property or somewhere nearby. That, Freimuth said, will “complicate deal-making.”
“It’ll either compromise land sale price or increase development costs,” Freimuth said. “There’ll need to be some creative shared parking that is allowed by zoning.”
Mallory, of the Department of Administrative Services, said the state wants to get properties like the one on Capitol Avenue back on the tax rolls, but the state has to find a way to replace the lost parking without incurring more expenses.
“We do very much not want parking lots — surface lots — so we’d very much like to see it developed,” Mallory said. “But we do need to find a solution to the parking.”
CRDA found itself in a similar situation about a half-mile to the east as it sought to provide state employee parking, to push forward with the redevelopment of the sea of parking lots around the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts. The solution was a $16 million, state-financed parking garage, now nearing completion, that would be shared by state employees and the public.
That wouldn’t be so easy at 340 Capitol because there are far fewer options and available land, Freimuth said.
The parking lot is being marketed without an asking price “because our major goal is to work with the city on development there,” Mallory said. “So we’re pretty open to listening to ideas. Although price is very important, it isn’t the only variable.”
Bids for the property are due June 11.