State of the Week: Connecticut

[xzmattzx]

Discuss the state of Connecticut.

[Shawn]

What is there to discuss? Just give Fairfield Co to NY already, and let Mass and RI take the rest.

Find out why CT should be kicked out of New England by clicking here.

[The Voice of reason]

Any requests for photos of down town Hartford?

I will bring my camera to work tomorrow.
I wont have tons of time at lunch, but will try and take some shots if there is any demand.

[xzmattzx]

Originally Posted by The Voice of reason

Any requests for photos of down town Hartford?

I will bring my camera to work tomorrow.
I wont have tons of time at lunch, but will try and take some shots if there is any demand.

Photos are always welcome. Hartford doesn't get shown on here much anyways, so some Hartford pictures are due.

[Tymel]

I heard Hartford is a very nice city. Needs more representation here. Hearing about buffalo got boring. UrbanPlanet has more representation for Hartford and Providence. Maybe thats why theres not many hartford boosters here.

[The Voice of reason]

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

Photos are always welcome. Hartford doesn't get shown on here much anyways, so some Hartford pictures are due.

well just name the building and I will do my best to capture some nice street level shots.

I will also post some more taken from my office in state house square.

[xzmattzx]

Originally Posted by The Voice of reason

well just name the building and I will do my best to capture some nice street level shots.

I will also post some more taken from my office in state house square.

Anything is fine. A general informative tour of downtown would go pretty far.

[Xusein]

There's more to Connecticut than being between New York and Boston...a lot more...

[Sabretooth]

Nice!

My only experience with CT involved cutting across the state on I-84. Didn't enjoy it one bit. Won't hold it against you though; at least you drive better than your neighbors to the north, east, and immediate west.

[The Voice of reason]

Here are some pictures of Downtown Hartford from the middle of downtown taken this Jan by me.



This picture was taken from 280 Trumbell Street facing north, North west. The building is often called the prudential building. You can see the Hilton on the left. It is attatched to the Civic center. You can see the "park" that streatches over I84


same location just looking more to the NE. the Building is the FOX 61 building. not sure its real name but will likely look it up and edit this. This building has the hartford stage attatched to its garage. Also in the distance partially obsucred by the one building is the crowne plaza hotel across the gighway and near the river.



This is taken from the 12th floor of 10 state house square (recently bought for $100M) also facing NE. You can see the river. to the right of that you can see Uniprise building. in the foreground you can see part of constitution plaza. On the left you can see the back side of Capitol community college, and the roof of the marriot (city steam brewery) MMMM...Beeer!!!

at the very bottom you can see some townhouse type buildings. they are the new temple street.


A better view looking North of the Fox 61 building and CCC. plus Cathederal wich they are fixing up and well all the buildings in the foreground have been fixed up recently.



looking more NW you can see 280 Trumbell. the building I took those pictures from.

[The Voice of reason]

So these pictures are facing West from again the 12th floor of 10 statehouse square.



here you see part of hartford 21 on the left side, The Civic Center low and in the middle, the hartford far far away in the background. and you can see the building that make up Pratt street in the foreground on the right.



A looks down asylum street.





TURN YOUR HEAD ok so thats the Bank of America building that would be looking to the SW.



the only at grade parking lot in downtown. Joe Blacks resturant just opened up there a few months ago helping the area out.




Citi place and hartford 21

on the left you can see 100 Pearl street.



the sad thing is I dont have a view of Goodwin square. it is hidden by city place and is the 4th tallest building in the city and I think maybe the nicest on street level and from a distance. (cant say anything for inside)

[MasonsInquiries]

connecticut is truly a beautiful state. my favorite town is greenwich.

[Evergrey]

I drove past Waterbury once... it looked cool.

[The Voice of reason]

I took a bunch of Pics today. Some from the top of my building on the Boardroom balcony.
and I took a few on street level them several more from the roof of the Church Street Garage across from the Civic Center.

Tomorrow I will cover more down by the waterfront and S. towards Travelers Tower.

It is however rediculously hot today and is forecast to be hotter tomorrow. Not fun to walk in formal wear.

[beerbeer]

image hosted on flickr

image hosted on flickr

image hosted on flickr

[Tymel]

Hartford looks like the best kept secret.

[Spaulding97]

I agree

[The Voice of reason]

It really is. I took 30 or so pictures yesterday and the day before covering most of downtown.

It was ABSURDLY HAZY. So some of the shots are not so good, but I think they give a good feel for the cities mass.
Also I took a couple shots of the Science center being built on the waterfront.

The best part of that as far as I can tell is that the roof of the parking structure will join with the elevated river front park already built. It will make it much larger and I am sure much more inviting.

I went to a scottish Festival there last September. I really hope to see it all finished next year. (good free event with local beer, and free dewars Scotch )

[Taylorhoge]

Any street level views is there alot of retail and resturants?

[The Voice of reason]

There are scores of eateries, unfortunately many of them cater to the office worker.
also retail is very limited, however it is on the come back. Some of the recent projects \downtown displaced existing tennants and are only slowly re filling the space.

There is a section of town that is really begining to emerge as a more dominant entertainment area. This fall 2 more bars will be opening and one opened in early spring.
I have a few pictures from street levels, mind you those pictures are "our good side"

There are plenty areas of downtown where there is no retail on the street.
then again there are buildings like State House Square.
2 towers built around a historic building. On the street there is a Wachovia, a BOA Investments or something, a Mortons steak house, the post office, a Soverign bank, and I think something I am forgetting. (yes these are all booring)
but there is a food court inside with a tailor shop, a package store, a convenience store, ice creap wraps chinese blimpies, several coffee shops ect...
each place is rented and PACKED from 11AM thru 130 and many have business later. I think there is one awkward location in a hallway that is unrented, but thats it.

As our new residential buildings fill up there will be more retail opening up.

I think that the proposed Northland condominium will/could be the tipping point.

Once the new bars come on line and assuming no closures, Hartford will be a much more attractive place to live by next spring. Also by then the new Grocery store should be opening up in Hartford 21 and I really hope that this kick starts the retail life in that part of downtown.