One thing is certain in Springfield and Hartford: something is changing, that much is evident. The jury of news anchors and reporters is still out on the subject of whether it’s for the better or for the worse, and frankly, their producers or editors might prefer to let you decide while you continue to tune in for the purposes of maintaining their ratings or boosting their readership. The villain, if any, is often a moving target anyway—one day the criminals, the next the police; one day the developers, the next the developed.
On the matter of things crumbling down, tenants of 32 units at Springfield’s Longhill Gardens Condominiums were supposed to have vacated their homes by yesterday, due to a June 27 condemnation order by the city for a total of 46 units deemed unlivable. Tenants were told at the time they had until August 1 to vacate; that was later extended to August 15, with complications.
Television crews for CBS3 and 22News both showed up yesterday to capture on film some of the struggles evident for families moving out of what some have called “housing of last resort” to who-knows-where; Peter Goonan’s report in today’s Republican is titled, “Families ignore orders to leave.” Desperation on the part of some of the tenants is clear enough; sympathy for their situation is somewhat implicit; but how did it get this bad, and why now? Is the city the villain for condemning what are evidently very unsafe conditions? Are the tenants villains for refusing to move in haste and for feeling any sense of impatience about their living environment? If you have the answer, call the news desks.
Evictions may be the current matter to resolve, but immediately on the heels of that is the problem of how to maintain the five-building complex, with cash flow coming up short and the cold season coming up fast. With potentially insufficient funds to pay for oil for heat, the receiver currently managing the condominium complex—Valley Real Estate—may be forced to shut it down entirely, and then there would be many more people, potentially hundreds, looking for immediate housing than we are seeing this week. As Housing Court Judge William Abrashkin said, this is potentially a crisis. On August 2 Goonan reported that Abrashkin “asked the lawyers for all sides to submit legal memoranda regarding whether $1.3 million should be set aside—beyond rents received—to cover estimated operational costs and repairs needed for the entire Longhill Gardens complex in the coming year, and to argue who should pay the amount.”
On the note of avoiding buildings crumbling down, 22News also has a report about a building on Springfield’s Taylor Street that still has hope. The building’s address is not provided, but there’s a nice-looking new restaurant facade going up next door. The report includes suggestions that the building could be transformed into housing.
More hope can be had in the news shared by downtown Springfield dweller Anna Brandenburg, who blogged this week about improvements to the physical landscape in her area. Her caption to the photo at left is, “Phew!” The building is directly across State Street from the city’s fancy new federal courthouse undergoing construction. It used to look really bad and with the fresh coat of paint—well, who would recognize this building, really?
On pulling out, Wethersfield-based Bliss Market recently withdrew from its contract to locate a high-end grocery in downtown Hartford, on the first floor of a new high-end apartment tower, Hartford 21, which opened a year ago and is about 50 percent occupied, according to the Courant. Cost of construction was a topic of frustration and much haggling, the report notes, citing Bliss owner John DeFrino as saying that the uncertainty of building a new market in an urban setting was hard to grapple with. Hartford 21’s slogan is, “Tower above the rest.” Maybe a slower and gentler start, one based on cautious market research and surer footing, would have been easier for grappling. Then again, a risk is a risk: a high-end grocer to fill the space will probably just need to be a confident type, ready to take on nay-sayers and intimidating financial prospects?
“My break-even point would have been close to $100,000 a week,” DeFrino told the Courant. “I didn’t feel that kind of space could generate that kind of income.” Hartford 21 owner Lawrence Gottesdiener (pictured) is apparently moving on regardless and will find a grocery tenant for the space. But as Real Hartford’s Kerri blogged today, “Where will all of the hip new downtown residents be able to do their grocery shopping, you ask? Well, where they’ve been able to do so for a few years now—Rose Gourmet, a small shop on Pratt [Street] that is stocked with everything from organic snacks to fruit to soap. And pray tell, where is this store in relation to Hartford 21 [at 221 Trumbull Street], where Bliss Market was intended to go? Pratt Street is just across the street from the Civic Center. The H21 plan to put some grocery store of their own inside their building anyway.”
On opting in, the Caring Health Center in Springfield plans to relocate to the former Hampden Furniture store on Main Street in the South End, across the street from its current facility. A report from 22News tells us it may take a full two years to make the plan a reality, apparently because it’s a transformation of a four-story building into a $10 to $12 million “major community health center.” Many opportunities to snatch up properties for rehab exist in Springfield, but it does take a sense of vision and adventure. Bill Dusty shares some photos of Lift the Latch on Orange Street, for example, which is apparently for sale.
