Several months after providing $6.5 million to advance the planned Konover apartment complex in East Hartford, the state is expected to provide $1.5 million on Friday for improvements on the city’s waterfront.
The new funding is part of a concentrated drive in the past few years to revive the once-thriving industrial town as developers look to infuse it with a series of modern apartment and mixed-use projects.
Also on Friday, the Connecticut Bond Commission is scheduled to vote on a key $10 million grant to boost Enfield’s vision of a $250 million redevelopment of its failing mall.
In all, the commission is considering nearly $700 million in grants and loans for education, health, economic development and other initiatives in dozens of towns and cities around the state.
Among the communities that stand to benefit, Enfield might have the most at stake. The state’s Community Investment Fund earlier this year endorsed spending $10 million to prepare most of the 86-acre mall site for a new complex of two hotels, 450 apartments, 165,000 square feet of new anchor retail spaces and up to 9 acres of restaurants and smaller shops and service businesses.
For that money to go through, however, the Bond Commission must approve it Friday.
Nebraska-based Woodsonia Real Estate Inc. intends to buy the mall from current owner Namdar Realty Corp., but local officials have made clear that its plan requires state and local financial aid.
In East Hartford, three sets of developers planning ambitious housing initiative are also relying on tax incentives or other state and local aid to make their financial plans work out.
State government has been focusing on East Hartford in recent years because the administration of then-Mayor Mike Walsh advanced a series of high-profile, potentially transformative projects. They inclue the Port Eastside redevelopment of the Founders Plaza office park, which could bring as many as 1,000 apartments along with new retail and potentially an entertainment complex; the Simon Konover Co.’s 150-unit Commerce Center apartment complex along the waterfront; and Jasko Zelman 1 LLC’s plan to build up to 402 apartments at the former Showcase Cinemas site.
In December, the Bond Commission approved $6.5 million in low-interest loans for the Konover project, and the state has already committed about $7 million to Concourse Park.
East Hartford on Friday is seeking $1,551,577 in state monies for municipal boat ramp facilities along the Connecticut River.
Regional planners have promoted riverfront redevelopment in Hartford for decades, and in the past five years developers have taken a strong interest in using the waterfront as a backdrop for apartment and possibly condo complexes as well as new restaurants along with commercial and retail projects. The Konover project is directly along the river, and a selling point for Port Eastside is its riverfront access.
A particularly important decision will come later this spring when the General Assembly decides whether to authorize a TIF agreement for the Port Eastside deal. The arrangement would direct future tax revenues from the properties into infractructure expenses for the surrounding district.
“East Hartford’s current riverfront has been on the decline for a number of years now. It has suffered from a lack of investment, under-utilization and a lack of overall vision and interest. To make matters worse our levee system and the I-84 Mixmaster challenge the Towns’ ability to gain access back to its waterfront,” Mayor Connor Martin told the General Assembly’s planning committee earlier in the session.
The committee was weighing a TIF agreement for the Port Eastside area at the time.
“However, through the vision of the Port Eastside development, I am optimistic we can overcome those boundaries and regain access to the single most beautiful natural amenity we have in East Hartford being the Connecticut River,” he said.
“The opportunities resulting from the creation of the infrastructure improvement district will result in new and improved roads, utilities, and other infrastructure, providing the backbone for what will be a new, bustling neighborhood in our community,” House Majority Leader Jason Rojas told the committee.
But Hartford-area activist Brigitte Prince opposed the measuring, saying it benefits the rich while hurting ordinary residents.
“The town has a history of favoring wealthy developers while overtaxing property owners, and ignoring the dire needs of the outdated infrastructures of its public work facilities and fire stations,” she told lawmakers.
The committee ultimately voted the bill forward, and the full General Assembly now has until its session ends June 4 to vote on the bill or let it die.