After four years, New York-based Common Ground is expecting to finalize its financing for the renovation of 410 Asylum St., a vacant office building that overlooks Bushnell Park and has views of the state Capitol.
Plans call for six to seven retail tenants to occupy the street-level storefronts, and for the conversion of offices located on the second through sixth floors into 70 apartments.
Original plans called for about 100 housing units in the historic landmark.
The apartments will include studios, one- and two-bedroom apartments, with 80 percent (56 units) priced below market rates, and 20 percent (14 units) at market rates, said Nancy MacMillan, director of real estate development in Connecticut for Common Ground.
The rent prices for the apartments, which will be approximately 500 square feet to 1,000 square feet, have not yet been determined, she added.
Constructed in 1915 and registered as a landmark with the National Register for Historic Places, the lobby and street-level portion of the 21,200 square-foot building will be renovated to its original luster, MacMillan said.
“It is actually a historic rehab project,” she added. “We look forward to it, being able to offer an affordable, a different residential component for the city.”
Construction is expected to begin sometime this summer, and completion expected about 12 to 18 months later, typical for a renovation of its size, she said.
Common Ground also expects to receive a LEED certification for the renovation, she added. LEED certification is a green building rating system. MacMillan expects the project will at a minimum achieve a bronze rating.“It will be an excellent building,” she said.
Common Ground is a social service provider, she said, and is committed to staying with its property for many years.
Four Years Of Planning
Plans for the property have been changed several times since Common Ground took ownership of the building in September 2003. Four years ago Community Housing Development Fund Corp. donated the building – currently assessed by the city at $655,550 — to the nonprofit. The corporation owners, Milton and Betty Hollander, donated the property to Common Ground after their plans were blocked by the city.
Considered prime downtown real estate with attractive views of Bushnell Park, Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez objected to the parcel’s use as a homeless shelter or for supportive housing. He preferred the property be converted into high-end condominiums.
But the nonprofit and the city reached a compromise two years ago. Common Ground dropped its original plans to dedicate half the building to house homeless, at risk of being homeless, or working people of limited means.
At that time, the nonprofit was looking for $15 million in financing.
As part of the compromise, the city identified another property for Common Ground that officials considered more suitable for supportive housing.
MacMillan said that the property owner has since passed away, and plans have not moved forward at this time regarding that parcel.
The renovation of the parcel is consistent with the city’s desire to improve Downtown West, a 4.29-acre portion of the Central Business District bounded by Asylum, Ann, Jewell and Ford streets.
The city’s redevelopment plans call for the renovation of Hartford’s Pearl Street fire headquarters, which is expected to relocate to the new public safety complex on High Street when that project is completed.
Other plans in Downtown West include the razing of the YMCA building by Northland Investment Corp. and the conversion of another city-owned vacant office building at 111-113 Pearl Street into additional housing.
Consistent with city officials desires to create more downtown housing, the conversion of another former office building on Pearl Street into condominiums at The Metropolitan is complete, as is Northland’s Hartford 21 apartments.
