🔒Environmental, logistical concerns present challenges to developing Hartford’s waterfront

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Cities like Buffalo, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati have been able to reinvent themselves with a slew of modern, mixed-use waterfront developments.

But building along a riverway to boost a city’s live, work and play profile isn’t always easy. In fact, sometimes it’s nearly impossible.

Environmental advocates say that’s largely been the case for decades in Hartford as several developers have tried but failed to come up with a commercial development that makes economic and environmental sense to build along the Connecticut River downtown.

Development there has been especially difficult because of potential impacts to an underground levee system that curbs the level of riverfront flooding on what is widely considered the narrowest part of the Connecticut River.

That is one of many challenges that will stand in the way of a New York developer who recently proposed building a sprawling “amphibious” promenade with restaurant, retail and event spaces south of the Mortensen Riverfront Plaza.

George Bryant of Aqua Ark LLC says his team has the technical know-how to make two proposed riverfront developments, ranging from $9 million to $40 million, viable.

Bryant says the promenade would be built on an acre of city-owned land and have the ability to float and rise with water during flood conditions using groundbreaking new technology.

“We think that it’s game-changing that people can reimagine what floodplain construction can be,” he said. “We think it has worldwide implications and we are pretty excited to show it.”

However, questions remain over how a riverfront development in Hartford would impact an extensive floodplain and an underground flood-control levee system that helps protect the river.

Also, part of the land proposed for development may be contaminated as it was formerly used as a coal stockpile in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

There is also uncertainty about how utilities, supplies for vendors, emergency services and handicap ramps would make their way down to the waterfront structure.

Other logistical issues include that the river beneath the nearby Founders Bridge is just 700 feet wide bank-to-bank. Environmental experts say the narrow segment of the 400-mile river typically triples the velocity of water flow, making it difficult for any boats attempting to access a riverfront structure, environmental and other riverfront experts say.

The smaller channel, among other factors, also contributes to regular flooding on Hartford’s riverfront, as water elevations rise up to eight feet during rain and snowfall in the winter months. Climate change, meanwhile, is also generating more severe storms and, as a result, additional flooding and ice flows, according to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP).

Of course, all of these issues could be resolved, but they would require a significant investment by any developer, which could make the project impracticable financially, experts say.

Securing equity financing for the project would be Aqua Ark’s first order of business if it believes the city supports the development, Bryant said.

But they would also need to score permits and approvals from a long list of local, state and federal entities that get a say in riverfront development in the Hartford area.

Aqua Ark, Bryant said, is collaborating with engineering firms from Germany and Westport on designing the floating structure, connecting utilities and mitigating impacts to the levee system and nearby Mortensen Riverfront Plaza.

Bryant said he is confident the floating technology, similar to infrastructure used for the foundation of the Lumière Place Casino in St. Louis, can be successfully deployed in Hartford.

“We think we can justify the investment to investors,” said Bryant, whose firm has built floating structures overseas but not yet in the U.S. “It has to be a solid piece of engineering, and a solid economic play.”

Seizing the moment

Hartford City Councilman John Gale is well versed in the issues thwarting riverfront development.

It was Gale’s resolution last year that requested the city, Riverfront Recapture and Greater Hartford Flood Commission to develop proposals for marinas, houseboat moorings, restaurants or floating residences to generate economic activity along the riverway.

Gale said he sees major commercial potential for the riverfront, which has grown into a recreational hotspot in recent decades with help from Riverfront Recapture, a nonprofit that manages Hartford’s and East Hartford’s riverfront parks and riverwalk trail system. It’s time, he says, for the city to leverage its riverfront as an economic engine like “every other city has.”

Gale says Aqua Ark’s proposal, or perhaps another one, offers an opportunity for the state and Army Corps of Engineers to begin discussions on how to upgrade the river’s levee system and address other issues preventing development.

“There are a number of hurdles that anyone has to jump to get any type of economic development that I want to see at the river,” Gale said. “But I think it’s time to look at how to exploit our riverfront. This proposal might provide the catalyst that would procure that.”

Development red tape

There have been a handful of developers looking to build on Hartford’s riverfront in recent decades, but only two made it close to the finish line.

DEEP, which would need to approve any riverfront proposal, has denied two applications in the Hartford-East Hartford area since 1990. One 1991 proposal called for a floating restaurant on the river in East Hartford and another a few years later sought to build a barge-mounted floating home, according to DEEP.

DEEP in a letter following Gale’s resolution last year cautioned Mayor Luke Bronin that any riverfront proposals would raise numerous public safety and environmental concerns that would make authorization “problematic.”

Jeff Caiola, assistant director of DEEP’s land and water resources division, said he is worried about how Aqua Ark’s proposal could impact the river’s flood-control system.

To gain DEEP approval, the developer would need to at least provide sufficient proof that the commercial structure would not displace water in the river and would comply with Connecticut’s strict flood-management program, which Caiola says is more rigid than federal standards. Any upgrades to the levee system would also require federal oversight and will be costly to operate and maintain, he said.

Aqua Ark is not seeking public subsidy to offset development costs, but if it does, Caiola says environmental and safety standards would significantly increase.

“We have been on record denying any proposal there,” Caiola said. “There are some significant risks to the public. From our position, we would want the city to be in contact with the Army Corps about the impacts to the flood-control system.”

Riverfront Recapture leaders say they would like to see commercial development on the river, but understand the regulatory hurdles in play.

Marc Nicol, Riverfront Recapture’s director of planning and development, said Aqua Ark has been receptive to learning more about the longstanding environmental concerns of building on Hartford’s riverfront. That includes $1 million in potential upgrades needed to rework an underground concrete anchoring system.

But Nicol said he doubts this proposal or any others would make financial sense without some level of federal or state funding. Still, he said riverfront development will ultimately be driven by a developer’s willingness to spend and their projected return on investment.

“If it’s something that we feel will be a reasonable request and will benefit Riverfront Recapture, I think our board would support the developer,” he said. “We would like to see commercial development along the riverfront, but we are being realistic.”