Downtown Hartford is currently in the second act of its state induced housing boom. The first time around it was led by Gov. John Rowland and the Capital City Economic Development Authority.
In this very different act, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy created the Capital Region Development Authority, and with millions of dollars in hand, CRDA has been investing in the necessary housing projects, while beginning to plan for the long term, something the Six Pillars project did not do.
This is the quiet before the construction storm, and a good time to start thinking about the long term.
Downtown housing is not a new idea, here or elsewhere. It is now a tried and true practice that has been shown to work regionally (New Haven) and nationally (Los Angeles).
These success stories reveal that housing, when paired with city planning and development efforts such as iQuilt, will attract residents, retail and office uses. This is the game plan, but the plan has to get past the realities of Connecticut and its Capital City. As Mike Tyson once said, everyone has a plan until they take their first punch. Issues here include a need for leadership and good old-fashioned politics.
Under Rowland, the city and state agreed on and then fought over the Six Pillars redevelopment plan, which led to construction of Adriaen’s Landing. The last piece, a lawsuit against the Marriott Hotel by the city, I myself witnessed. More recently, the public witnessed a small blow up between the city and state over the location of the UConn campus in downtown.
Yes, it’s the city’s turf, but its’ also the state capital where the governor holds the purse strings to the biggest bank account. As the Capital City moves forward, it can not risk more conflict, in public or in private, between the city and state over the CRDA’s role and the housing projects themselves. The city won’t win that fight and it makes already anxious developers even more skittish.
If this is the current condition, what about the long term? The state is funding a city study on housing, which should be finished in a few months. And while the study should be critiqued, if possible, it should be adopted, because you always need a road map.
The consultant’s data will provide more than just a downtown housing market study. They are looking at the whole city as context for the downtown. That’s important because it is in the neighborhoods where the long-term challenges lie. The areas surrounding downtown have seen a lack of investment and declining population growth, which poses serious threats to their future vitality.
To combat these larger issues CRDA should set aside at least $10 million for housing programs directed at the neighborhoods. This money should be focused on the five neighborhoods that are touched by the CRDA district, including Sheldon/Charter Oak, South Green, Frog Hollow, Asylum Hill, and Clay Arsenal.
The pending study, I expect, will call for more concentrated investments in the neighborhoods, which has been shown to be the best way to have a long term positive impact. Under CCEDA the money spent in Hartford’s neighborhoods was spread too thinly to have an impact.
Back in the downtown, the study will analyze demand for housing among several age and lifestyle groups, and identify acceptable price points for those market participants. The size and style of the units/products that will be successful will have rents that match the targeted market’s ability to pay (especially those new UConn grad students).
Because the cost of development is driven by regional labor prices and China for materials, it remains more than likely for the foreseeable future that a government tax break or investment will be necessary to make new housing projects possible. In disbursing those funds, we must treat these public dollars as equity investments, not subsidies or grants without any strings attached. The public’s money is as green as private equity funds, and our public development officials, from the city and state, are smart enough to be treated like their peers in the private sector.
There is a housing boom coming and Hartford needs to get on the same page as the state. We have a downtown to crystallize and neighborhoods to stabilize. It is all possible, but the question remains if we will be dedicated to following a cohesive, long-term game plan, or short sighted, partisan politics.
David Panagore is the former chief operating officer of the city of Hartford. He will be writing an occasional column for the Hartford Business Journal.
