You wouldn’t know it from looking at the outside of Broadcast House, but demolition teams have been tearing at the innards of the Constitution Plaza landmark for weeks. They’re removing asbestos so it can be razed to make way for downtown Hartford’s newest high-rise.
Middletown engineer Abul Islam plans to replace the four-story structure — the former home of WSFB-TV Channel 3 — with a 13-story office tower. He said employees of his company, AI Engineers Inc., and other tenants will eventually occupy the building at the corner of Columbus Boulevard and State Street.
Counting the cost of acquiring the TV studio and its 0.55-acre tract, pre-engineering and design, “I’ve already put in $2 million,’’ Islam said. And two out-of-state community banks have offered mezzanine and permanent financing for the building, he said. Islam expects to finalize those within the next several weeks.
Islam has heard the whispers in local real estate circles that the AI Technology Center is a $40 million pipe dream.
“I don’t blame them,’’ he said. “It’s a bad economy.’’ He insists they are missing the big picture of the building’s market potential.
Dan Whittemore, an AI engineer and the project’s manager, said crews were due last week to finish asbestos-removal inside the 80,000-square-foot structure. Sometime in March, the project manager said, machine excavators will tear down the steel-reinforced concrete shell. That work will take about a month.
“We’re looking at starting construction in the fall,’’ Whittemore said.
Construction is expected to take about 14 months.