A new parking layout at Rentschler Field is paving the way for the next stage of an ambitious but delayed $2 billion project that would create a sprawling business, residential and entertainment community in East Hartford.
UConn football fans have undoubtedly noticed a new parking scheme at the stadium, which has shifted a large chunk of tailgaters to a new 70-acre plot in the southeastern corner of the property. The land was donated to the state by United Technologies a few years ago, in part, because of a need for more game-day parking.
More importantly, the new space opens up land south of the Cabela’s retail store, where Phase I of the development is planned to be built.
But don’t expect major construction to start anytime soon, said Dan Matos, the developer of the East Hartford tract owned by UTC.
Although some progress has been made — including getting letters of intent from two separate developers to build a 120-room hotel and a six-story, 300-room upscale apartment complex — the sour economy will likely delay any new construction until 2013.
“The economy is not helping us,” Matos said. “I don’t see a shovel going into the ground tomorrow.”
Despite the delays, however, Matos said he and UTC have no plans to shift away from their original proposal, even though they have been getting numerous offers for different uses of the land, including turning it into an industrial park.
The $2 billion proposal calls for a mixed-use project with approximately 7.8 million square feet of new offices for technology companies, hotels, retail, entertainment and housing.
“Changing directions is not attractive to us,” Matos said.
Matos said plans for the first part include a retail, residential and hotel component. He said he has a letter of intent from a major Northeast developer to begin construction on a 300-unit, six-story, mid-rise style apartment complex that would target young professionals and empty nesters.
But that project won’t go forward until his team can find retail and restaurant tenants to occupy the first outlet center, which would help establish a town square setting.
The plan is for a more upscale outlet center similar to the Clinton Crossing development on the Killingworth Turnpike in Clinton, Matos said.
Having the hotel, retail and residential components built at the same time is important, Matos said, to balance the cost of building the necessary infrastructure, like new roads.
“We want to do everything at once,” Matos said.
The town center is also seen as a key piece in attracting technology companies to move into the area. The site houses Pratt & Whitney and the United Technologies Research Center.
But the economy is making it difficult to attract retail tenants, and although conversations are more intense than they were a year ago, Matos said he doesn’t envision any construction beginning until 2013.
Meanwhile, build out of the critical East Hartford Boulevard South road, which would serve as a southern connector into the Rentschler Field tract, is also on hold.
The road received key federal wetlands approval in 2009 and is considered a key infrastructure component in helping to attract tenants.
Matos said design of the road has been completed, but construction hasn’t started because the exact location of the connection to Main Street in East Hartford has not been determined. And that connection will depend on the layout of the next phase of development, making it hard to move forward now.
The Rentschler Field project has been in the works since 2005 and was projected to take about 18 years to complete. Matos said he isn’t backing off that timeline yet.
The project got off to a fast start when Cabela’s opened in 2007. Cabela’s was expected to serve as a catalyst to attract other retailers to the area but that hasn’t happened, with the economy serving as a major roadblock. Infrastructure issues have also played a role.
While the wait continues, however, there is a need to raise the ground level on the town center site by about two feet to accommodate future development, Matos said.
The shift in parking for UConn football games opens up some of that land. Matos said the project will need about 500,000 cubic yards of soil, and he is in negotiations with several utility companies to try to obtain it.
Matos said soil is cheaper today because of the economy. When soil was needed for the Cabela’s site, it cost $20 to $25 per cubic yard for 100,000 cubic yards of soil.
With the new space, Rentschler Field has about 10,600 parking spaces, far more than planners originally thought were necessary to accommodate UConn football games. Originally, 4,000 spaces were thought to be sufficient, Matos said, but that didn’t consider the lack of public transportation to the stadium.
In other words, more fans are driving to the game than originally anticipated.
Regardless, the main focus now is on the development of a vibrant 24/7 live-work community. But it will still take time for that vision to become a reality. “All the elements are still there,” Matos said. “But it’s all very dependent on the economy and political climate.”
