The retail portion of the Town Square development in Hartford, which will replace the Hartford Civic Center, is expected to be finished in the first quarter of 2005.

The construction of a 1 million-square-foot, $151 million retail center and luxury apartment high-rise in downtown Hartford will require a fair amount of banging and hammering, but the noise created by the opening of the highest residential tower in New England will continue echoing in downtown’s real estate market long after the complex has been completed.

“What you’re seeing is a new standard,” said Peter Standish, senior vice president of Northland Investment Corp., the Newton, Mass.-based company that is developing the 34-story Town Square project, which will take the place of Hartford’s ailing Civic Center.

The demolition of the Civic Center likely will start May 1, said Matt Hennessy, chief-of-staff to Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez. The retail portion of the Town Square development is scheduled to be wrapped up during the first quarter of 2005 and the apartment tower will be finished in mid-2005.

Although the apartment complex won’t be open for more than a year, its plans, which have been in motion for six years, already have started affecting home prices in Hartford. The prospect of having high-end rentals downtown are pushing up housing prices, Hennessy said.

“Their values have skyrocketed in the last year,” he said.

The new project joins the luxury condominium complex Bushnell on the Park, but there is little else in the way of high-end residences downtown. Most of the housing units are affordable or middle-range rentals and there has been little new construction in the past decade.

“These units coming online are middle- and upper-income,” Hennessy said.

The 262 new apartments will be one- and two-bedroom units, Standish said. Two-thirds of the apartments will be two-bedroom units and will average about 1,200 square feet. The one-bedrooms will total about 800 square feet.

The apartments will offer amenities such as granite countertops, 9-foot ceilings and washers and dryers, and the complex will include covered parking, a health center, a valet, a concierge, a media center that residents can use as a theater, and a function room, Standish said.

Many real estate agents are happy about the project.

“The thoughts I have about the project are generally good ones,” said Barry Rosa, vice president at Prudential Connecticut Realty in Rocky Hill.

The construction of the new complex will spur redevelopment throughout the city, Rosa believes.

“Usually when you see a serious amount of money invested, others invest at the same time,” he said.

Although the redevelopment and renovation of existing buildings could drive up housing prices and rents, Hennessy isn’t too worried that rising rents will push away many current downtown residents. Much of the housing geared toward low-income residents will stay that way, he said. Many downtowns apartments are subsidized or run by nonprofit groups, he said.

“I don’t think there’s a concern that affordable units are going to change,” Hennessy said. “It’s more diversifying the income.”

There won’t be much direct competition for the new apartment tower, Rosa said.

“If I had a luxury building next door, I might be worried,” he said.

The new apartments also will create more choice for people who like living downtown, Rosa said. Most people upgrade to nicer apartments or houses several times during their lifetime, he noted, and the presence of high-end housing in the downtown will mean renters and buyers won’t necessarily have to look to the suburbs to do that.

‘A Big Impact’

Many of the people who move into the Town Square building will come from the suburbs, said Sandy Gervais, broker-owner of ReMax Advantage in Avon. Hartford currently lacks downtown living situations for young professionals or empty nesters, she said.

“Not everybody wants to commute,” Gervais said.

Because of Hartford’s plethora of financial institutions, many young people move there after college to work. People from big cities like Philadelphia or Washington, D.C., are often surprised there is a lack of apartments in the city. They often move to the suburbs, where they don’t have access to public transportation and have to buy cars. The new project will provide an alternative, Gervais said.

Empty nesters also will be likely to consider the new apartments, Gervais said.

Real estate agents and city officials are happy that Town Square will fill a void in the rental market, but they have an even higher expectation for the complex. They hope the project, along with the retail, residential and entertainment complex planned at Adriaen’s Landing, will change downtown Hartford from a cluster of skyscrapers that shuts down at 6 p.m. to a vibrant, around-the-clock destination.

Adriaen’s Landing also is scheduled to open in 2005 and will include the Connecticut Convention Center, a Marriott hotel and a riverfront district.

“The addition of this number of residents in the downtown area is going to have a big impact,” Hennessy said.

Gervais agreed.

“I think any time you can take a situation and put residential or condo-type living [downtown], that creates a healthier economy,” she said.

Now, there’s not much of a reason for people to stay downtown after work, Gervais said. But with more people living there, she noted, it might be more of an incentive for stores to stay open longer; the development of Adriaen’s Landing also will be a factor in getting them to do so. Gervais compared the developments in Hartford to the redevelopment of New Haven, which has been good for that city.

“It’s no different from what New Haven is going through now,” she said.

But developers need to be sure to attract retail entities such grocery stores and dry cleaners that can make it convenient to live in the city, Gervais said.

Northland Development hopes to attract some of those businesses, according to Standish, who added that there will be many ideal spaces for dry cleaners or video rental stores in the retail portion of Town Square. While accommodating a grocery store could be more difficult, Standish said, he hopes to bring in some food stores to fill space in the new complex.