The master plan for Hartford's Bushnell South neighborhood imagines up to 1,200 new housing units built next to Bushnell Park and several state government buildings. Image courtesy of Goody Clancy

With less than a year to go before he leaves office, Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin is asking the City Council for the power to strike long-term tax deals that would power development south of downtown.

With development dreams in the city’s Downtown North neighborhood mired in legal troubles, city officials have as of late turned their eyes to the “Bushnell South” neighborhood next to the State Capitol building and the Bushnell Performing Arts Center. City officials hope to add up to 1,200 apartments to the neighborhood according to a plan produced in cooperation with residents and developers. Massachusetts-based developer Penrose, New Jersey’s The Michaels Organization, Norwalk-based Spinnaker Real Estate Partners and Hartford-based The Cloud Co. are already pitching projects.

To help close financing gaps for projects in the six-block district, Bronin has asked the council to consider an ordinance at Monday’s meeting that would grant the mayor power to enter into 15-year tax agreements that would slowly step up the value of properties’ taxes in tandem with at least $5 million in investment per project from the Capitol Region Development Authority.

The tax deals would come with limited local hiring requirements for construction work and affordability requirements for 20 percent of any units thus developed.

The measure, first reported by the Hartford Business Journal, also stipulates an application process and would require that construction would have to begin within 120 days of an executed tax agreement.