Image courtesy of MHB Architecture
Office market doldrums set the stage for a long-imagined transformation of the East Hartford riverfront with approximately 1,000 new housing units to move closer to construction.
The Founders Plaza district spans more than 100 acres along the Connecticut River, fortified by a 1938 levee that protects dozens of commercial parcels from flooding. A series of recent acquisitions by West Hartford-based Simons Real Estate Group cleared the way for an estimated $840-million project known as Portside East that’s a linchpin of the town’s economic development strategy.
“It’s prime riverfront that has been underutilized for years: empty offices and parking lots,” East Hartford Mayor Justin Martin said. “This would take East Hartford from being a working class town built up by Pratt & Whitney to a true destination.”
And city officials are eager to make the financial equation work for Simons and other potential developers. Martin said his administration is exploring potential incentives, including a tax increment financing deal, to accelerate the project.
Port Eastside, a development partnership headed by Simons Real Estate Group, acquired the distressed office tower at 20 Hartland St. and an adjacent parking lot in early fall.
Simons Property Group did not return a message seeking comment. In a previously issued statement, Principal Bruce Simons said the company now controls all four sites within the Portside East development site.
Although no formal development plans have been submitted, the developers have discussed a 300-unit apartment building as the first phase of the project, Martin said, replacing the 270,000-square-foot former bank offices. The initial phase of the project would be located on approximately 28 acres controlled by Simons Property Group and its partners.
The first phase would include demolition of the bank office building and parking garage at 111 Founders Plaza as soon as 2025, according to developers. The project also could eventually include up to 400,000 square feet of restaurant, entertainment and retail space and new riverfront recreation areas.
Other developers have contacted town officials with interest in joining subsequent phases of the project, Martin said.
“This project is so massive, it will require multiple developers,” he said.
State financial assistance is already available to the Simons team in the form of $6.5 million approved by the state Bond Commission for demolition and asbestos remediation in the bank office building, Martin noted.
A series of recent acquisitions by West Hartford-based Simons Real Estate Group cleared the way for an estimated $840 million project known as Portside East that’s a linchpin of the town’s economic development strategy. Image courtesy of the town of East Hartford
Outdated Uses Overdue for Reinvention
East Hartford land-use studies have touted the untapped potential of the riverfront district, located just southwest of the complex highway interchange where Interstate 84 intersects with Route 2.
The town’s 2023 Plan of Conservation and Development report envisions a wholesale makeover of the 20th-century office parks and their surface parking lots. The properties are owned by a wide range of owners including utilities, private developers, the Manchester Conservation Trust and state and local government agencies.
The entire district is included in a federal Opportunity Zone, giving developers tax breaks in exchange for reinvestment in economically depressed areas.
The report suggested creation of a planned development district zoning bylaw in by East Hartford, which would offer flexibility for the type of large-scale projects now under consideration.
“The developers have done an incredible job acquiring pretty much all of the parcels they were looking at within a short amount of time,” Martin said. “So that gives us a lot of reassurance of the commitment to this project.”
