FEATURE ARTICLE, MAY 2006

RECREATING A DOWNTOWN FOR WEST HARTFORD
Within an already active downtown, complementary retail is being added as part of a neighborhood mixed-use project.
Randall Shearin

Many town center projects strive to create a downtown area for their respective communities. One project in Connecticut has it the other way around — the project is being built in the center of an existing, active community. Blue Back Square, a joint venture project in West Hartford, Connecticut, that involves Atlanta-based Ronus Properties; White Plains, New York-based Street-Works Development; and West Hartford-based JDA Development Co., is turning the tables on town square development.

Blue Back Square is a joint venture development project among Ronus Properties, Street-Works Development and JDA Development Co.; the project envelopes six square blocks in the downtown section of West Hartford, Connecticut.

Northeast Real Estate Business recently met with Rick Langhorne, president of Ronus Properties, and Richard Heapes, principal of Street-Works, at Ronus’ office in Atlanta to find out more about Blue Back Square.

The partnership for developing Blue Back Square came about after an equity advisor introduced Langhorne to the project at the 2003 ICSC Spring Convention in Las Vegas. Although Ronus was not looking to do a project outside the Southeast, the company was impressed with the creativity and uniqueness of Blue Back Square and thought it was worth pursuing.

At this point, Street-Works and JDA already had spent more than a year master planning the district and developing the key principles of the project with the town’s administration. The town of West Hartford was planning to redevelop several buildings within the town center including the Board of Education building, which had served previously as the Town Hall. In addition, several private parcels were assembled including one parcel that housed a shuttered auto dealership. Street-Works and JDA had formed a limited liability company called Raymond Road Associates, which had control of the private parcels and was negotiating with the town to include several town-owned parcels of land as well.

“In looking at the private site, we didn’t want to do a separate development that would compete with the existing town center area,” says Heapes. “When combined with other available land, we had enough area that we could connect to the synergy of the town center and expand it in a win-win situation for the town center land owners and merchants.”

Raymond Road Associates had many discussions with the town to create some more assemblage opportunities. Input from the town council, neighborhood groups and other local residents were pivotal in Blue Back Square coming to fruition. The developers assembled the land with private funds, and the only investment of taxpayers is through bonds that will fund public improvements and be repaid with new revenues created by the project.

“It’s not a traditional public-private partnership,” says Heapes. “When we are finished, the town will own the parking garages, the public space and the streets and sidewalks. However, we will own the buildings, just like any other traditionally developed part of town.”

Blue Back Square is creating a new downtown for West Hartford; the project is scheduled to open in 2007.

“When you see the site it really jumps out at you,” says Langhorne. “You can see the potential for something special here.”

Over the last 6 months of 2003, the companies crafted a deal and jumped into the project. At the time, Ronus had shifted its focus from acquisitions to become more involved in development deals to increase returns. For Ronus, it is also a shift of another sort — Blue Back Square is the company’s first project outside the Southeast. But Blue Back Square was also “a perfect fit for the company from a joint venture point of view,” says Langhorne.

“It married Street-Works and Raymond Road Associates’ vision in finding the site, defining what needed to be there and combined well with Ronus’ operational expertise in managing the project down the road,” says Langhorne. “We were willing to come in and risk some fairly significant predevelopment dollars in order to get the returns we thought Blue Back Square would offer. While it’s not in our backyard, it’s tough to find a project like this and that’s why we’re here.”

The old Board of Education building will be a major point of the new development. The town council had long wanted to consolidate the Board of Education with the town administration, but didn’t know what to do with the obsolete Board of Education office building. The plan for Blue Back Square will allow renovations to the Town Hall including new facilities for the Board of Education, library expansions, road improvements and a new park and square for public, neighborhood gathering.

As part of the project, the developers are building two parking decks, which will be owned and managed by the town. All of this infrastructure will help support the Ronus/Street-Works/JDA development. Blue Back Square will be the first downtown multi-story, mixed-use project in the market. Among key components of the project are a medical office building that supports Hartford Hospital; a separate professional office building; two multifamily condominium buildings and several retail buildings. Retailers signed to the project include Crate & Barrel, REI, Barnes & Noble, and Criterion Cinemas. Small shop space will fill in the balance of the available retail. While the companies have locked in the anchor leases, they have waited to lease the smaller retail space since the project is still 18 months from opening.

Several restaurants, from cafés to white tablecloth, will also anchor the project. Restaurant tenants at the project include Fleming’s Steakhouse and a concept by Paul Ardaji, a renowned operator based in Greenwich, Connecticut that has executed a lease for a signature restaurant to be announced shortly. All of the office and residential buildings have retail space on the ground floor. Overall, retail will occupy approximately one-third of the project’s space.

Robin Mosle, previously of Street-Works, recently joined Boston-based Samuels & Associates as executive vice president of leasing and will continue leasing the retail space within the project. Her background also includes time spent with Federal Realty on several high profile urban centers.

“We are thrilled to bring Robin’s expertise in-house and at the same time become involved in West Hartford’s premier development. This will allow Robin to maintain continuity with leasing for the project and build upon the success already achieved to date,” says Howard Grossman, a principal with Samuels & Associates.

Complementing Blue Back Square will be downtown West Hartford’s existing retail and restaurant scene, which is already vibrant. Carpenter & Company recently developed a Whole Foods grocery store located across from Blue Back Square. The city’s most popular restaurants are located downtown, and the developers want to complement that use, not overtake it.

“Downtown West Hartford’s existing retail is very healthy,” says Heapes. “Rent rates are stable and they have some very good tenants. We want to add to that mix.”

Design for the project is based on the existing buildings in West Hartford. While most of the buildings will be new, their architecture is based on the designs of older buildings in the city, including the historic library and town hall.

Oddly enough, at one point many years ago, there was a movie theater and department store among the mix of tenants downtown. When the mall moved in, those tenants left.

“We’re bringing that energy back,” says Heapes.

Construction is underway on the project, and the developers hope to open Blue Back Square in fall 2007. 

©2006 France Publications, Inc. Duplication or reproduction of this article not permitted without authorization from France Publications, Inc. For information on reprints of this article contact Barbara Sherer at (630) 554-6054.