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A Parking Lot At Constitution Plaza? No Way!

Site Owner Rejects Requests

Mara Lee

September 16, 2010

One year ago today, demolition began at Broadcast House on Constitution Plaza, the former home of WFSB-TV, Channel 3, in downtown Hartford.

Lots of people are wondering what will happen to the hole in the ground that remains. Will it become a parking lot, like so many other prime parcels in the capital city?

Abul Islam, the owner of AI Engineering in Middletown, bought the property and tore down the 1960s-era building with the dream of opening an ultra-high-tech, green office tower about a dozen stories high, for his firm and others yet to commit.

Meanwhile, people have asked Islam whether he's willing to let them use the site as a parking lot, he said at a forum Wednesday night at the Hartford Public Library, on innovation and technology in Hartford.

His indignant answer: No way!

So Islam waits and hopes for enough tenants to finance his $45 million project.