Print

Front Street Rolling Ahead

By Andy Hart

June 27, 2013

When it rains it pours, and it looks like the long drought is finally ending for the Front Street Development at Adriaen’s Landing in Downtown Hartford.

On Tuesday, the Hartford Courant reported that the University of Connecticut will probably select the old Hartford Times building on Prospect Street as the site of its new branch campus. However, UCONN?has made no official decision on a site and several other properties in Hartford are still under consideration. The new campus would bring 2,500 students and faculty into Downtown Hartford on a daily basis.

On Wednesday, the Courant reported that the HB?Nitkin Group, developers of Front Street, is close to signing a deal that would bring in a “casual, mid-priced family restaurant” to the site.

Front Street, located at the northwest corner of Arch Street and Columbus Boulevard, was part of the original proposal for the Adriaen’s Landing complex in the mid-1990s.

Since then, the other major components of the complex, including the Connecticut Convention Center, the Connecticut Science Center and the Downtown Marriott Hotel, have been completed and open for several years.

Front Street, however, has lagged behind. Construction of the first phase of the development was completed in 2010, but the first tenant, Spotlight Theaters, didn’t open until late last year. Now, however, Infinity Hall, an entertainment venue, has broken ground at Front Street and an upscale steak house is also scheduled to begin construction soon at the site.