Park And Main Plans Offered

September 9, 2005
By JEFFREY B. COHEN, Courant Staff Writer

Developers with competing visions of what is best for the intersection of Park and Main streets in Hartford - the gateway to the Latino community - made their pitches to the city redevelopment agency Thursday night.

No action was taken at the meeting, but new details were disclosed on the two proposals, which were submitted this summer.

Most significant, one developer said its proposal would need less than half the government subsidy first proposed, and the other said the two towers it planned could grow even higher.

Brothers Joseph and Frank Citino of Providian Builders proposed a $26 million, five-story, antique-looking complex with apartment, retail and office space and parking. Providian, of Hartford, plans 75 apartments, 57 units of retail space and 88 business spaces. They revised their numbers to say that they needed less than $2 million of government assistance, not the $5 million first proposed.

"We have a space here on the corner of Park and Main that I think is essential to bridge the gap between three very important communities in the city," Joseph Citino said, referring to the South End, Park Street, and downtown.

Agency member John Harris asked whether Citino's project took into account the neighborhood's existing families.

Citino said the parcel is not suited for families, but many of the future developments that could result from the proposal would be suitable for families with children.

Agency Chairman Jose Del Castillo asked how well the Citinos' prior building experience in residential housing prepared them for a large, mixed-use project.

"We're builders," Citino responded. "Give us a set of blueprints, we'll build the trade centers."

In a competing plan, a group of Hispanic city businessmen, working as Solaris Group LLC, have partnered with developer Theodore M. Amenta of A & Co., LLC. Together, as Plaza Mayor LLC, they at first proposed a $64 million complex with two high-rise residential towers of 10 and 17 stories. The project would include more than 40 condominiums, a banquet hall, a boutique hotel, a chapel, parking and a 40,000-square-foot square called Plaza Mayor.

Amenta said the towers could grow to more than 20 stories each with improved views and fewer units per floor. The plans are still in the works, he said.

The plan would use $24 million in private equity, but would need more than $17 million in government assistance. The profit made on the residential units would subsidize the loss the developers expect to take on the retail, he said.

The partners in Solaris Group include Carlos M. Lopez, Angel Sierra, Carlos Valinho, Cesar Mejia and Alexander Aponte, the city's former top lawyer.

Harris, who again expressed his concern about displacing neighborhood residents, said the towers are "kind of sticking up like a sore thumb."

In referencing the towers, Amenta said the project was conceived "in response to what we think the community feels, and that is: Appeal to people's aspirations, don't appeal to the obvious market."

Toward the end of the presentation, Citino, of Providian, asked whether he could ask "a very important question" of Amenta, and prodded his competition about pricing and other financial information.

The question got both a response from Amenta and an objection from Miguel Matos, a board member of the Capital City Economic Authority and a former paid consultant to the Solaris group.

"It is very unfair and not right to be giving the competing proposers the opportunity to grill our team," said Matos, prefacing his comment by saying he was speaking as a regular citizen, not as an interested party. "I just wanted that on the record."