Bushnell South Neighborhood Development

Introduction

The Bushnell South Planning Consortium is developing a comprehensive master plan and real estate development framework to provide a guide for future development in 20 acres of properties and parking lots surrounding the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford.

The plan is to transform high-opportunity, empty blocks into a new, mixed-use, mid-rise neighborhood and arts and entertainment district, linking Main Street to the Capitol, and Park Street to Bushnell Park.

The area includes public- and privately-owned land positioned for development, including property owned by the quasi-public CRDA, parcels/buildings owned by the State of Connecticut (including some scheduled for transfer to CRDA), the Bushnell Memorial Hall, and privately-owned town homes on Elm Street that together form a nearly 20-acre area. This property encompasses 15 acres of vacant land, and includes several historic buildings, a newly constructed 432-space parking garage, a new public park and renovated state office complex - all literally within one block of the State Capitol complex.

The long-term goal for the redevelopment of this area is not simply to make better use of surface parking lots, but to create a new Hartford attraction in the form of a multi-use residential area on the south side of the Olmstead-designed Bushnell Park. We hope to create a new residential and entertainment-based attraction for the city that would better connect the downtown central business district with the Hartford Hospital Health Care complex and the broader neighborhood lying to the south of the State Capitol.