The long-awaited Port Eastside mega-development got under way in January when contractors began demolishing an empty Bank of America building while East Hartford applied for $15 million in state aid for the project.
Heavy equipment has been razing the multi-level concrete parking garage at 99 Founders Plaza for the past several weeks, and then will tear down the 150,000-square-foot former Bank of America offices.
Developers then plan to construct 300 apartments in a new five-story complex as the first phase of Port Eastside, East Hartford’s biggest mixed residential and commercial project in recent decades.
The long-term plan is to create as many as 1,000 apartments on more than 28 acres across the Connecticut River from downtown Hartford along with new restaurants and entertainment venues.
But in the three years since a high-powered development partnership laid out the sprawling concept for nearly 30 acres of prime waterfront property, progress has been measured entirely in paperwork: purchase contracts, financing agreements, tax financing district settlements and the like.
The deployment of excavators, bulldozers and dump trucks at the bank site has given East Hartford residents a visual sign of change at Founders Plaza, a collection of office buildings that were modern a generation ago but in decline for the past 10 years or more.
The concrete Bank of America office had been a vibrant employment hub after it was put up in 1971, serving as a regional check-processing facility. It’s been empty for years, leaving nearly 8 acres of the town’s most desirably located property wasted.
“The garage is already halfway down which is very exciting,” Mayor Connor Martin told residents two weeks ago. “Then 99 Founders will go down itself. That is to make way for 300-plus (housing) apartments down by the river.”
“The clearing and cleaning up of these buildings is the first step in the multi-year transformation of East Hartford’s side of the Connecticut River, and we are grateful for all that Mayor Martin, the town of East Hartford, House Majority Leader Rojas and the town’s legislative delegation did to make today possible,” Bruce Simons, a partner in Port Eastside, said in a written statement Wednesday.
“There is a great deal of work that needs to be done to prepare the site and build the infrastructure that will support the residences, businesses, and features here, and we are energized to take the first steps forward.”
The state last year put up $6.5 million in aid to cover part of the demolition and cleanup costs at 99 Founders, and the town is asking for another $15 million to help developers with the biggest component of Port Eastside: Transforming 111 Founders Plaza into upscale housing.
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