The preferred developer of a crucial piece in a new neighborhood planned in downtown Hartford is withdrawing from the project, a major setback for the redevelopment of a barren swath of parking lots near The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts. The Michaels Organization, of Camden, N.J., — chosen in late 2022 to develop the largest parking lot in the envisioned Bushnell South neighborhood — has reached an agreement with the Capital Region Development Authority to step away from the project aimed at creating apartments and storefront space. CRDA is overseeing the reshaping of the Bushnell South neighborhood. The quasi-public CRDA will now have to decide whether to seek new proposals for the nearly 3-acre site or potentially shift to a different focus that could include a larger share of homeownership options.
Plans for crucial piece of new CT neighborhood suffers major setback. ‘More questions than answers.’