Concerns over the loss of parking to redevelopment south of Hartford’s Bushnell Park could trigger a rare conflict between the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts and Capital Region Development Authority. CRDA Executive Director Michael Freimuth, on Thursday, told the agency’s Regional & Economic Development Committee that Norwalk-based Spinnaker Real Estate Partners is seeking a CRDA loan to buy the lot from The Simon Konover Co. “We feel a solution to the Bushnell’s longer-term parking needs has to be part of the CRDA’s objectives and consideration,” Patricelli said. “Without that, frankly, the principal economic driver of the neighborhood, the Bushnell itself, would not survive.” “The one thing we can all agree on is we don’t want a long-term parking lot there, and there has to be something bigger than surface parking,” Freimuth said. “And that’s got to be part of any agreement and any deal and any structure going forward.” The plan calls for transformation of a wide swath of parking lots just south of Bushnell Park into a neighborhood of 1,200 households, mixed with parks, commercial space and parking structures.
https://www.hartfordbusiness.com/article/hartfords-bushnell-theater-worries-parking-lost-to-redevelopment-could-spell-trouble