A School in the West End: Site Visit

Yesterday we began our series on CREC’s proposal to buy the former Hartford College for Women campus from the University of Hartford and redevelop it into a permanent home for their Museum Academy magnet School. Today we take a photo tour of the site to identify the different buildings and share basic observations and information that we have gathered. Site Overview The site under discussion makes up most of the block of land that is

A School in the West End: Overview

This week we’re focusing on a single development proposal that has divided the residents of Hartford’s West End neighborhood. The Capitol Regional Education Council (CREC) is interested in building a school near the intersection of Asylum Avenue and Elizabeth Street. We’ll start with an overview today and do a site visit tomorrow. From there we’ll look at the arguments for and against the proposal. Finally, we’ll share our thoughts, analysis and conclusions after the inordinate

February Contracts: Full Speed Ahead

We had a sense that the real estate market was picking up, but numbers are even more impressive than we would have guessed. The number of single-family contracts written in Hartford County was up 50% over February of last year. The pace of deals this year is also ahead of 2010, when there was a first time home buyer tax credit. The strong January result is starting to look less like an abnormality. February continued

Buyers and Sellers Talking

As an agent, part of my job is to be an intermediary. My client communicates through me, I then relay a message to the other agent involved and they then communicate that information to their client. Buyers and sellers typically don’t talk to each other directly and, honestly, I prefer it that way. But how would a buyer and seller communicate directly if there are agents involved? And what can go wrong if they do

Sounding the Alarm

Last week we received a notice from the City of Hartford. It is time to renew our house alarm registration with the City’s Department of Emergency Services and Telecommunications. Residents of Hartford are required to register their alarm with the municipality. We pay $15 per year, which not only gets us into the systems, but also buys us free emergency responses for the first two false alarms within a 12 month period. There is no