Blue Back Square’s official opening on Saturday

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. — A ribbon-cutting ceremony will mark the official opening of West Hartford Center’s newest addition, Blue Back Square, on November 3 at 10 a.m.  The event will be held on Webster Walk, near the statue of Noah Webster and the West Hartford public library on South Main Street. 
   
Speakers will be West Hartford [...]

Blue Back Square

It’s open.
Are you impressed? Is it better than you expected? A monstrosity? A wonder? What?
I took a little walk and found it reasonably human in its scale. That surprised me. I also learned that there’s almost nothing at Crate and Barrel that I can afford.

Are we “chopped liver” or what?

Channel 3’s Dennis House takes on the Blue Black Square newcomer “New York Sports Clubs” here: http://www.wfsb.com/getinthehouse/index.html
What do you think?

Blue Back rents are out of sight

According to the Courant, competition among potential tenants “is pushing office leasing rates up to nearly $40 a square foot, the highest seen in the region.”
It’s ultra hot real estate, which is great for our town.
Other developers can’t help noticing the riches, of course, which may mean more prime office space gets built in town before [...]

Blue Back Square update in Courant

Today’s story lets us know that one of the two parking garages is open – though not to the public yet - but the Healthtrax fitness club and the Hartford Hospital building are a little behind schedule (which explains why I’ve seen ads for the Healthtrax club before it’s open). The Nov. 1 opening for much of it [...]

Blue Back Square cited as model for growth

 Blue Back Square now
Developer Richard Heapes was heaping it on in Maryland this week, according to a  story in The Gazette, which covers the DC suburbs.
Pushing for more developments like Blue Back Square, Heapes “pointed to a project his company, Street-Works, is building in West Hartford, Conn., as an example. West Hartford gave his company $50 million [...]

Tight market for commercial space in West Hartford

Sentry Commercial reports that “West Hartford [is] still the tightest of all the suburban {Hartford] markets with a 6.4% vacancy rate- 60,000 sf of new office space at Blue Back Square will be delivered by the end of 2007 but 70% of that is already committed (Cummings & Lockwood is the first announced tenant for 11,000 [...]

Gofer Ice Cream eyes Blue Back Square

Moooooooooove, over, Maggie Moo’s! I’ve got a real scoop today. Gofer Ice Cream, another of those pricy ice cream shops, is looking for a spot at Blue Back Square. The company says on its blog that it believes the new development “would be a wonderful spot for a Gofer Ice Cream. Initial talks are underway and [...]

Of SUVs and parking woes at Whole Foods

One blogger believes that Blue Back Square is already tying up traffic, at least at the Whole Foods parking lot.
Of course, there probably wouldn’t be a Whole Foods there if it werent’ for Blue Back, but that’s another story.
The blogger’s right about all the SUVs, though. You’d think driving around town that they were giving SUVs [...]

New letter re Blue Black Square, from town manager

Letter from the Town Manager (March 23, 2007)While the first year of construction was spent mostly underground as utilities were installed and foundations were being poured, the second year you will see steel coming out of the ground as the key elements of Blue Back Square are taking shape.
The South Garage, renamed Memorial because of [...]