Interesting article about the development progress Hartford is meeting. From the Courant:
Part of the bet on downtown Hartford’s revival was that young professionals and suburban empty-nesters would migrate into the city’s newly built apartments. Half of that formula has panned out — young people like Healey looking for smaller, less-expensive units and the action of a downtown have come, making it hard to find studio and one-bedroom apartments.
Healey’s building has two-bedroom units to rent right now and nothing else; the waiting list for a studio is 10-deep. At the Lofts at Main and Temple, on the site of the old Sage-Allen building, all of the studios and one-bedrooms are spoken for while four of 19 two-bedrooms are unoccupied.
And not far away at the towering, high-end Hartford 21, all of the 97 one-bedroom units are rented, while two-thirds of the 160 two bedrooms remain vacant.
Larger, more expensive units on the market have moved more slowly, as older, more-settled suburban residents have been slower to migrate downtown. Developers say slumping real estate values and the challenge of persuading people to leave the suburbs for the city have kept some suburbanites in suburbia.
“While there are some empty-nesters, it appears that the younger generations are more willing to live in some of the newer properties in downtown Hartford,” said Michael Stone, a multi-housing specialist at real estate firm CB Richard Ellis.
Hrmm, the popularity of studios and one bedrooms, now where have I heard discussions about that before I wonder.
