The historic firehouse in downtown Hartford — closed earlier this year after nearly a century in operation – is up for sale by the city, perhaps a bit of a long shot with the state still in the thick of the coronavirus outbreak.
“We’re still in the midst of a pandemic, and there is tremendous economic uncertainty, so we go into this eyes wide open knowing that we may not get a response that’s persuasive or appealing to us,” Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin said Wednesday. “That doesn’t mean that it’s not worth trying or testing the market or getting this property on the radar screen of investors and developers who may be interested in it either now or later.”
In documents offering the 3-story, brick structure on Pearl Street, the fair market value as of May, 2016 was $2.2 million. The documents say the fair market value is not a minimum bid, but that price proposals — required by the city — would be an important consideration in the evaluation of proposals.
“The building requires a lot of work, but it is also a beautiful building, a historic building and a building with a terrific location,” Bronin said.
The 64,000-square-foot structure is within short walking distance to Bushnell Park and Union Station, an attractive location. As its closing loomed, the firehouse has been thought of as prime for conversion into entertainment space on the first floor and apartments above.
The city has long sought to encourage housing along the perimeter of Bushnell Park.
“Time and time again, that building has come up on our radar screen,” Michael W. Freimuth, executive director of the Capital Region Development Authority, which has helped finance more than a dozen apartment conversion projects downtown in the past five years. “Obviously, we would be interested in helping out on that site.”
Freimuth said “in a perfect world” a restaurant on the first floor would make sense with residential on the upper floors.
“We don’t live in a perfect world at the moment so I don’t know who is making investments at this hour in new real estate,” Freimuth said.
The earliest portions of the firehouse date to 1918, but the structure was expanded to its current size in 1926.
The closing of the firehouse, which once served as fire headquarters for the city, had been anticipated since 2013 when the city’s new public safety complex opened. The city has had some interest, including conversion to a brewery and housing.
The firehouse also backs up to the long-vacant YMCA building, owned by Northland Investment Corp, of Newton, Mass. Northland last proposed replacing the building with a 7-story apartment building in 2015, but those plans went nowhere. Northland has owned the property since 2008.
Bronin noted the firehouse is just a block west of TheaterWorks and there could be some complementary use options.
“But again, there are so many things that this building could be that we’re not trying to be prescriptive,” Bronin said. “We don’t go into this with any immovable ideas about what this building ought to be used as.”
Proposals, which must show proof of access to financing, are due to the city by Oct. 20.
