I passed by a newspaper bin today with an issue of the Register Citizen proclaiming, "Torrington's Empty Storefronts: Opportunity Seen".
If you've been keeping up with my local commentary you know I've addressed my feelings on the issue of downtown's redevelopment. The RC article is an interesting read, I've been told about 'Torrington's heyday' and how packed downtown usually was. Same story in a lot of industrial areas, sure. And while I appreciate the constructive intention of the Torrington Development Corp., I'm still wondering where this progress is...
.. then you look closer at the actual development plans. I don't know how they're going to pull this off, but I like it. Bulldoze the apartments on Maiden Lane for parking? Wow. Totally nix the intersection entrance to Franklin Street and clear out buildings for parking? Wow, again. Cemetery-view parking? Nice. Remodeling the old factory buildings for commercial space?! Fantastic. River walkways? Foot bridges connecting either side of the river?! One-way main street with added greenspace downtown?!! Total redesign of the Torrington Plaza?! Wow. It's going to start looking like the Shoppes at Farmington Valley. Which.. is good.
My initial glance at these plans didn't allow me to fully appreciate the depth of this project, but upon re-examination, I really like it. It's .. rather crazy, but if they make this happen within ten years I'll be impressed...
Check out the conceptual redevelopment plan at the TDC site, it's the same high res PDF I pulled the above images from.
In the comments section from the RC article linked above, "Reader" makes a great point:
" Take the lead from Blueback Square in West Hartford. . . parking and all. Imagine being able to walk into a Borders bookstore or an authentic shoe store (no bogo). "
Well.. that may be a bit of a stretch, but it's food for thought. The "bones of downtown" certainly exist, but let's get some meat on them already!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment