more on blue back

one of my LEAST favorite subjects. a thorn in my paw. i don't want MORE people coming into my town center to shop. i don't like the ones that are there now. driving their suv, in summer with their $3,000 dog on display at one of the sidewalk cafes and designer clothing, noses in the air. i don't want my taxes to continue to go up and UP THEY HAVE BEEN GOING (our town gave over MILLIONS AND MILLIONS of dollars to blue back. RIDICULOUS). the traffic coming off of the park road exit is horrid right now. i cannot imagine what it WILL be like in the future. so the roads will need to be worked on, more police will be needed as well. there go our taxes again. the rents for the stores will be exorbitant. like the other stores currently in the center, many will be unable to afford them. stores will come and go like crazy. but my absolute favorite is the quote i am listing below from the hartford courant. if you can't read between the lines, let me translate for you, we (NOT ME MIND YOU) want a NON URBAN (ie WHITE AND/OR RICH) west hartford center. oh, the townsfolk will deny it to your face. they will say all are welcome. they will say how liberal and accepting they are. let me tell you that is NOT what they are really thinking. all are not welcome. the looks i get on the rare occasions i shop there are far from welcoming. i did go into the yarn shop yesterday (i never knew there was one there and i must admit i was delighted to find out about it) sit 'n knit and was treated quite well. knitters ARE a special breed though.

West Hartford Center's distinctive feel, a sort of "Urban Lite" that offers city charm without the grit.


Blue Back Condo Buyers Like 'Small City' Life



By TOM PULEO
Courant Staff Writer

December 24 2005

WEST HARTFORD -- Barbara and Arthur Spivak enjoyed their years in "the country." Now the kids are grown and they want something new. Now Avon Mountain looks more like a barrier than a buffer.

So they plan to leave West Simsbury, give up the 13-room house and 2 acres of privacy, and start anew in a condominium that sells for about $700,000 in West Hartford Center.

"We'd like a complete change now," said Barbara Spivak, 63, a fitness instructor. "I always wanted to move to New York or Boston, a big city, but I know that will never happen. West Hartford to me is the next best thing, a small city in a safe area.

"I think the center is one of the prettiest shopping centers in our travel that I have seen. I love the restaurants and I love the shops. And I'm excited about the [coming] theater because we do go to movies all the time."

Since October, prospective buyers have placed deposits on 27 of the 62 units available in the two buildings of "The Heritage" at Blue Back Square. One-bedroom condos start at about $350,000. Three, fifth-floor, three-bedroom units have been reserved at about $900,000, according to BBS Development, the partnership developing Blue Back Square with the town.

The Heritage is proving a hit among older folks, the so-called empty nesters, many from the Hartford region, who are willing to pay a premium to live above sidewalk shops in the region's strongest commercial district. The buyers cite West Hartford Center's distinctive feel, a sort of "Urban Lite" that offers city charm without the grit.

"It's all the advantages of city living without the disadvantages, the crime, the traffic," said Joyce Tarantino of McWilliams/Ballard, the Virginia-based sales and marketing firm retained by BBS Development. "It's a more convenient lifestyle. It's a healthy lifestyle; the temptation is not to get in the car all the time."

BBS broke ground this summer on the 20-acre Blue Back site just east of the center. The $159 million shopping, housing and entertainment complex will nearly double the size of the center, adding 30,000 square feet for retail use and 75,000 square feet for offices when it opens in about two years...............