High hopes again focus on building

9/3/07
There have been so many false starts and failed plans at this abandoned downtown building that it’s hard to get excited about any new ideas. Until there’s real progress, everyone will take a wait-and-see attitude when it comes to the former office building at 333 State St.
The latest plans show promise, but that’s all so far. In an innovative solution to the parking woes that apparently doomed the last attempt at reusing the structure, the refurbished building would feature a state-of-the-art automated car-storage system on the lower levels, above retail on the ground floor. A few floors of office and some extra space for luxury accommodations on top, and suddenly the building would go from embarrassment to landmark again.
It all sounds great. But we’ve been here before. The most recent plan to put about 60 apartments in the decaying structure fell through a few months ago. Now the city is turning to First National Development, headed by Garfield and Rebecca Spencer. It’s a firm that has seen some success in the city, and the move provides some hope for a positive outcome.
The most visible triumph has been the redevelopment of the former Warnaco factory in the South End into a residential complex called Lofts at Lafayette. The firm is also working on the refurbishment of the former Jefferson School into housing units and the projected transformation of a factory building in the West End.
333 State St. is a well-established embarrassment, encroaching on the campus of Housatonic Community College — one of the true bright spots downtown. It’s an absolute necessity to get something done about this decrepit hulk, whether it’s demolishing the building entirely or working with the available structure.
Everyone hopes to see the building come back to life again, especially because of its prominent real estate. It’s impossible to miss on any downtown excursion. With luck, we’ll be talking in a few years about the landmark automated parking system with the million-dollar views from the top-floor condominiums. But with all the history here, no one is getting too excited yet.