ESPN’s hometown looks to redevelop downtown

The City of Bristol, Connecticut, home to sports broadcaster ESPN, is teaming up with Renaissance Downtowns of Plainview, New York, to redevelop Bristol’s central business district. The municipality, about 20 miles southwest of Hartford, wants to create a walkable, mixed-use neighborhood with a substantial volume of housing. Redevelopment would focus on the 17-acre site of the demolished Bristol Centre Mall.

The mall came into being in 1969-70 as part of an urban renewal effort that wiped out much of the traditional grid of streets and buildings in the 61,000-population city’s downtown, according to information posted at Deadmalls.com. If Renaissance Downtowns is successful, Bristol will boast a lively downtown capable of attracting a broad mix of people, including employees of the city’s two largest enterprises — ESPN, which has 3,500 employees, and Bristol Hospital, which has over 1,100 employees.

Remnants of the Bristol’s old Main Street remain, and could help reestablish a sense of place, Ryan Porter, director of planning and development for Renaissance, told New Urban News. The company received a master developer agreement May 25 and will join the Bristol Downtown Development Corporation, the City, and stakeholders in a nine-month to two-year planning process to decide exactly what to build

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