President Announces Funding For Adriaen's Landing Project (The Hartford Courant)- Hartford's renewal gained a second wind Thursday as President Clinton offered moral support and corporations pledged nearly $200 million, but a big, ornery job remained behind as the cheering crowds on Albany Avenue and in Frog Hollow dispersed. To begin with, the renewed corporate commitments revealed this week fell short - but not far short - of the $210 million in private investment required to unleash $455 million in state money for Adriaen's Landing. It appears that about $170 million might qualify. And even with Hartford's corporations standing by with possible financing, the developers of Adriaen's Landing still need stores, restaurants and entertainment providers who believe there is enough demand to do business in downtown Hartford. Some of the money would go to specific projects, such as $20 million in equity from the Waterford Group and an $82 million loan from People's Bank to build a 700-room hotel at Adriaen's Landing. Other dollars pledged Thursday by Aetna Inc., Citigroup, FleetBoston, Phoenix Home Life Mutual Insurance Co. and Advest may go to an investment fund that would provide loans to businesses and developers at below-market rates. Despite the questions, the president's visit was a huge boost for those hoping to rebuild Hartford. Adriaen's Landing "was a big fat balloon that burst," said Hartford leader Bernadine Silvers, referring to the Patriots debacle. "But the breath that blew the balloon in the first place is still strong, and now it can be reinflated in a more steady and gradual way." Clinton visited Hartford as part of his New Markets Initiative - ranking Connecticut's capital in the same league with Newark, N.J., East St. Louis, Ill., and the Mississippi Delta - as islands of poverty in a nation on the brink of its longest economic expansion. In speeches at the Artists Collective on Albany Avenue, the president the Rev. Jesse Jackson and others sounded themes moral as well as economic, praising local companies for investing in downtown and in Hartford's neighborhoods. But as much as the president's visit lifted spirits, and as much as the newly promised $190 million might help redevelopment happen, the hard realities of big-time real estate development stand as an obstacle. The statement by Hartford's corporations is, basically, "We want this to happen and we're willing to finance out of any of those cities," he said. The corporate money will satisfy the legislature's $210 million requirement for private investment for Adriaen's Landing. Private investment throughout downtown could qualify so long as it is related to Adriaen's Landing. But if the investment does not happen at Adriaen's Landing, will the riverfront project be nothing but a domed stadium, a convention center and a ritzy hotel? Inside the El Mercado marketplace on Park Street, Clinton emerged beneath a cow mural and a rack of coconut soda to greet star-struck merchants who do business at the Latino marketplace. The president pushed in and out of booths, posing for pictures with merchants snapped by Trinity College President Evan Dobelle. Outside on Park Street, the president looked up at the signs and storefronts of neighborhood merchants, many of which have been restored since his first visit during a campaign stop in 1992.

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