UCONN Opens Downtown Hartford Campus

After years of planning, the University of Connecticut’s new downtown Hartford campus opened in August, 2017 and connected more than 3,100 students with the city’s businesses, sports venues, restaurants, museums, and community organizations. The  campus comprises space in the Hartford Times anchor building, the School of Social Work on Prospect Street, and nearly 20,000 square feet in the main downtown branch of the Hartford Public Library. Our attorneys represented UConn in connection with the relocation of its West Hartford University library facilities and operations to the main branch of the Hartford Public Library.

The transaction involved drafting and negotiating two separate three-party agreements. The first was a construction agreement and included the City of Hartford as the owner of the library building, the Hartford Public Library as the library operator, and UConn as the construction contractor. The primary challenge was to construct new library facilities in an older building – some for UConn’s exclusive use and other new facilities to be shared with the public – without unduly disrupting the public’s use of the library. The second agreement was an operating agreement, spelling out the rights and obligations of the three parties relative to shared library operations in a common building.