I liked the old Fort Trumbull Neck. I haven't been by recently, but I assume it is still the moonscape it was when I was last in Connecticut's Whaling City. Cocorran Jennison was hired to masterly develop this dynamited neighborhood along the lines of the 'miracle' they conjured on Harbor Point in Boston, Mass. It just so happens, your correspondent lives across the train tracks, just a blighted beeline away, from the project that made this firm the developer of New London's choice. If he had a second story apartment he could look over the elevated exit ramp of I-93 and gaze in loving adoration at Cocoran Jennison's brightly lit sign posted over their headquarters.
It glows like a beacon in the night. One lantern if by land. Two lamps if by sea. 16 neon letters if by monied greed.
The stroll from the JFK/UMASS T station to Harbor Point is a treeless trudge along an avenue reminscent of Howard Street in New London, but with even less visual interest or amenities. This wouldn't bother New London's tree wardens. As any pedestrian will tell you, Connecticut's Whaling City has no love for shade.
As for Harbor Point's many vaunted and envied amenities, we will have to save them for a future dispatch. Let us just say that it is a cheerless as the NUSC compound is now, but with more people and more builldings. Sometimes, you can pay a lot of capital without making an investment. I am off on my motorcycle to scout around Harbor Point in order to deliver accurate, disappointing news. No news there.
W.K.