Steven Zahm@ Enrique
I recommend against setting any folder permission to 777. I would use 755 and only if needed use 767.
You would not use the legacy template installer for your template. Please follow the template installation instructions on this page. The short version is that you should install and activate the template as a plugin, it will then show up on the Connections : Templates admin page. You would not use the /connections_templates/ folder because that is only to support legacy templates.
As for the installation issues with the plugins, it seems somehow that WordPress is thoroughly confused and has left files laying around from past install attempts.
My suggestion, it should be safe to completely empty the /wp-content/upgrade/ folder. However, make a backup of the files within and then delete everything and try installing again.