A major thoroughfare around high-profile intersections where some properties have stood empty for years is getting a boost.
It is the street connecting downtown Hartford to West Hartford and it’s getting a nearly $6 million injection to fund business development
Farmington Avenue — running two miles through the Asylum Hill and West End neighborhoods — now joins other major corridors in Hartford already targeted for similar funding— Maple Avenue, Albany Avenue, Barbour Street and Park Street. The $5.6 million for Farmington Avenue — its approximate mid-point the Mark Twain House — is to help finance small businesses to build more walkable neighborhoods and encourage vibrancy that has been lacking.
Two intersections, at Laurel Street, where an $8 million renovation of the former Aetna Diner — long known as the “Comet” — is well underway; and at Sisson Avenue, where the former Churrascaria Braza building has stood vacant since the Brazilian-style restaurant closed in 2012.
“Look, we are going to continue to fight and build a strong downtown that is the crown jewel of this capital city,” Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam said. “But cities can’t be just downtowns, they’ve got to be neighborhoods, too. Neighborhoods, in fact, are the lifeblood of this city. We have been very intentional in investing [in] neighborhoods.”
The funding includes $2 million approved by the State Bond Commission Thursday, plus $2.2 million in federal funds that had been allocated for the redevelopment where a food truck park on Farmington Avenue is now located and another $1.4 million in new city funds.
People gather together on opening night at WestSide Square Hartford, Friday, July 22, 2022.
The funding was announced in a news conference at the legislative office building following the bond commission meeting.
Speaker of the House Matt Ritter, a Hartford Democrat who pushed for the state funding, said the program was a logical next step following the recent completion of a $12.3 million streetscape on Farmington Avenue in the West End.
The former Aetna Diner, a vintage, 1940s chrome structure, is now in the midst of an $8 million renovation. If a restaurant is signed as a tenant, the venue could open in the fall.
(Kenneth R. Gosselin/Hartford Courant)
“Now the street looks really good, it’s a lot safer for pedestrians,” Ritter said. “Now we need activity on the street. Now, we need the stores.”
The closing of the Brazilian restaurant — the now, city-owned building at 488 Farmington Ave. still bearing the Braza name — is longstanding. But Ritter, who grew up on nearby Woodland Street and still lives in the West End, said the area around Sisson Avenue has suffered some high-profile closures of long-time businesses, including the Half Door Irish gastropub, and Tisane Euro-Asian Café, a tea house and cocktail bar. (Ritter said a new bar and restaurant is poised to open in the Tisane space, but he didn’t give details.)
“It is a missing link right now and unfortunately there’s been this invasion — and that’s the term that I use — of smoke shops and tobacco shops that have sold legal marijuana at times or things that they shouldn’t be selling here in Connecticut. The attorney general and (the department of consumer protection) have had raids and lawsuits. That isn’t the kind of economic vitality that we’re looking for anywhere.”
The new funding will push the total for the Neighborhood Investment Fund program to $10.6 million, a portion of of Arulampalam’s broader focus on homeownership, economic development and programs for children and youth in children outside of downtown.
By focusing on specific areas, the investment fund seeks to create a “cluster effect” of revitalization, city officials said.
Arulampalam said the city has sought a buyer for the former Braza restaurant building several times since taking ownership for unpaid taxes in 2019. The city has said it would like to see a restaurant or entertainment venue in the space.
“It hasn’t gotten the level of interest that we would hope for just because it takes a lot to be able to rebuild the physical space within that,” Arulampalam said. “What we’ve seen through the Hart Lift program — mostly in our downtown — is when the government steps in and is able to provide the dollars upfront for the revitalization of the space and the build-out cost, small businesses can really be successful in those spaces.
The Hart Lift storefront revitalization program, introduced under the administration of former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin using pandemic relief funding, gave matching grants to building owners to open up shuttered storefronts and has enjoyed success, particularly downtown.
The vintage, 1940s diner at the corner of Farmington Avenue and Laurel Street has been home to a long line of restaurants beginning with The Aetna Diner. (Courant File Photo)
Under the funding program for the city’s major thoroughfares, commercial property owners can qualify for loans of up to $250,000 but must demonstrate there are other sources of funding for the planned storefront business. The loan is “forgivable” — essentially meaning it doesn’t have to be paid back — after five years as long as borrowing conditions are met. There is not a “matching” requirement.
The renovation of the 1940s vintage chrome Aetna Diner — once narrowly escaping demolition — could be completed this fall. The project has already has received $4.3 million in state funding.
On Thursday, the diner’s owner Wayne Benjamin, a former city official and principal in Triumph Venture Capital LLC of Windsor, said he didn’t know if he would apply for additional funding for the project.
David MacDonald, executive director of the Asylum Hill Neighborhood Association, the area’s neighborhood revitalization zone, said Thursday he has been advocating for additional funding for economic development on Farmington Avenue for years.
“We’re invested all this money in the Comet diner,” MacDonald said. “We need to finish Farmington Avenue. We need to finish the job.”
Kenneth R. Gosselin can be reached at kgosselin@courant.com.
