The redevelopment of a long-blighted corner northwest of Dunkin’ Donuts Park — seen as part of a critical but broken link between downtown Hartford and the city’s North End — is expanding in scope to include two neighboring historic buildings.
The apartments and storefront space planned for city-owned land at the corner of Main and Ann Uccello streets — where the Arrowhead Cafe building stands — is now expected to take in the vacant “Flat Iron” building. The redevelopment also would encompass another historic building just to the west of the city’s property where there is a housing cooperative.
Fernando Betancourt, executive director of the Hartford-based nonprofit San Juan Center Inc. and a partner in the redevelopment, said purchase options are in place for the two buildings. He declined to disclose negotiated prices.
Adding the two buildings would nearly double the number of apartments to 43 and push the project’s cost from $6 million to $17.5 million.
Betancourt said bringing the two buildings into the project made sense. Plans call for closing off a portion of Ann Uccello Street, already dead-ended where it meets Main, for a pedestrian plaza. The plaza would be tree-lined with outdoor seating with space for vendors or trucks and, perhaps, a fountain.
An application has been made for $6.5 million through the state’s Connecticut Communities Challenge Grant program. The grant is seen as essential to closing the loop on the project’s financing. The Capital Region Development Authority, which has helped finance housing projects in and around downtown, also has said it could potentially provide funding.
Construction could begin later this year, Betancourt said, although further city approvals would first be needed.
The “Flat Iron” building, so named because its shape resembles a similar, more famous structure in New York City, is owned by Shelbourne Global Solutions LLC, downtown’s largest commercial landlord. Shelbourne paid $300,000 for the building in 2020.
Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin said the addition of the two historic buildings only strengthens the city’s aspirations for the area.
Last summer, the city chose the San Juan Center and a partner, Meriden-based builder Carabetta Cos. as the preferred developer for the city-owned property, a project encompassing renovation of the Arrowhead Cafe building and new construction on land next door.
“The city acquired the Arrowhead Cafe building because it was a vacant, blighted structure that we wanted to bring back to life,” Bronin said. “The opportunity to do that with the renovation and revitalization of the Flat Iron building would be even more powerful.”
The project also pushes northward from redevelopment of apartments, storefronts and parking garage space bustling around Dunkin’ Donuts Park, the city’s minor league ballpark.
The project at Main and Ann Uccello is at the northwestern end of a block diagonally across from the ballpark, which reflects the architectural style and scale of the city in the late 1800s.
The San Juan Center and Carabetta are tackling a redevelopment seen as a key step in stitching back together downtown and the city’s northern neighborhoods, torn apart by the construction of I-84 in the early 1970s.
But the redevelopment also is a cog in a much broader strategy to push revitalization deeper into the city’s northern neighborhoods.
The city has its eye on the wider area around the three-way intersection of Main and Ann Uccello streets and Albany Avenue where it has acquired wide swaths of mostly abandoned property.
And this summer, a study of the area, starting at the three-way intersection and running north up Albany and Main is expected to recommend the best options for further redevelopment.
Betancourt said the project is critical for the San Juan Center because the Latino nonprofit that serves low- and moderate-income people in Greater Hartford was founded in the same area six decades ago.
Betancourt also said the area gradually lost population after the highway was built, and the area fell into disrepair.
“Now there is a possibility of reconnecting and increasing the density,” Betancourt said, building up the number of both residents and business owners, again making the area attractive and walkable.
Betancourt said the project at Main and Ann Uccello will be a mix of affordable and market-rate rents, crucial to ensuring the new development will provide another housing option to people already living in neighborhoods to the north.
“All the pieces start coming together,” Betancourt said. “Our priority is to create this as brown and Black opportunities that start developing like everyone else.”
Betancourt said he also believes the demand for the apartment rentals and storefront leases will be there.
Last year, the San Juan Center, headquartered in the same historic block opposite the ballpark, completed a $1.35 million renovation of its building. The project created 10 rentals and 2,500 square feet of storefront space.
Betancourt said all 10 apartments leased without advertising and there hasn’t been any turnover. One of the two storefronts is Semilla Cafe + Studio and the other is near to being leased, Betancourt said, declining to identify the tenant.
Kenneth R. Gosselin can be reached at kgosselin@courant.com.
