🔒Chambers of commerce are pitching in to help facilitate smart growth

Over the past 20 years, urban development has taken a more people-friendly turn. Developers, architects, and city and state officials have shifted away from traffic-oriented designs in favor of pedestrian-oriented, mixed-use communities, centered around easily accessible transit systems.

Smart-growth development has replaced urban sprawl. People of all ages are gravitating towards safe, walkable, neighborhoods that offer appealing housing options, chic offices and retail storefronts, and welcoming green spaces – places to live, work and play.

In Connecticut, several chambers of commerce are beginning to take a stronger interest and more active role in promoting and supporting these types of developments.

A Bridge to the Future

The downtown area of Bridgeport – Connecticut’s largest city, with more than 146,000 residents – is a promising case in point.

Dan Onofrio, president and CEO of the Bridgeport Regional Business Council (BRBC), said the organization is working hard not only to revitalize the downtown area but to get the word out that the “Park City” is making a comeback.

“We’re really trying to reposition the city as a destination,” he said.

Bridgeport is an historic seaport situated on Long Island Sound, just an hour from Manhattan. While it has gotten some bad press over the years, evidence of revitalization is everywhere, said Onofrio – from a glitzy new amphitheater set to open next year on the site of the old Bluefish Stadium, to Harlan Haus, a German-inspired bier and wurst hall that opened last year in the historic People’s Bank Building, to the revived $1 billion, 2.8 million-square-foot Steelpointe Harbor development, with multiple dining, shopping and lodging options.

There have also been talks of the city getting a casino that could add thousands of jobs. Onofrio said that would build on the theme of Bridgeport being a destination and tap into an underserved market.

With convenient transportation links like the Metro-North trains, I-95, and a ferry running between Bridgeport and Long Island Sound, he said, “we’d like to see residents of New York and Westchester County and southern Fairfield County come here, not just to game, but to enjoy Bridgeport Harbor and the marina that’s being built.” The casino, which would inject an estimated billions of dollars into the economy, must be approved by the state before it can move forward.

Housing is also getting a boost, with plans underway by a New York developer to transform a block of empty, burned-out factory buildings adjacent to I-95 into upscale apartments, retail space, and a new 70,000-square-foot charter school. “The first building, Cherry Street Lofts, has 140 units that have all been basically spoken for, many of which people were buying sight unseen.”

Meanwhile, Manhattan-based Time Equities Inc. (TEI) has purchased more than $43 million in city properties since last November and is “really looking forward to continuing this streak in Bridgeport,” according to TEI acquisitions director Brian Soto.

For members of the BRBC, all of that is heady news. “I think we’re starting to see Bridgeport becoming the next Stamford of Connecticut, and not necessarily just corporate growth, but this mix of live, work and play.”

The next challenge is to get the word out, and BRBC wants to take an active role in that. “Bridgeport has a lot to offer – Ralph ‘n’ Rich’s, The Stress Factory [comedy club], The Bijou Theater. On ‘Downtown Thursdays,’ thousands of people come to listen to live music on our community green, and not just people who already live here,” Onofrio said.

Given Live Nation’s involvement in the amphitheater project, “we’re expecting a lot of big shows. We have a seaside park and miles and miles of beautiful beaches, and the art community here is incredible. If we can bridge all of that together, and make it known, it will make Bridgeport a place where people want to come and spend time. It’s up to BRBC to help elevate all the opportunities here from a branding and messaging standpoint.”

As the region’s chamber, of course, BRBC is also working to support and expand the business community.

“Building a thriving business community will result in a thriving community, period,” he said, adding that a mix of the city’s accessible transportation network, its new market rate and affordable housing, a strong business sector, and plenty of things to do and see “creates that thriving eco-community. We’re at the cusp of it. There’s this excitement that something is happening; you can feel it as you walk around downtown. I would invite everyone to come and experience Bridgeport. It’s a wonderful city. Unfortunately, it’s been overlooked over the years. We want to help change that.”

Capitalizing on Hartford

Hartford finds itself in much the same position, with a lot to offer to both residents and visitors but tasked with publicizing all that it has to offer. Late last year, the MetroHartford Alliance, which serves as the regional chamber, spun out the Hartford Chamber of Commerce (HCC), a name that hadn’t been used for nearly two decades.

The move gives HCC increased autonomy in dealing with issues of specific interest to city businesses, while the Alliance will retain its focus on serving as an economic development agency and step up efforts to recruit new business to the region.

Julio Concepción, HCC’s new executive director, said the organization has three immediate missions.

The first is to actively solicit the business community’s ideas about what Hartford and the chamber should look like, and how HCC can best serve them.

Since taking the helm, Concepción has gone on a listening tour, meeting with a lot of small business and property owners, local merchants’ associations, members of the arts and entertainment community, “and pretty much anyone who was willing to sit down and talk to us. There have been a lot of common themes that have come out of it. I think the most pertinent and obvious one is having that one person that they can call, to really walk them through the process when it comes to opening up or expanding a business here in the city.”

The second common theme is to help people take advantage of Hartford’s many attractions and, in doing so, boost the small business community. “It’s not just about going to the Bushnell – it’s about going the Bushnell and having dinner at a local restaurant. How do we ensure that people truly experience what Hartford has to offer? So again, it’s trying to create that vibrancy by collectively working together, and not in silos.”

Third, he said, is marketing the city as a whole, including its neighborhoods.

Opportunities to do so can arise anywhere in the city, at any time. MetroHartford Alliance CEO David Griggs offered an example. He said past investments in the city were largely responsible for the NCAA tournament being held at the XL Center in downtown Hartford in late March, “and the partnership that went into presenting Hartford to the world on that stage was fantastic.”

About 25,000 people from all over the country showed up to attend the event, and many also attended an outdoor party on Pratt Street – closed to traffic for the occasion – that showcased the region’s breweries.

“That was an idea that came out of the chamber,” said Griggs. “It was a really wonderful opportunity for us to highlight the great things about Hartford to a national and, in some cases, global audience.” By the end of March, “Party on Pratt” and “Hartford Chamber of Commerce” had received more than 12 million social media impressions, he said.

“It’s about getting the word out, using these opportunities to entertain the tourists and visitors, some of whom are people who are making business decisions and may be deciding where to locate a future business. For that to happen, somebody has to know who we are, and often, the first way someone knows who we are is through tourism.”

Concepción said the idea for the party came from his listening tour and discussions about the success of Hartford’s four breweries. “They [the breweries] said, ‘You have a huge event coming to Hartford. How do we make sure we have a stake in that?’ We decided to take Hartford flavors to the street and leverage the tournament into a really great experience. Everyone came together to work on this – from the breweries and distilleries to Hartford Print, HPD, and the parking authority,” he said. “It’s not just one individual or one entity doing it by themselves.”

Moving forward, he said, “one of the things that David and I have talked about is that we shouldn’t have the chamber on the fifth floor of a building. We have to have a street presence where people can come in – something of a welcome center, where tourists, visitors, even residents who might not know where to go on a particular day, can get the information they need to enjoy the city.”

Like Bridgeport, Hartford has been engaging in smart growth for years, with numerous downtown housing units coming onto the market and exciting attractions being added, from the Connecticut Science Center to Dunkin’ Donuts Park (home of the Yard Goats) to a professional soccer stadium, home to the newly minted Hartford Athletic.

And more visionary developments are on the horizon. As part of a planned makeover of the section of I-84 that currently divides the city, plans are afoot to lower and reconfigure the highway, build a new multimodal station, and create housing, retail and office space just steps from Bushnell Park.

In August, the city of Hartford announced that it was moving forward with a $200 million plan to redevelop properties around Dunkin’ Donuts Park at the gateway to the city’s north end. The “DoNo” project, once completed, will include housing, offices, shops and parking. In June, the city approved the first phase, expected to include 200 apartments, 11,000 square feet of community and retail space, and a 250-spot parking garage. Mayor Luke Bronin said he’s hopeful the mixed-use development will also include a grocery store.

Meanwhile, HCC, the MetroHartford Alliance, the city of Hartford and a cadre of agencies, businesses and individuals are continuing to collaborate as they work to reimagine, rebuild, and revive Connecticut’s capital city.

A lot of progress has already been made, including the opening of UConn’s Hartford campus in 2017 after years of planning. That development has pumped new life into the area near the Connecticut Convention Center, adding “feet on the street” and infusing the city with another cohort of young people who are living downtown and patronizing the restaurants, shops and other attractions.

Said Griggs, “I think we’re doing well. When you look at downtown Stamford and the presence that UConn has there, you can begin to dream about where we can go with Hartford. UConn’s downtown campus is brand new. We need to nurture it and help it grow – and remove obstacles so they can be a significant part of the activity and vibrancy in our downtown core. There are examples for us to look at, and opportunities for us to emulate.”