From Hartford’s early days as a port city to its later role as a manufacturing hub and insurance capital, corporate leaders have played a key role in shaping the city’s development.
Executives from several of the city’s largest companies began meeting late last year to plan a new wave of investment, partnering with city and state leaders with the goal of revitalizing a city some of those corporations have called home for two centuries. A comprehensive report expected in early June will outline recommendations intended to guide public and private investment and shape Hartford’s next phase of development.
During a press conference Thursday in the atrium of The Hartford’s headquarters just west of downtown, leaders of the recently formed “Vision Committee” laid out broad goals and stressed the importance of corporate support.
Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam noted that corporate leaders helped lobby to make Hartford the state’s sole capital in 1875, and helped finance the purchase of land and construction of the state Capitol building.
“… it wouldn’t have happened if corporate leaders didn’t step up and say: ‘We are going to impact the trajectory of the city in a way that is going to be positive in the future,’” Arulampalam said. “And through successive generations of urban revitalization, investment in education, investment in economic development, investment in housing — corporate leaders have been at the forefront of each new chapter. And this is a day in which we turn the page on a new chapter, in which community leaders, civic leaders, and corporate leaders are standing together to build a vision for the next phase, … maybe the next 50 years of what this city is going to look like down the road.”
Christopher Swift, chairman and CEO of The Hartford, said the group has spent several months analyzing data and gathering input from residents, employers, developers and community partners with help from national design and strategy firm Streetsense.
One early conclusion: Hartford’s downtown economy remains heavily dependent on periodic events rather than daily activity.
“… Economic activity in the city is episodic and not consistent,” Swift said. “Cultural attractions, entertainment and sports events bring people downtown from time to time for an occasional activity, but a truly vibrant downtown needs residents whose presence gives life to the downtown. Downtown is the heart of Hartford and the civic identity of the city.”
The committee is examining ways to attract more people to live in the city center, including accelerating conversions of underused office buildings to housing and redeveloping vacant land or surface parking lots into residential projects.
The goal, Swift said, is to create a more diversified downtown economy supported by residents, visitors, retail and hospitality businesses, along with major employers. Restaurants and shops “need more than just office workers to thrive,” he said.
Streetsense Managing Director Larisa Ortiz said her group has calculated the city needs about 10,000 additional residents downtown to support retail, restaurants and, potentially, a small grocery store. Just how much housing is possible depends partly on a nearly finished city-commissioned study on the potential for office conversions, she said.
A push by city officials in partnership with the Capital Region Development Authority has added thousands of apartments to downtown Hartford over the past decade through office conversions and ground-up construction. Attracting downtown residents has become even more of an imperative following a move by most employers to hybrid work following the pandemic.
Of the roughly 36,000 workers based in downtown Hartford, half are not present at any given time during the week, she said.
Hartford HealthCare President and CEO Jeffrey Flaks, a member of the vision committee, said major institutions can play a key role in supporting Hartford’s economic vitality. He noted the health system located its headquarters downtown, bringing roughly 700 employees to the Pearl Street area. The headquarters was intentionally designed without a cafeteria to encourage employees to patronize downtown businesses.
Flaks also highlighted a series of ongoing investments on the Hartford Hospital campus, where he said more than 10 properties are currently under construction or being redeveloped. The projects include renovations of historic buildings and other properties that will be repurposed for future health care and institutional uses.
Among the developments is a new parking garage with more than 1,600 spaces that will include a training and development center, conference facilities and a ground-floor restaurant intended to bring new amenities to the surrounding neighborhood.
Flaks said the organization is also preparing to announce what he described as the largest health care investment in Connecticut’s history, centered in the Hartford Hospital area — which he referred to as the “healing triangle” bounded by Jefferson Street, Washington Street and Retreat Avenue.
“Progress is happening, but what this group is doing now is it’s accelerating it, and it’s bringing more capital investment, and it’s bringing more strategic alignment, and we’re bringing more expertise to bring guidance to support these efforts,” Flaks said.
Leaders from other institutions participating in the initiative emphasized the importance of cultural and civic anchors in strengthening downtown activity.
Hartford Public Library President and CEO Bridget Quinn said the library’s downtown location — scheduled to fully reopen June 1 after years of repairs following a 2022 flood — attracts thousands of weekly visitors and contributes to foot traffic for nearby businesses.
The renovated facility will include new event spaces, classrooms, studios and a café intended to make it a daily destination for residents and visitors.
The Vision Committee plans to release a comprehensive report in early June outlining recommended short-, medium- and long-term projects for Hartford.
Swift, speaking after the press conference, said the Vision Committee’s recommendations will focus on adding residents and boosting the vitality of the downtown core in the first few years of the initiative, radiating out into the neighborhoods in later phases.
“If I look at where the real opportunities are, it’s downtown, creating that more livable space, more residential, more retail, hospitality so people feel more connected to it,” Swift said.
There is a lot of vacant land in the downtown and adjacent area around Bushnell Park that would support hotels and other activity, he noted.
Swift said the Vision Committee has also zeroed in on possible redevelopment of Constitution Plaza, a six-building, 670,626-square-foot office complex located near the west bank of the Connecticut River. The plaza is currently undergoing foreclosure proceedings.
Swift said the group’s goal is to create a unified strategy that can guide both public and private investment in the city.
“If we do this right,” he said, “Hartford will become a place where residents want to live, workers want to stay after hours and visitors turn a single event into a full downtown experience.”
