The Hartford Planning and Zoning Board is being asked to sign off on a special permit for a 31,700-square-foot building at 1161 Albany Ave., that would blend a new home for Hartford’s health department with retail uses.
City officials have already signed off on aspects of a plan that would have the nonprofit National Development Council construct a two-story building that would ultimately be turned over to city ownership.
William Diaz, a project leader in the city’s economic development department, said he believes the special permit is required for a drive-up window for a bank that will be incorporated into the building.
The roughly $12 million construction, Diaz said, will be funded with $5.5 million from the Capital Region Development Corp., and $6.5 million in city funds. The hope is to launch this fall, he said.
The building will host a bank, the health department, a WIC office and, hopefully, a restaurant, he said.
Diaz said the city hopes to break ground quickly on this development of vacant land at the southwest corner of the intersection of Albany Avenue and Woodland Street.
“We are trying to move full speed ahead,” Diaz said. “We are hoping for a groundbreaking in September. This is something the community has wanted for decades.”
Attempts to reach a representative of the National Development Council were unsuccessful.
