Hartford officials are proposing to swap $4.4 million in loan funds for a grant to a long-running redevelopment of a 2.3-acre site along the Albany Avenue commercial corridor.
Grow America, a New York-based nonprofit development group, is developing a roughly 30,500-square-foot mixed-use building on city-owned property at the corner of Albany Avenue and Woodland Street.
Grow America and the city will both have ownership stakes in the finished building, a large portion of which will be used as a new headquarters for the city’s health department. There is also space allocated for a restaurant and bank branch.
The development was delayed by unexpected site contamination and lagging material deliveries, setting back negotiations to bring in tenants for the restaurant and bank spaces. As a result, rent that was anticipated to go into loan repayments has not yet materialized. It also means completed leases have not been signed, which was a condition for release of a previously approved $5.5 million loan from the Capital Region Development Authority to the project.
Swapping $4.4 million of that CRDA loan with a grant from the City of Hartford’s Revolving Loan Fund will allow the project to continue, according to CRDA Executive Director David Steuber.
A CRDA subcommittee has signed off on the concept, and the full CRDA board is scheduled to review the funding swap at its Thursday evening meeting.
Steuber said negotiations are ongoing with potential occupants for the restaurant and bank spaces.
The project, now about 60% complete, is slated for completion in January.
In 2023, plans called for a $12 million, two-story development anchored by the city’s health department. At the time, city officials said the project was expected to receive $5.5 million from CRDA and $6.5 million from the city.
But costs have escalated.
CRDA reported in October 2025 that the development had grown to approximately $19.4 million. At the time, funding included a $5.5 million CRDA loan, $12.85 million from the city’s revolving loan fund and another $1.05 million grant from the city. Construction was approaching 40% completion.
The project has also encountered unexpected environmental and stormwater expenses.
Last fall, CRDA authorized reserving up to another $700,000 from Hartford’s Revolving Loan Fund for contaminated-soil remediation and additional stormwater-management requirements.
Hartford secured a $1 million state Department of Economic and Community Development brownfield grant in December 2025 to help pay for additional testing and removal and disposal of contaminated soil at the development site.
