With the construction of new apartments and retail space now underway around Hartford’s Dunkin’ Donuts Park, the city is expanding its redevelopment gaze to another cluster of nearby properties it now controls.
The city this month issued a request for redevelopment proposals for the vacant Arrowhead Building at 1355 Main St. and three vacant adjacent land parcels that together act as the tip of the arrowhead-shaped Salvin Block, which is bordered by Chapel, High, Pleasant and Main streets.
The area is seen as a key connector between downtown and the Clay Arsenal neighborhood that lies just to the north. The city has been working to leverage the ballpark, which opened in 2017, to attract investment to the surrounding area.
RMS Cos. broke ground last fall on the first phase of its $250 million planned redevelopment around the park, which will include 270 apartments, 11,000 square feet of retail space and a parking garage located along the right field side of the ballpark.
The Arrowhead redevelopment site lies to the west, approximately one block behind home plate.
Right across the street is the “Flatiron” building at 529 Ann Uccello, acquired nearly a year ago by major Hartford landlord-developer Shelbourne Global Solutions.
The city has simultaneously issued an RFP to study a broader area ‒ the Arrowhead Gateway ‒ that includes the Arrowhead site and Main Street and Albany corridors extending northward to Seyms and Williams streets, respectively. The intent is for the developer of the Arrowhead Building sites to work in tandem with the broader vision for the gateway area, according to documents.
The city is working on the effort with Connecticut Main Street Center, which issued development recommendations for the area several years ago.
Responses to the two recent RFPs are due in late February and March, respectively.
