Boston’s south end was once a depressed neighborhood where the affluent and hip feared to tread. Now it’s their stomping ground, full of breezy outdoor cafes, artsy shops and high rent.
It happened in New York’s Union Square, Connecticut’s South Norwalk. Up next … Hartford’s Frog Hollow?
Melville Intentions
A community-building charity is trying to walk the line between revitalization and gentrification in the area. The Melville Charitable Trust, Inc., has some business projects in mind for the north part of the neighborhood, but the organization’s head said they want to keep Frog Hollow true to its character — and affordable to its current residents.
“We don’t want to contribute to driving up prices in the community and make it difficult for people to afford homes,” said Melville executive director Bob Hohler. “I live in [Boston’s] south end — I know from firsthand experience what gentrification can do to a community.”
The Melville, which concentrates on anti-homelessness projects in Connecticut, has bought several buildings with the aim of converting them into businesses. The first, Firebox Restaurant, is an “upscale casual” eatery where the average meal will cost roughly $35-$40. The next, said Hohler, will be a bakery/café in what is now a construction site across from Firebox’s 539 Broad Street address.
Hohler said Melville is holding off on any far-flung master plans or pricey partnerships because it wants to integrate its project gradually and with the participation of Frog Hollow residents.
“The upside is that [the restaurant] is a hip, trendy place and I think that Hartford could do with a bit of hip and trendy. On the other hand you wouldn’t want to … make it difficult to find adequate an affordable housing,” he said.
The restaurant hired staff from the surrounding area and the bakery will do likewise, said Cary Wheaton, manager of Firebox, LLC. Wheaton also oversees a community center in the restaurant’s complex, which features after-school programs, English classes and nutrition workshops, among other services.
“We also are really trying to entice folks into a neighborhood that they’d been nervous to enter,” she said.
Out Of Place
Firebox is a striking contrast from its surroundings. The polished restaurant is shouting distance from corner bodegas and casual street corner gatherings of the street’s residents.
Jorge L. Rivera, executive director of nearby Mi Casa community center, harbors doubts about efforts to include Frog Hollow dwellers.
“They call it community investment, but the community is not involved,” he said. “People don’t know what’s going on.”
Rivera said Firebox’s prices put it out of neighbors’ reach, just like Mamacita’s, the previous restaurant at 539 Broad Street. And neighbors watched the Lyceum at 227 Lawrence Street get restored to a conference and meeting center — but again, people from the community don’t actually go there.
The Lyceum, another project of the Melville Charitable Trust, restored the building for use as a forum where philanthropists, business leaders and politicians can meet to coordinate community-building efforts.
“It’s a nice place, it looks nice … but it’s not for us,” he said.
Predatory Problems
David Corrigan, chairman of the North Frog Hollow Neighborhood Revitalization Zone, is more optimistic about the Melville’s activities in the area. But he urges caution.
Area landlords are already getting ideas as they watch revitalization efforts raise property values downtown, he said. It’s likely that they’ll let property maintenance slide, biding their time until high-end developers decide to turn Frog Hollow into the trendy new spot.
In addition to the Broad Street developments, Corrigan referenced Pope Commons, a spot on the north edge of Pope Park that developers intend to turn into a shopping and dining center. The project is still in its beginnings, but Pope Commons’ online brochure touts Connecticut’s affluent population in its pitch for retailers to sign on to the project.
That kind of development has to proceed carefully, Corrigan said.
“I think a lot of our landlords are looking at downtown and thinking, I can start jacking up rent now,” he said.
But Corrigan and others agreed that the businesses could be a useful bridge into the neighborhood.
“It’s nice that you have a place where both worlds can mingle,” said Romulo E. Samaniego, executive director of Broad-Park Development Corp., an affordable housing developer. And it’s still a bit early to throw around talk of gentrification — Frog Hollow is a long ways from Boston’s South End, he said.
The Melville’s project provides jobs for residents, Samaniego said, and that alone is a boost to the community.
As for Rivera, he plans to hold off on embracing the idea.
“Let’s see what they have – hopefully it’s good for the community, but we don’t know.”