Two Hartford properties are under consideration for a full-service grocery store, a long-sought project aimed at addressing a food access gap in the city’s North End.
The sites are Arrowhead Gateway, near the intersection of Albany Avenue and Main Street on the edge of downtown, and Village at Park River, a mixed-income development near the University of Hartford.
Both drew responses to a city solicitation for expressions of interest issued last year, city spokesman Cristian Corza-Godinez said. He did not identify the prospective developers or grocery operators.
The Capital Region Development Authority board is scheduled to vote tonight on an $87,800 grant from its Revolving Loan Fund to help move the project forward.
Mayor Arunan Arulampalam asked the board to approve the grant, which the city would use to execute a contract with Goman + York Property Advisors, a real estate advisory firm selected in a competitive procurement that closed May 1.
The firm will conduct a financial analysis of the project, which is expected to take three to five months, Corza-Godinez said.
In requesting the funding, Arulampalam described the grocery store as both a health equity and economic development priority.
“Access to a full-service grocery store remains one of Hartford’s most significant unmet community needs,” he wrote.
The proposed grant would draw from a larger $8.5 million state Bond Commission allocation approved by the CRDA board in 2018. The funding package was structured as a $3.5 million loan and a $5 million equity investment.
Corza-Godinez said the project’s lengthy timeline reflects years of community engagement, multiple studies and the difficulty of attracting a grocery operator.
