Development of two new downtown Hartford restaurants is set to begin in the new year, Mayor Luke Bronin announced on Friday.
A new Huskies Tavern location at 103 Pratt St., and The Drake restaurant, at 900 Main St., will be “two of the most prominent locations in our downtown,” Bronin said during a press conference Friday as he marked the last working day of his administration.
The Drake will open where Dish Bar & Grill used to be until it closed in 2020. It will be operated by the Charles Drake Hospitality Group, which also has an award-winning restaurant, The Charles, in Wethersfield.
The original Huskies Tavern is located on the UConn campus at Storrs. This new Huskies will be the second in the state, and a premiere sports bar for UConn alumni, sports fans and patrons of the XL Center or Dunkin Donuts Park, members of the development team said. It is next to several new storefronts that are under construction, near Bloom Bake Shop and Urban Lodge Brewery and Hartford Flavor, Bronin said.
“These are two of the missing pieces of the puzzle here in downtown, and in and around the Pratt Street neighborhood,” Bronin said of the area’s revitalization.
The projects are partnerships with NAI Lexington Commercial, which owns and operates the two sites, Kevin F. Kenny, founder and president, Al Lazowski and members of the Huskies and Charles Drake teams.
Bronin paid tribute to Kevin Kenny’s father, the late Marty Kenny, a developer who died in September and who was behind various large-impact development projects in and around Hartford.
“There was no bigger champion for Hartford,” Bronin said of Marty Kenny. “He put time, tears, sweat and a lot of capital into building up our state capital. And I’m incredibly grateful to him.”
Bronin also praised the owners of Huskies and The Charles for expanding their businesses within the city limits.
He said it’s refreshing to see “two great institutions that have built up elsewhere and are now planting their flag in downtown Hartford because they feel and see the momentum that’s building here.”
He said Huskies tavern is a Connecticut institution, part of the state’s flagship university community, and it’s exciting to see UConn, which has put significant investment into the XL Center and Hartford, expanding its presence downtown.
Huskies is expected to open in early 2025.
