Vibrancy eludes historic CT street that should be a natural. ‘Nobody ever has, like a roadmap'

Yahoo

4 days ago

Next weekend's Hartford Taste festival will place the pedestrian-only, brick-lined Pratt Street at the center of the two-day event, showcasing its restaurants, bars and shops to the tens of thousands that are expected to turn out.
While the bump in visibility — and business — is more than welcome, leaders of a fledgling merchants association on the historic, downtown Hartford street say they are still struggling to achieve the day-to-day stability and the promise of the street's reinvention that was the foundation of a $9 million, groundbreaking storefront revitalization program.
Three years later, progress has been achieved with new leases and business expansions, but more are needed.
And some nagging challenges remain: a half-dozen storefronts remain vacant, some with potential tenant deals that fell through. One building is in foreclosure making it difficult to lease street-level space in the structure. And a cornerstone business of the street, The Tobacco Shop, faces eviction for not paying rent, according to court documents, after more than a century in business.
Leaders of the newly-formed Pratt Street Merchants Association say a long-term marketing effort by both the city and the state office of tourism is needed to promote the street — and the immediate area around it — as a year-round destination.
'For great reasons, Mystic has its shine, and it's been wonderful,' said Tom Dubay, co-owner of Hartford Flavor's cocktail parlour on the north side of Pratt. 'Litchfield Hills. New Haven now. And Hartford's time is next.'
And a marketing push must be combined with more — and varied — businesses filling vacant storefronts, the association says.
Dubay, president of the merchants association, and his wife, Lelaneia, opened the cocktail parlor 10 months ago, with the help of a $150,000 Hart Lift storefront grant. The venture was an expansion of the couple's successful liqueur distillery in the city's Parkville neighborhood.
Dubay and other business owners on Pratt who expanded with matching grants from Hart Lift say they don't regret their decision and are committed to working toward a more vibrant future. But they are looking for a consistency in their businesses, which Dubay describes as often being a 'rollercoaster' — business experiencing wide swings month-to-month or even week-to-week.
'Seeds were planted, and now we have to grow a forest,' said Jane Yon, a partner in the family-owned Sunberry Restaurant & Bar, a Korean restaurant on the south side of Pratt. 'How do we do that? And part of that is learning as we go. Nobody ever has, like a roadmap. That's what's tricky.'
Like Dubay, Yon's family participated in Hart Lift, using a $150,000 grant to transform a decade-old cafe and catering business to a full-fledged restaurant and bar.
The restaurants, bars and shops also have contended with the change in mayors from Luke Bronin, the architect of Hart Lift, to Arunan Arulampalam, a shift that required getting the new administration with many new faces, on board. The association has been working together with the MetroHartford Alliance, the region's chamber of commerce, Arulampalam's administration and the business improvement district on the issue.
Shannon Frost, hired by the city in April as marketing director, said the city is meeting with businesses throughout the city and will soon begin developing long-term plans for promoting neighborhoods throughout the city, including the Pratt Street corridor.
The focus now is making sure events are successful because they drove patrons to local businesses, Frost said.
'Part of the long-term plan is to see how do we market not just one street in one of our districts, but all of our districts in the city of Hartford, maybe with a cohesive brand and voice that our merchants can spin off of,' Frost said.
The Pratt Street Merchants Association, now counting as many as 20 businesses in and around Pratt Street, says it is investing where it can, including businesses contributing funds for holiday decorations and flowers this spring. The association also is working on ideas to raise the profile of what downtown has to offer. Those include promoting the businesses to city and public school employees, which number in the thousands.
One major issue that also hangs in the balance is providing parking at an attractive price, the association says.
For decades, downtown Hartford's Pratt Street seemed to have all the ingredients for revitalization: cool, historic architecture; a central location across from the XL Center; and, more recently, storefronts along a brick-paved street.
But vibrancy didn't follow.
The Hart Lift program appeared to be what would bring Pratt Street to the tipping point of success. But Hart Lift also came at a time when downtown was in the midst of dramatic change in the aftermath of the pandemic.
Corporate downtown tenants have downsized, with their employees spending far less time in their offices, if at all. Office workers were once the bedrock clientele on local restaurants and bars.
Residential conversions have taken up the slack to some extent adding 3,500 units in the last decade — some on Pratt Street — with new apartment dwellers. But downtown residences have yet to counterbalance for the loss of office workers. but have yet to counterbalance for the loss of office workers.
And state of Connecticut employees based in Hartford — estimated to be about 13,000 — are now generally only required to be in the office one day a week.
Hundreds more downtown apartments are either in construction or are planned. But the price tag of projects is rising with higher construction costs and worries about the falloff in tariffs threatened by President Donald Trump. Developers are pushing for larger contributions of state-taxpayer backed public financing.
A student residence hall for the University of Connecticut's regional campus in the city is expected to be ready for the fall of 2026. The dormitory's entrance will be off Pratt Street and could provide a boost, adding up to 200 students to the area.
Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Shelbourne Global Solutions LLC, downtown's largest commercial landlord, owns much of the north and south sides of Pratt Street.
Hartford-based Lexington Partners, which manages and leases those buildings, said more than $1 million has been spent specifically targeting marketing to Pratt Street.
'Over the course of the last six years, we found no magic bullet,' Chris Reilly, Lexington's president, said. 'We tried a bunch of different things. The activities on the street, the social media, and all that. There's no magic bullet. We just have to keep up the steady pressure until we figure out, and make this thing click. It might just be that we need one or two more retailers on the street.'
The MetroHartford Alliance says it spent $75,000 last summer on Pratt Street and other promotions downtown and will do the same this year. In the most recent holiday season, the alliance spent another $50,000 in marketing.
'I think everybody on Pratt Street would agree: we need more,' David Griggs, the alliance's president and chief executive, said. 'And not just more marketing. We need more restaurants. We need more venues for entertainment, music. The XL Center is certainly our big one, but there can be others. More is better, and that is what we need.'
'We need for people to think of downtown Hartford as a destination,' Griggs said. 'Not necessarily knowing what they are going to do, but knowing that there are things to do.'
There are hurdles to be cleared, however.
One is the long-running foreclosure of 57-75 Pratt St. involving Shelbourne has complicated the leasing of prominent, vacant storefronts in those buildings.
In other cases, deals to open new establishments fell through. Those include El Gallo y El Coqui, a restaurant at 93 Pratt St.; The Lyons Den, a bar and live music venue, at 77 Pratt; and a second location for Huskies Tavern, a staple at the University of Connecticut in Storrs. The bar would have occupied the high-profile corner of Pratt and Trumbull streets, across from the XL Center.
The cost to renovate even smaller storefronts can be considerable because many of the buildings are old, dating back a century or more, according to Kevin Kenny, founder and president of NAI Lexington Commercial, the commercial leasing arm of Lexington Partners.
But Kenny said there has been progress in finding new tenants.
A new, as-yet undisclosed tenant has been found to replace Huskies Tavern and a new bar, Rock Bar, has signed a lease for 93 Pratt. The bar would be what is known as a 'dive bar,' Kenny said — the opposite of trendy cocktail lounges with a laid-back atmosphere and affordable drinks.
Lexington, which manages the building where The Tobacco Shop is located, declined to comment on the court filing seeking eviction. But whatever the future of the shop at 89 Pratt St., Kenny said, 'that space will remain a cigar lounge.'
The shop's owner, Gerry Grate, could not be reached for comment.
In 2013, Rory Gale opened her Hartford Prints! gift shop near the corner of Pratt and Main streets. The store's merchandising is built on a foundation of offering Hartford-themed items.
Gale said she sees the formation of the merchants association as a major step forward in creating the vibrancy that has long eluded the street. When she first opened her gift shop, she didn't have enough neighboring businesses to form such an association.
Pratt Street and elsewhere downtown needs retail shops alongside restaurants and bars, Gale said.
'The vision for Pratt Street and the vision for downtown Hartford with retail is unique offerings,' Gale said. 'Think about the most unique offerings that you cannot find on Amazon or in Target. You can't find it anywhere else, but you can find it in downtown Hartford. And that's what we're doing.'
Gale is in the midst of a major expansion, doubling her space to about 2,500 square feet. Hartford Prints! has taken over a vacant storefront next door, has broken down a wall and joined the two spaces. The expansion, partly financed by a $150,000 Hart Lift grant, is expected to be completed this fall. Until then, she has leased temporary space at the XL Center.
While retail has struggled in downtown — even before the pandemic cut into the ranks of office workers — Gale said she believes there isn't a coherent strategy around attracting shops that will succeed.
'Everybody puts ground floor storefronts in all these buildings and yet, they are vacant because they haven't figured out the formula to like — okay, we want people to be able to shop, dine and walk and yet, we just have vacant storefront after vacant storefront.'
Kenneth R. Gosselin can be reached at [e-mail].