Grocery Store Coming To Downtown Hartford

Hartford may soon have what officials call the holy grail of development -- a big, downtown grocery store.  WNPR's Jeff Cohen reports.

 

Mayor Pedro Segarra broke the news to an audience of business people arranged by the MetroHartford Alliance.

 

"A full-scale grocery store finally coming to downtown Hartford called the Market @ Hartford 21, which will open this Spring.  This ventu re would add vibrancy to our city and will be beneficial to the employment of local residents."

 

Hartford Chief Operating Officer David Panagore says the store would be run by the owners of the Mill at 2T restaurant in Tariffville.  Panagore said the store in the same complex as the XL Center will have prepared foods, dried goods, and:

 

"Along the sides everything from fish to deli to meats to cheeses to fruit to produce."

 

It's been a long time coming -- for years, the developers at Northland Investment Corporation have tried and failed to open a grocery. 

 

Panagore says that what finally made the project go was the right mix of an engaged operator, a favorable lease, and help from the city.  And it's the kind of place Panagore says young professionals in the city have said they want.

 

"When you're, downtown you want to be able to walk to a grocery store just like you walk to Hartford Stage, just like you walk to the Bushnell, just like you walk to the skating rink -- you don't want to have to get back in your car.  So it becomes another amenity that makes all of the other businesses and all of the other housing options in the downtown more attractive."

 

When it opens this Spring, the store could have as many as 60 employees.

 

For WNPR, I'm Jeff Cohen.