The Future of Pratt Street

Pratt Street should be one of the centerpieces of downtown Hartford. Unfortunately it has seen better days. Pratt Street was created the way streets should be. There are storefronts lining the street and there is just enough room for parallel parking on one side of the street. Many of downtown's streets are to wide and not pedestrian friendly. Many also have have an array of parking restrictions that limit parking making them even more unfriendly.

Most familiar with Hartford are aware of the vacancies and high tenant turnover that currently plagues the street. Some of the closings over the past few years that come to my mind are:

Joe Black's - 31 Pratt Street
Beckers - 44 Pratt Street
H-L Unlimited - 65 Pratt Street
Terra Mia - 77 Pratt Street
Cugino's - 77 Pratt Street
No Fish Today - 80 Pratt Street
Tanuki - 80 Pratt Street
Sweet Jane's Rock & Roll Eatery - 88 Pratt Street

Pratt Street has so much potential. It sits between two major downtown developments: Hartford 21 and the Lofts at Main & Temple. Some sort of action must be taken to get new tenants on Pratt Street. Much of street is owned by Northland Investment which is actively working to lease the space, but they have not had much success.

Two steps I feel should be taken to create more vibrancy:

1. Decrease rents. This is the only way downtown is going to be able to compete with the suburbs and find tenants in this tough economic climate. This economy could be the perfect time for those with secure personal financing to start a business. There is the old saying: buy low, sell high. This could be a great time for Northland to make Pratt Street rents a great deal and in turn attract a wonderful array of new businesses.

2. Move existing upper level tenants to street level. I know there are some retail stores that exist on the upper levels of some of the buildings on Pratt Street. Making it a great deal for tenants on the upper level to move down to street level will be helpful to both the tenants and Pratt Street overall.

Just some suggestions to think about!

Also the purpose of this post is not to draw a completely bleak picture for Pratt Street. The Russell literally just had a wonderful grand re-opening celebration, Vaughn's continues to hold its own, and Jojo's continues to brew some great coffee.