The Hartford Courant recently published two great articles on the city. One was entitled “Hartford’s Front Street Rises, Empty” and the other “Park Street Life: Hartford’s Hispanic Thoroughfare Has Retail Vibrancy Downtown Longs For.” Front Street is representative of the Hartford many outsiders see. Unfortunately, many see no reason to come to Hartford because there is nothing to do. Park Street on the hand is representative of the Hartford many are unfamiliar with and one in which our city’s revitalization must be modeled from.
Downtown property owners must use the model Park Street property owners are using to help their neighborhood thrive. Park Street is filled with locally owned and operated shops and restaurants. There are small retail spaces with low rents and there is a sense of community. On the other hand downtown’s older retail spaces are small but their rents are high and the newer retail spaces are large and come with hefty rents. Simply put many small businesses owners cannot afford to take a risk and do business downtown. Every new downtown development over the last 10 years that features retail space has at least one vacant storefront (as of this posting).
Downtown property owners are in a pickle. Most are faced with high property taxes and mortgage payments and thus are looking for high rent tenants. However, those high rent tenants have not come through which is why for now downtown property owners must cut their losses and lower rents to renew attraction to the neighborhood. This will not solve everything and there are still other major issues to address downtown (parking and safety) however, I am confident that cutting rents will still make downtown a much bigger draw. Hartford must jump on new business ventures that form as the economy starts to recover before they open up in the suburbs.
This small business approach is already drawing new businesses to Pratt Street while vacant space sits at Front Street. I believe attracting national retailers is nearly impossible at this time. Hartford does not have the proper demographics to attract a big name supermarket, bookstore or clothing store – especially at a time when many retailers have closed stores and cut staff. Why turn our backs on those who want to do business here for those who don’t?
To me, it's not surprising that this is the case. Let's look at what Frog Hollow has to offer -- more than one elementary school; a large park with many family-oriented activities including two pools, sports fields, playgrounds, and a recreation center; affordable rents (and mortgages) in a mix of homes, apartment buildings, and mixed-use buildings; a large convenience store (Walgreens), a hardware store, and many other shops that are open on weekends; a true sense of community. To me, downtown is not particularly family-friendly. Kids have to board buses to get to elementary schools. There is one public playground (that I know of), and while it's cute, it's not large. What I keep hearing is that yuppies are the ones who are sought after to live downtown. That's well and good, but they do not tend to stay put long.
ReplyDeletePersonally, when I decided to purchase a home in Hartford, property tax was not at all something that helped me to make the decision. We have services in the city and they need to be paid for somehow. I think property taxes are distracting from the real issues at hand.
Everything you mentioned in your first paragraph are elements that make a neighborhood and thus things that must be in all the city's 17 neighborhoods including downtown. Education and parks are not things I had discussed but as you mentioned they are critical. Everyone should have access to schools that are right in their communities as well as a variety of parks for recreational purposes.
ReplyDeleteHowever where I don’t agree is with property taxes. Yes city services have to be funded but every other town and city in the state funds services with significantly lower property taxes. I mentioned in my past post that I think property taxes are so high in Hartford because so much property is tax exempt. Hartford needs a new innovative way of bringing in money to fund programs and projects that will continue to draw people to live and work here.