Vita Nuova and partners worked with the City of Hartford to submit a $50 million response to the State of Connecticut’s Innovation Corridor Grant Program for the Parkville Arts & Innovation District project. The goal is to put the Parkville Neighborhood at the center of a revolution in manufacturing – while connecting Hartford and Hartford-area residents to opportunities and building on Parkville’s prominence as a statewide destination for arts, culture, cuisine, and creative enterprise. It is an integrated, comprehensive, place-making plan – to build a key link along Connecticut’s Innovation Corridor.
The Parkville Arts & Innovation District real estate development strategy calls for a phased approach to revitalizing the neighborhood through a combination of renovation and new construction, together with streetscape improvements and infrastructure investments over a 7-year period. The Parkville Arts & Innovation District is imperative for reinvestment in the Parkville neighborhood. This project seeks to restore underutilized buildings for residential, arts, cultural entertainment, commercial and industrial uses. This initiative will rejuvenate the neighborhood, improve the sidewalks and streetscapes, remove the blight created by dilapidated buildings, overgrown lots. In the end, 246 housing units will be created along with 200,000 sq. ft. of commercial, office, and retail space, and an additional 325,000 sq. ft. of advanced manufacturing flexible space. This $250 million project consists of the redevelopment of 11 properties including a thirty-three acre former scrap metal yard that was recently acquired by the City of Hartford through foreclosure.
The key objectives of the project are as follows:
- Revitalize and repurpose underutilized buildings and properties for increased residential, cultural, entertainment, commercial and industrial uses.
- Build a regional hub for startups and innovative businesses; establishing advanced manufacturing and emerging technology workforce training; and creating a live-work-move-play-grow environment that retains and attracts new talent.
- Coordinate and connect to local workforce training opportunities at nearby schools, community services, and public and private colleges and educational centers.
- Nurture the diversity of the neighborhood while increasing opportunities for homeownership, apartments, restaurants, entertainment venues, retail, and employment, all in a walkable urban campus-like neighborhood.
For more, read the recent article published about this project:
To learn more https://www.parkvilleartsinnovation.org