Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam’s administration plans to invest $600,000 toward cleanup of the former Carbone’s Ristorante property on Franklin Avenue, part of an effort to redevelop the site into apartments.
The funds will come from a $2 million state brownfield grant, one that Arulampalam is asking the City Council to accept during its meeting on Tuesday.
The state Bond Commission authorized, in 2022, $2 million for various brownfield projects in Hartford. The administration of former Mayor Luke Bronin did not tap those funds, however.
Now, Arulampalam’s administration is moving on that authorization, planning to use a portion of it at the former Carbone’s property and to bank the rest for use on brownfield projects to be identified later.
Carbone’s was a Hartford staple for more than 80 years before it closed in 2020 amid pressures from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last year, the Capital Region Development Authority announced it was working with the family behind Carbone’s to reopen the restaurant at the former Apple Cinemas site in the Front Street Entertainment District. The CRDA was, at the same time, entertaining plans for a mixed-use redevelopment of the former Carbone’s site, one that would blend 21 apartments and 4,600 square feet of commercial space.
The CRDA board, on Dec. 6 of last year, approved a $1.7 million loan toward an anticipated $4.15 million effort to outfit an 11,000-square-foot space on Front Street.
CRDA Executive Director Michael Freimuth, at a board meeting in September, said Carbone’s had nearly closed on a lease for the Front Street space, and was expected to reopen there in the summer of 2025.
At the September meeting, Freimuth also told his board that CRDA was working with the city to tap state brownfield funds for a portion of redevelopment costs at the former Carbone’s site. Freimuth, in September, said that the project is in its very early stages.
Farmington Avenue streetscape
The City Council is also being asked to accept an $800,000 state grant to advance an ongoing renovation of the Farmington Avenue streetscape.
The $12.5 million effort, launched this spring, has already led to upgrades to stormwater drainage and water mains below ground. Ultimately, it will fund new street lighting, road surfaces, crosswalks, bus stops and improved bike lanes, along with other improvements, between Farmington Avenue’s intersection with Lorraine Street and its intersection with Prospect Avenue.
The project has previously received $10 million in state backing.
“As a major thoroughfare through the heart of the City, Farmington Avenue has the potential to be an even greater vital economic resource for Hartford,” Arulampalam wrote in a memo to the council. “Key to its value is its use by surrounding neighborhoods, and this grant award will help enhance the community corridor by implementing critical safety and quality of life improvements and strategic economic development activities.”