Hartford’s Parkville Market targets Dec. debut

Parkville Market, a $4.4 million foodservice-merchandising-entertainment pavilion being developed to co-anchor Hartford’s diverse Parkville neighborhood, is set to open in early December, city developer Carlos Mouta says.

As work crews jackhammered concrete footings, Mouta and daughter, Chelsea, Parkville Market’s operations manager, pointed to myriad upgrades to the gutted interior of the century-old, 20,000 square-foot building at 1400 Park St., formerly the long-time home to the Bishop Ladder Co.

A new elevator shaft will connect the building’s ground floor to a soon-to-be installed second level. All new electrical, heating, air conditioning and ventilation and lighting systems are being installed.

In all, some 40 stalls -- sized from 200 to 400 square feet -- will be carved out of the interior to house a variety of full-time and aspiring restaurateurs and weekend chefs, the Moutas said Wednesday.Fourteen of the stalls on the ground floor will have adjoining outdoor space to seat their patrons, they said. Others will be available as month-to-month spaces to encourage “pop-up’’ restaurants and produce and merchandise vendors. Music and other live entertainment will be another regular offering, Mouta said.

Eventually, when all the stalls are leased, Parkville Market’s vendors could provide as many as 200 full- and part-time jobs, on top of the dozen or so of his staff Mouta will assign to oversee the venue. Last September, former Gov. Dannel P. Malloy joined Mouta and city officials to formally break ground for the redevelopment project. 

That was more than a year after Mouta first aired publicly his Parkville Market vision in spring 2017. At the time, he had begun initial interior demolition of the long-vacant edifice’s interior with hopes of a summer 2018 debut for his vision of a retail food-beverage and entertainment venue akin to New York City’s popular Chelsea Market

However, Mouta says the development encountered construction snags, mostly tied to the need for extra site-infrastructure upgrades that cost extra time and money.“I was very optimistic to begin with,’’ Mouta said. “So many people believed in the venture. … Literally, we were taking all the old structure and replacing with new, and keeping as much of the old as possible.’’

Rendering | Contributed
A rendering of Hartford's Parkville Market.
Chelsea Mouta says early response from prospective tenants has been positive. Marketing and leasing of Parkville Market has begun, with the first lease signings expected in September, she said.But more encouraging, she said, has been the Parkville neighborhood’s enthusiasm for the project.

Staff at startup incubator reSet and community-services nonprofit Hands on Hartford, both situated in Parkville Market’s shadow, have toured the building amid ongoing work by Plainville general contractor CORE Construction Resources Inc. Lifecare Design Inc., a Parkville neighbor, is architect.

Along with the leased stalls, the market also will offer about 2,000 square feet of combined “community space’’ to accommodate neighborhood and tenant events.

Carlos Mouta said his market will become the latest among a host of Parkville amenities and services, including food stores, restaurants, among other entrepreneurial ventures in the neighborhood; a city school and library branch; and cultural attractions, such as Real Art Ways.

Perhaps the most important amenity for Parkville Market is its proximity one-block east of the CTfastrak-Parkville busway station. The busway, Carlos Mouta said, could transport visitors to and from the market, avoiding the need for more than its 170 parking spaces.

Financing for the project, Mouta said, includes a $3.5 million loan from the Capital Region Development Authority and his $900,000 in equity. The short-term loan is intended to allow time for Mouta to tally enough data on lease revenue and traffic to entice one or more banks to replace CRDA as the project’s primary financier.

Parkville Market also received, he said, a $300,000 loan and a $100,000 job-creation grant from the state Department of Economic and Community Development.

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