Hartford Business Journal

6 Hartford Business Journal • February 24, 2020 • www.HartfordBusiness.com By Matt Pilon mpilon@hartfordbusiness.com F or the second time in five years, the Hartford Club has overcome an imminent threat to its longtime downtown club- house created by unpaid debts. On Feb. 18, the 147-year-old private club delivered $330,765 to Hartford's tax collector, who had been planning to auction off the Georgian-style clubhouse at 46 Prospect St. this May because the club defaulted last year on a tax repayment agreement struck with the city in 2017. A group of members who helped save the club from foreclosure in 2015 by raising approximately $1 million to buy the club's mortgage from Berkshire Bank, dipped into their pockets again this time, providing the six-figure loan used to pay off the property tax bal- ance, according to club directors. The payment eases immediate pressure, but the club, frequented by some of the region's top business and political leaders, is not out of the woods yet. It still owes $435,000 in city person- al property taxes as well as $222,000 in unpaid state admission and sales and use taxes, for which the state is- sued a lien on the club last summer. The club also defaulted last year on a $300,000 low-interest loan from the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD), which helped finance reno- vations that aimed to reverse years of declining membership. That hasn't happened and amid the continuing and deepening financial difficulties, Hartford Club leaders say the private-club business model they've been trying to save is no longer viable, and they are now plotting a ma- jor strategic shift that would include opening club facilities to the general public and potentially reconfiguring some space for new uses like boutique hotel rooms and a rooftop bar. "There was a thought that we could improve and increase mem- bership to the point where we would be able to handle our financial obligations," said Eric George, presi- dent of the Insurance Association of Connecticut, who has been board president at the club since last March. "Reality came and settled in, and that did not occur." In recent years, the Hartford Club has sought to reverse membership losses by relaxing its formal dress code, marketing to younger recruits and upgrading its facilities, including a new and larger bar, refinished flooring and a reappointed members lounge. But it's still lost more than a third of its members (it now has less than 300) in the three years since it got the DECD loan, according to George. While the recent losses are steep, remaining members are ponying up an additional several hundred thou- sand dollars to the club through a recent special assessment, or"bond" — the first in a decade at the club — issued at George's direction. Similar private clubs around the country have also struggled over the years for various reasons, including gen- erational shifts, and some have closed. The strategic shift would change the club's core identity, George said, but it must pursue nonmembers willing to spend money on dining and entertain- ment options to remain viable. "The community is obviously a lot bigger than our membership," he said. Envisioning a new model Board member Anthony Viscogliosi, principal of Manchester-based ven- ture capital firm Viscogliosi Brothers, has led the effort to envision a new business model for the club. Myriad ideas have been gener- ated by studying several private clubs, including in Detroit and New York City, that have done major turnarounds. He said he hopes to combine successful elements from each of them. In addition to a rooftop bar and boutique hotel rooms, other options to reconfigure the club's 42,000 square feet include: a garden cafe, new dining options, expanded cigar and dining room, coworking space, leasable space for other clubs, and a craft brewery, among other ideas. The reason members were willing to put up their own money once again to get the club out of trouble, Viscogliosi said, is that there's now a new vision in place. Broader Appeal Amid rising debts, continued membership declines, exclusive Hartford Club will open doors to public Hartford Club staffers trying to reverse the club's fortunes are Board President Eric George (right), board member Anthony Viscogliosi (left) GM Tom Natola (center). HBJ PHOTO | MATT PILON

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