Hartford Business Journal

12 Hartford Business Journal • April 24, 2017 www.HartfordBusiness.com city approvals, the seven-days-a-week market could be dishing out food, drinks and enter- tainment by this fall, Mouta said. If it opens, Parkville Market would be the city of Hartford's first transit-oriented devel- opment (TOD) since the CTfastrak busway, linking Hartford and New Britain, debuted two years ago, observers say. New Britain and West Hartford — each with multiple sta- tions along the busway route — already have several TOD-related residential or commer- cial projects either completed or in the works. It also would further extend Mouta's ongo- ing commercial transformation his proper- ties extending along Park Street, from Lau- rel Street westward to the Prospect Street border between Hartford and West Hartford. One of the city's most active residential-com- mercial developers, Mouta is among Parkville's biggest landlords. He owns seven neighborhood properties totaling about 361,000 square feet, including the Pope Commons retail center a stone's throw from the Bishop Ladder site. Another of Mouta's developments covers 82 units of existing or planned "loft-style'' apartments, including the recent opening of his first 15 of 38 apartments at 1630 Arbor St., also near the food hall site. Mouta hints at more Parkville development but declined to elaborate. Most exciting to Mouta about his food hall project, he says, is its potential to create 50 to 75 new neighborhood businesses that, in turn, could generate 100 to 150 new local jobs. Different experience In Mouta's vision, Parkville Market would be an assemblage of aspiring entrepreneurs who would ply visitors' tastebuds with a broad assortment of fresh, ethnic-oriented produce, meats, seafood and baked goods. Live enter- tainment from local and regional performers, too, would be offered from time to time, he said. The concept, he said, is to convert the two- story building that once stored coal used to fire the boilers of former makers of typewrit- ers, tires and other manufacturers into 60 to 80 stalls, or "kiosks,'' from 200 to 600 square feet. They would rent for $600 to $1,800 month- ly, all utilities included, to aspiring chefs and those who, with a "very low investment,'' could launch a food operation of their own. The wide selection of raw and prepared foods should daily attract diners who come by car or bus from downtown and the sub- urbs. At night and on weekends, live music and other performers will draw visitors to Parkville Market, Mouta said. "This is a different experience," he said, walking with a visitor recently through the triangular, 4-acre parcel sandwiched between the busway and the I-84 overpass leading to the Sisson Avenue exit. "There's not [a food hall in Hartford] to my surprise. There's nothing like this in Connecticut.'' Moreover, Mouta says his market will benefit from the farm-to-market and farm- to-plate trend Millennials and others have embraced for tastier and better nutrition. Food halls are gaining in popularity nationwide, according to a national survey by real estate-services provider Cushman & Wakefield. Its 2015 survey counted 70 U.S. food hall developments. Mouta declined to reveal his projected cost to develop Parkville Market. If Hartford's market gets up and running, Mouta said he'd pursue similar food halls in other Connecticut cities. In Stamford, a food-hall developer report- edly is pursuing approval to open one there. Initial support Mouta said he has contemplated the food- hall concept for some time, while pursuing his other development projects in the city. Late last year, Mouta debuted 14 "efficiency- microapartments'' — two-room living spaces — on downtown's southern edge. He was the first to debut micros in Hart- ford, in his 128-unit Adrian's Tower apart- ment building, 360 Main St. Mostly, they're found in larger cities like New York and San Francisco, where land and housing costs more. Mouta said his micros are fully leased. Jamie Bratt, Hartford's director of planning and development, said Mouta recently briefed her on his Parkville Market concept, adding that she's "enthusiastic" about the prospect, "especially since it is so close to the CTfastrak." Under Mayor Luke Bronin, the city is pur- suing an economic-development strategy that incorporates the city's neighborhoods, not just the central business district. "Considering the wonderfully eclectic cul- ture of Parkville, I think this could be a great fit,'' Bratt said via email. Last summer, International Hartford, a nonprofit promoting entrepreneurism among immigrants, held weekly "One World Market," events drawing food trucks and other vendors. Each drew about 200 guests — half of them from the suburbs — to the grounds of the Parkville CTfastrak station, near the corner of Park Street and Francis Avenue. It resumes again in May and lasts through October, said International Hartford execu- tive Arthur J. Feltman. One World Market, Feltman said, was con- ceived to test whether merchants and visitors would regularly come to a largely minority Hartford neighborhood. "It was always our hope a for-profit devel- oper would do a significant real estate develop- ment with a similar concept,'' he said. "Parkville is the immigrant melting pot of the region since the 19th century, when French Canadians and Irish populated the neighborhood. Today, it's Asians, Brazilian, Portuguese and Africans.'' Streetscape improvements In a separate but related development, the city is about to start a $3.6 million streetscape-improvement project, from Bartholomew and Hamilton streets to Park Street, opposite the Parkville Market site. It would resolve drainage issues in the area, install LED lighting under the busway and rail overpasses above Park, and add land- scaping, among other things, according to the city's development-services homepage. No timetable for the work is listed. A state grant and the Metropolitan District Commis- sion water utility will cover most of the tab. While his initial vision is for a food hall, Mouta says the building and acreage could eventually accommodate an expansion to 60,000 square feet. Hartford architects Life Care Design Inc., who penned Mouta's micro- apartments, is designing Parkville Market. Opposite the market site is the intersec- tion of Park and Bartholomew streets, where Mouta owns the building at 1477 Park St., for- merly a plumbing-supply business, that he has converted into 11 apartments. Timing to develop an urban food hall per- haps couldn't be better. Gov. Dannel P. Mal- loy has made transit-oriented development a linchpin of his economic-development strat- egy. At least 20 TOD projects — both busway and rail — have qualified for about $11 million in state funding, according to the state. Aside from the busway, Connecticut, lever- aging federal dollars, is investing tens of mil- lions to build or upgrade the state's passenger- and commuter-rail network. Cities and towns through which the rail lines traverse already are jockeying for some of the funds allocated for transit-oriented development. Randal Davis, special assistant to the state's transportation commissioner, said the department wasn't initially aware of the pro- posed Parkville Market. However, Mouta's ambitions for it mesh with the state's broader strategy of using the busway and its stations to spur development of housing, retail and commercial, to collectively stimulate worker and shopper traffic to those areas. In New Britain, for instance, city leaders recently approved first-phase redevelopment of its former police station site near Columbus Cir- cle, a quarter-mile from the CTfastrak terminal. In Newington, the town is eager to rede- velop the former National Welding site next door to the Cedar Street CTfastrak station. In West Hartford, the town's housing authority is redeveloping a former car-deal- ership site at 616 New Park Ave. into a $19 mil- lion, four-story mixed-use building. Meantime, Mouta insists Parkville Mar- ket won't cannibalize sales and attendance of nearby restaurants, bodegas and grocers. "They're not my competition,'' he said. "I'll cater to everyone.'' n from page 1 Busway spurs development R E N D E R I N G S | C O N T R I B U T E D Digital exterior rendering (left) of proposed Parkville Market, 1400 Park St.; (right) a sketch of a layout for one of the 80 or so vendor booths Carlos Mouta wants in his "food hall.'' Stilts' owner sues over its Hartford assessment The owner of downtown Hartford's One Corporate Plaza — the "Stilts Building'' — is suing the city of Hartford over the city's denial of its appeal for lower property taxes on the 20 Church St. skyscraper, court papers show. New York's Shelbourne Global Solu- tions LLC, one of Hartford's newest and most active landlords, is suing the city in New Britain Superior Court after the city's board of assessment appeals turned down its challenge on March 7, the lawsuit states. Shelbourne was among owners of more than 1,000 properties in the city whose appeals of their 2016 property assessments were rejected. That means many downtown Hartford commercial landlords — already concerned about the city's exorbitant 74.29 mill rate — are likely to experience a significant proper- ty-tax hike, as the value of the city's real estate, personal property and automo- biles climbed about 10 percent this year as a result of an Oct. 2016 revaluation. According to its suit, Shelbourne said its 23-story building received a fair mar- ket value of $46.7 million, which was a 135 percent increase from the city's previous $18.9 million valuation in 2011. Based on Hartford's tax formula for assessing properties at 70 percent of fair- market value, Stilts' assessed value as of Oct. 1, 2016 was $32.7 million the suit says. Shelbourne argues the city used faulty reasoning in setting the assessment and for denying its appeal and that the valu- ation was "grossly excessive, dispropor- tionate and unlawful." A city hall spokes- man declined to comment about the suit. In 2014, Shelbourne led a $45 million recapitalization of the Stilts, acquiring a 95 percent stake at the time. Shelbourne said the assessment-appeals board held firm even after the landlord offered to be sworn and answer all questions about 20 Church St. Shelbourne owns other down- town office buildings, among them Metro Center, acquired last December for $49 mil- lion; and 100 Pearl St., bought in 2015 for nearly $37 million. Court records don't show any Shelbourne legal challenges on the city's assessments of those buildings. – Gregory Seay The Stilts Building, 20 Church St., downtown Hartford. H B J P H O T O | G R E G B O R D O N A R O

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