Hartford Business Journal

12 Hartford Business Journal • July 31, 2017 www.HartfordBusiness.com Why did you decide to move downtown? Chris: I knew it would be very convenient living downtown with work and so many of my friends here. It's just so convenient for dining and entertainment and nightlife, it just seemed like a no-brainer at the time. Mitch: My job was downtown with UnitedHealth Group. A lot of my friends came down. I went to UConn so we were always congregating, eating and meeting up for lunch. So, I [decided] I might as well just move and check out the scene. There was great apartment pricing that was incredibly affordable. I think that's the big thing with Hartford, why Millennials moved downtown, because there is affordable housing, for the most part, or there was at the time. Now, there's a lot of development going on and the price ranges fluctuate. In a sense, our generation has commitment issues, so renting is the way to go usually. It's one of those things where if you're renting for a year, you can do your lease year to year and see where you are. If you decide to get a home within the Hartford region, or out, or if you get some kind of work opportunity, then you have those opportunities. From what I know from my friends who are also Millennials, being flexible is huge, especially with work-life balance, just living, going out. Andie: I guess I have a slightly different story. My previous life, I was a management consultant in Boston, so I was living in Back Bay, kind of in the brownstones there. I actually did a project at Aetna for about five months, so I got familiar with downtown [Hartford] and got a full- time offer from them a couple years ago. Everyone said, 'live in West Hartford, live in West Hartford.' But I actually have a lot of experience in [Hartford], from having been here. I looked around different parts of [the city]. I actually live on Capitol Avenue, in the little, baby brownstones there. So I feel like it's a really, kind of small flavor of Boston life. I don't have a car. It's kind of the brownstone living for about 30 percent of the price that I was paying in Boston. [Hartford] has a lot of the amenities of a lot of other Northeast cities at a fraction of the cost, including the walkability and so forth. What's one thing that stands out as a comparison between Hartford and Boston? Andie: Cost of living is huge. Boston's a great city, for sure. Obviously, it draws a lot of Millennials. To really feel like I'm part of the city of Hartford, I volunteer at Bushnell Park and joined Hartford Young Professionals and Entrepreneurs (HYPE). There's a lot of that obviously in Boston, too, but I feel like you can really get a foothold here and feel like you're part of the city, which I like a lot. What's your biggest turnoff about downtown? Mitch: One thing I hear is that people say they don't feel safe downtown at night and things like that. I've lived here. It's completely safe. It's just that there aren't a lot of bodies on the street at night, so it seems like you might be the only person out there if you're going out for drinks with friends and you end up walking home by yourself. Especially if you're a young lady in the city, you might feel a little threatened in some ways even though the city itself is extremely safe. There's police patrols everywhere. Usually, the worst thing that could ever happen is a panhandler comes up to you and asks for money. I mean, that's the biggest threat around here. Chris: Panhandling is a bit of an issue for me. My commute is a walk to work from my condo, so I spend a lot of time on the streets of Hartford. Walking to and from places and almost every intersection, someone's asking for money. It's just part of city life and I think it's true wherever you go. Do downtown events like last fall's craft beer festival and the new ballpark add to the city's "fun'' quotient? Mitch: As far as the ballpark is concerned, I truly think it's been a very delightful surprise. There's been a lot of naysayers. … It was given to us. It's done. There's nothing we can really do about it. We just have to be there and support it. But at the end of the day, it's one of the nation's top minor-league ballparks. When I went there on opening day and a few games after that, it's been a packed house. Incredible energy. Incredible atmosphere. It makes me excited for baseball in Hartford, because I'm a baseball fan. Chris: I certainly can recognize and appre- ciate all the controversy around the ballpark. But now that it's here, it's hard to argue that it isn't a huge success. Almost all the games are sold out. (Editor's Note: Yard Goats confirm this is true for many of its home games). Like Mitch said, there's just great enthu- siasm and positivity when you go to the sta- dium. It feels good to be part of that, being part of the city and seeing all these people coming and visiting and enjoying what the city has to offer. Not only that, it brings people to all the busi- nesses downtown, too. Before and after the games, people are getting dinner and drinks. Maybe they're spending time just exploring the area, getting to see Hartford, having a reason to come to the city that they never had before. What must Hartford (and the region) do to attract young talent? Andie: I think by attracting people with the arts and diversity and those kinds of things, that's what Millennials want — walkability, affordability, access to all the stuff in the North- east. It's a great balance of interestingness and By Gregory Seay gseay@HartfordBusiness.com H artford is a Millennial city. One in three of the Capital City's 125,000 residents is between the ages of 20 and 39, born in time to greet a new century. As these new centurions graduate college and replace older generations as workers in offices, in construction, and on shop floors, they are making their voices heard as to what they want and need, like and dislike, about the communities where they live and work. Downtown Hartford is among them. Millennials' influence and appeal came into clear focus when General Electric Co. announced it was moving its Fairfield headquarters to Boston. GE cited its desire to be, among other things, among a vibrant cluster of young, educated, innovative professionals from which it could mine corporate talent. More recently, Aetna Inc. — one of Hartford's most influential corporate patrons — said it will relocate its headquarters, and some 250 jobs, from the city's Asylum Hill neighborhood, to New York City's Manhattan borough. That prompted the question: So what is it about Hartford that appeals — or not — to Millennials? What do they like or not about the city, particularly downtown Hartford, which is gaining about 2,100 new faces when UConn's downtown campus opens in late August? What can be done to retain the city's native Millennials and attract new ones? For answers, the Hartford Business Journal recently invited three Millennials to its downtown office for an hour-long, taped discussion of those and other questions. The trio — all working professionals downtown who also live in or on the edge of the center city — candidly shared their insights. In brief, they are enamored with downtown Hartford's amenities — places to go, things to see and do, places to dine and drink. They see the new ballpark as a gem. Street safety isn't their concern, except for annoying panhandlers and the lawless dirt bikes roaming city streets. A downtown supermarket is low on their list of priorities, but a revamped XL Center is. Millennials say Hartford's urban assets ANDREA HARTMAN The Aurora, Ill., native moved to Hartford about two years ago this month. Andie, 36, previously worked in engineering and operations consulting for a number of years. Currently, she is pursuing an entrepreneurial venture in the financial sector. She lives in a brownstone on Capitol Avenue, in the city's Frog Hollow neighborhood. MITCHELL JACKSON Born in Hartford but raised in the Charleston, S.C. area, Mitch, 32, is managing partner for Northeast payments for Optum. He is also chair of the Hartford Young Professionals & Entrepreneurs (HYPE), a group of the MetroHartford Alliance. Mitch resides in downtown Hartford. CHRISTOPHER PAGANO A Manchester native, Chris, 28, works in enterprise risk management at Travelers. He is a five-year Hartford Young Professionals & Entrepreneurs member and vice chair of its ambassadors committee. He owns a downtown condominium. P H O T O S | S T E V E L A S C H E V E R Meet our three Millennial panelists:

• Cover