Gateway Square 20 Connecticut Boulevard .....
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What’s New in East Hartford
In 2008 we held Ribbon Cuttings or Grand Opening events for the St. Francis Medical Care building, on the corner of Main St. and Connecticut Blvd. (20 Conn. Blvd).; Piolyn Jr. Restaurant (860 Main St); Elegance Consignment Shop (435 Burnside Ave), the first store of its kind to open in East Hartford; Tandoori Nights Bar & Indian Cuisine (775 Silver Lane), the only Indian restaurant in East Hartford; Si-Seanton's Scrubs & More (535 Burnside Ave); San Francisco de Asis, a new Mexican produce store on Main St (1549 Main St); Hair Obsessions Beauty Salon (1255 Main St); Ultra Fuel Quik Mart (58 Ellington Rd); Le Dollar Arama (775 Silver Lane); New York Jewelry (1171 Main Street); Curves (794 Silver Lane); Gina's Brick Oven Pizza of East Hartford (130 Long Hill Rd) at the Golf Course; Dunkin' Donuts (364 Silver Lane); and Mayberry Barber & Beauty Salon (1227 Burnside Ave), whose December 9 ribbon cutting was covered by Channel 3 News.
What’s Approved in East Hartford
Goodwin College has received Certificates of Occupancy for Floors 1, 2 & 6 of the new Riverside Campus (211 Riverside Drive). This 109,000 sf building houses classrooms, laboratories, a library, an auditorium, a student lounge, and administrative offices. There is also an auditorium and a community room, which are available for use by the general public.
The corner of Roberts Street & Simmons Road is the future home of a brand-new, as-yet-unnamed hotel. Central CT Hotel Associates, LLC received Planning & Zoning approval on September 10, 2008 to build a 4-storey, 80-room hotel (46,688 sf) on this site. (166 Simmons Road & 277 Roberts Street)
Hampton Inn broke ground on a 5-storey, 121 room hotel at 351 Pitkin Street.
Aldi’s () completed construction of their 16,854 sf East Hartford store in August 2008. Aldi is a worldwide discount grocery chain, with operations in Europe, the United States and Australia. The company first introduced the limited assortment concept to the United States back in 1976, and today, operates over 800 stores in 27 states.
Lotte’s Market completed the move to their new location at 1150 Burnside Ave. This move from Silver Lane to Burnside Ave was an expansion for the well-known small business, since the new location has 4,026 sf and a full basement for storage.
The new Wachovia Bank at 18-22 Main Street, which is about to receive its Certificate of Occupancy, promises to be an excellent addition to that area of town, with 4,000 sf of bank, as well as the added convenience of a drive-through facility for banking customers.
Also in the South End, renovations are still underway for Pet Smart (5 Main Street). This new Putnam Plaza tenant will occupy the space vacated by Ames, and will offer not only an exciting shopping experience for East Hartford animal lovers, but a doggie day-care center for busy dog owners.
The Silva’s Child Care (656 Silver Lane) expansion project was approved by the Planning & Zoning Commission and got underway in the summer of 2008. Although the building footprint has not changed, the greenhouse has been enclosed to create enough additional square footage for the daycare to accommodate approx. 220 students.
Walgreen’s now has a renewable source for as much as 40% of its electricity, since contractor SunEdison received building permits to install 220 solar panels on the roof of the pharmacy at 922 Silver Lane. SunEdison, the largest solar energy service provider in North America, was tapped to retrofit all of the Walgreen’s Pharmacies nationwide with solar panels, and describes Walgreen’s as “one of the top five companies in the United States committed to going green”. Paul Aloi of SunEdison has nothing but praise for the Town of East Hartford, saying, “This town is very encouraging of green energy, and staff members were helpful in moving the project smoothly through the permitting process.”
What’s Developing in East Hartford
The Economic Development Commission & Development Office staff have worked diligently over the past year to reach out to East Hartford businesses:
The Economic Development Commission (EDC) made an important Business Visitation to Cellu Tissue (2 Forbes St) on Feb. 13, 2008. As a direct result of the EDC Commissioners’ endorsement of the Cellu Tissue co-generation project, the Town Council voted to waive up to $90,000 in Building Permit fees, so that Cellu Tissue’s parent company would choose to invest in East Hartford. Thankfully, the parent company did, indeed, choose its East Hartford plant as the site of major expansion, and the $6 million project is underway.
Development staff assisted Garden of Light, Inc., (363 Park Ave); Ze-Vo, LLC (14 Eastern Park Road); and Horst Engineering (36 Cedar Street) in obtaining Railroad Depot Zone Incentives from the Department of Economic & Community Development (DECD). We also assisted Bank of America’s Financial Center (20 Hartland St) in obtaining Urban Jobs Incentives from the same source.
EDC Commissioners Marilyn Pet, Deb Arrieta and John Ryan attended the workshops Planning for Economic Development, Parts I & II at the Northeast Utilities campus on March 13 and 18, 2008.
Development staff attended courses/workshops on Creative Tax Programs for Economic Development, International Marketing 101 and the Hartford Springfield Economic Partnership, among others.
The EDC had its own booth at the CT Convention Center's Open House event held on June 4, 2008. Commissioners Marilyn Pet and Deb Arrieta spent hours that day talking to those in attendance about all that East Hartford has to offer in terms of both business and recreation.
Two months later, EDC Commissioners were again at the CT Convention Center, this time for a private, guided tour. Katie Blint (Communications Director, CT Convention Center) and Terryl Mitchell Smith (Marketing and PR Director, Capital City Economic Development Authority) both issued the invitation, and acted as our hosts, taking us on an especially informative tour of one of New England's pre-eminent conference facilities.
Development staff pulled off a successful event in the form of a Coffee with the Mayor for East Hartford small business people and those who plan to set up a business in town. Some 30 people turned out to listen to representatives from local banks and credit unions, as well as guest speakers from the Community Economic Development Fund (CEDF) and the Small Business Development Center (SBDC), who explained how they could provide funding for small business start-up and expansion, as well as provide courses/workshops on the skills needed to grow a successful business.
The EDC had a successful business visitation at Cardinal Health (131 Hartland Street). Pharmacy Manager, Pete Sposato, kindly showed us around their new space where they produce nuclear pharmaceuticals for medical screenings, and right here in East Hartford we got a peek at the first commercial cyclotron in the state of CT.
The EDC chose Avid Marketing as the company to create the new Economic Development ad campaign. We held an animated brainstorming session on October 1, 2008 that was favorably covered in an article by Christian Mysliwiec (Rare Reminder, October 8, 2008). The ad that resulted from this session can be found on page 71 of the Hartford Business Journal's Metro Hartford Trends Report, published December 29, 2008.
In May 2008, the EDC partnered with The Greater Hartford Arts Council, the City of Hartford, and the Town of West Hartford to market our region as "The Hartfords" – a top-tier entertainment and tourism destination. Radio and print ads were run in a number of adjacent market areas, including Western MA, and Eastern, CT, and highlighted area events and shopping destinations, such as UCONN Football games, Rentschler Field concerts, Cabela's, and Blue Back Square.
Speaking of positive press, Burnside Avenue was featured prominently in the Hartford Courant of March 14, 2008. A front-page story, written by Dan Uhlinger, detailed the "Burnside Renaissance" and the progress that the town has made in implementing the Burnside Redevelopment plan.
The Working Connections Newsletter (which you are currently reading) was updated and expanded in 2008. We have worked to give it a conversational tone and a wider readership, and have seen our distribution list grow to over 200 contacts, including entrepreneurs, developers, real estate and economic development professionals, and members of the press.
It therefore followed to expand our Economic Development website to add a page for our enhanced newsletter. We further added pages on our business visitations and success stories, and made the navigation decidedly more user-friendly. We're told that our friends at the CT Economic Resource Center (CERC) have used it as a teaching tool and an example of a well-built Economic Development website. We're delighted they like it and we hope you will, too: Visit us at EHworks.com!
