ON THE BLOCK
Tax deed auction may spark development of vacant lots near Dunkin’ Donuts Park
HARTFORD — Before the pandemic, hundreds of commuters drove daily through the intersection of Main Street and Albany Avenue on the way to work in downtown Hartford, the landscape barren with a jumble of vacant lots, one with a chain-link fence that is falling apart.
Redevelopment has eluded the area on the northern edge of downtown for years. But an upcoming tax deed auction by the city could provide a rare opportunity for a comprehensive look at reshaping the area, a gateway to downtown and the city’s neighborhoods to the north and now, a close neighbor to Dunkin’ Donuts Park and Downtown North.
Seven properties on the auction list of 50 across the city surround the intersection, an area where the city has been slowly acquiring land for future redevelopment, all in the midst of the soaring, historic Keney Memorial Clock Tower.
Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin declined to comment on whether the city would want to buy some or all the properties it is auctioning for unpaid taxes to help steer the course of redevelopment.
However, it is likely that the city would be interested. The city now owns one corner at the intersection of Ann Uccello and Main streets. The city’s property includes the building that once housed the Arrowhead Cafe, and could be part of development of apartments over storefront space.
Neighborhood groups also are keeping a close eye on the intersection, where they have long seen potential.
“So many people transit that area every single day, and no matter where you look, you have a panoramic picture of downtown,” said Fernando Betancourt, executive director of the San Juan Center, a Latino nonprofit headquartered in the block just east of the intersection that serves lowand moderate-income people in Greater Hartford.
“You can still see the state Capitol,” Betancourt said.”You’re just beyond Downtown North. It’s a natural point of development. Imagine if you were to develop those four corners. It would be beautiful.”
Of course, it always is possible the properties could be snapped up by speculators who let them sit vacant.
Betancourt and others say any apartment development must respond to the incomes of those who already live in the neighborhood, distinct from new rentals in the heart of downtown that, for most, are now out of reach.
Patricia Williams, programs director at the Upper Albany Neighborhood Collective, said considering the intersection as a link between downtown and the city’s northern neighborhoods is good, but it shouldn’t necessarily be the first priority.
“The first thing that it does is make life livable and interesting and all that for the neighborhood itself and the people who have been living here all these years,” Williams said. “They deserve to have good surroundings and good parks and apartment buildings that are not a punishment to move into,” Williams said. “With that better, of course, it will do well to link to downtown.”
It also will be critical, she said, to push beyond the intersection and deeper in the neighborhoods with redevelopment.
In recent years, there have been plans floated for the area. In 2018, the Hartford Community Loan Fund advanced the idea of a grocery store on city-owned land behind Capital Prepara
tory Magnet School. The plan included incorporating housing and other services on two of the properties involved in the auction, at the corner of Main and Ely streets.
The grocery store is now planned for a future phase of Downtown North, after opposition to the loan fund’s vision from the school and others.
Williams said redevelopment could get a significant boost with the renovation of the historic Flat Iron Building across from the city property on Ann Uccello and a short walk from the intersection.
The building, raised in 1896 and designed in a rectangular shape in the tradition of the iconic Manhattan skyscraper, was purchased earlier this year by Shelbourne Global Solutions LLC, now downtown’s largest commercial landlord.
Shelbourne said it is now in the midst of planning a renovation — likely apartments over storefronts — and should have that completed in a month or two.
The tax deed auction, scheduled for Oct. 24, is an attempt by the city to recoup nearly $6 million in unpaid property taxes. For a property to land on the list, taxes must have gone unpaid for a minimum of three years, city tax officials said.
The seven properties surrounding the intersection account for a little over a half-million dollars in unpaid taxes.
If the city were to bid on any of the properties, it can, in general, bid up to the amount of the unpaid taxes.
The tax deed auction differs from a tax lien sale because ownership is transferred to the highest bidder. In a tax lien sale, the lien is sold, giving the buyer the right to seek foreclosure and possession of the property in court.
In the block of historic brick buildings on Main between Dunkin’ Donuts Park and the intersection with Albany Avenue, there have been some early signs of revival with the on-going renovation of the San Juan Center.
Joan Shoham, owner of Salvin Shoes, a store that’s been fixture in the neighborhood for 90 years, said the development of Dunkin’ Donuts Park is starting to bring more attention to her block.
“Hopefully, we get through this whole COVID year and things start to happen for the block and it carries all the way down,” said Shoham, who took over the store in 1998. “If it’s done right and you create the right atmosphere, the neighborhood community is very supportive.”