March Meeting will be Hybrid, Mayor is Scheduled Guest

The daffodils are coming up and the vernal equinox is next week - Spring is coming! Last month was our first hybrid meeting using our new Owl camera and projector, acquired through the City and Hartford NEXT's Community Outreach funds. Thank you to everyone who attended in person and online - we had hoped that adding Zoom to our in-person meetings meant more of you will join us, and so far we were right! We anticipate the momentum will continue, as there are so many new projects planned for our community.

The scheduled guest* for our March meeting is The Honorable Arunan Arulampalam, Mayor of the City of Hartford. Bring your questions! 

We’ll meet Wednesday, March 20 at 6:00 pm at First Presbyterian Church of Hartford, 136 Capitol Avenue (enter through the small white building to the right of the main church.) Or join us via Zoom. Here are the links to join the Meeting and Agenda.

We look forward to catching up on neighborhood news with you!

*schedule permitting

Presentations from the February 2024 meeting

 


Our February guests shared updates on some of the developments that are in progress in our neighborhood. Copies of their presentations are available on our Google Drive

  • Spinnaker Real Estate: the soon-to-be-opened apartments at 55 Elm Street (blue star), and the parking lot at 63 Capitol Avenue (red star).
  • City Department of Economic Development: new apartments at 525 Main Street and plans for the empty lot behind it that faces Pulaski Circle (17 Wells Street, white star).
  • Greater Hartford Mobility Study also shared some highlights from their report.
A recording of the meeting is also available on our Google Drive.

February 2024 Meeting will be HYBRID!

 

Our February 21, 2024 meeting will be our first hybrid meeting using our new Owl camera and projector, acquired through the City and Hartford Next's Community Outreach funds. We hope more neighbors will be able to join us this way, especially as there are so many new projects planned for our community.

Our February guests from Spinnaker Real Estate and the City Department of Economic Development will share development updates on some of those projects that are already in the works: new apartments at 525 Main Street and the empty lot behind it that faces Pulaski Circle, the soon-to-be-opened apartments at 55 Elm Street, and the parking lot at 63 Capitol Avenue. Plus, representatives from the Greater Hartford Mobility Study will share some highlights from their report.

Our next meeting is Wednesday, February 21 at 6:00 pm at First Presbyterian Church of Hartford, 136 Capitol Avenue. Enter through the small white building to the right of the main church.  Or join us online on Zoom.

We look forward to catching up on neighborhood news with you!

Check out the rest of the February newsletter here.

(Photo above is of the late Ani Mal Chin on Hudson Street, during a past snowstorm.)


January 2024 SoDo Meeting

 

Collage of SoDo's 2023-24 Capitol Avenue Winter Lights installation. Photos by Robin Zaleski.

Have you seen the winter garlands lighting up Capitol Avenue?

In February of 2023, the SoDo NRZ submitted a proposal for a Love Your Block grant to beautify a high-visibility area in our neighborhood for the winter season by installing reusable, pre-lit LED evergreen garlands on the Victorian-style street lamps on Capitol Avenue. The grant was awarded by the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving that summer. Our neighbors at First Presbyterian kindly stored the garlands until they were hung up last month by SoDo volunteers and some staff members from Riverfront Recapture. The plan is to leave the garlands up until March, to help brighten the streetscape during the winter months.

Speaking of Capitol Avenue, Bushnell South (aka Capital Avenue redevelopment) and other SoDo developments were again in the news recently, as part of some year-end round-ups of Hartford development. There are a lot of new projects planned in and around SoDo, so it is perfect timing that this year one of our major goals is to update our Strategic Plan. We will simultaneously be drafting an official Neighborhood Plan with the city. Representatives from the Department of Economic Development and their planning partner FHI Studios will be the guest speakers at our next meeting, Wednesday, January 17 at 6:00 pm at First Presbyterian Church of Hartford, 136 Capitol Avenue. Enter through the small white building to the right of the main church. We look forward to catching up on neighborhood news with you!

Holiday Happy Hour

 

The Board of the SoDo NRZ invites our residential and business neighbors to join us in celebrating the season!

Wednesday, December 20
5:00 - 7:00 pm
Social Republic*
10 Capitol Avenue
Cash Bar

For those who are driving: on-street parking (free after 6 pm) and a paid lot on Linden & Hudson. 

Please note, this event is in lieu of our December meeting. Our regularly scheduled monthly meetings resume January 17, 2024. 

*formerly known as Republic at The Linden

Pulaski Circle, Bushnell South, and Other Neighborhood News

Autumn leaves on Capitol Avenue looking east.

When the Greater Hartford Mobility Study included Pulaski Circle and its related safety issues in its list of potential future projects, the online chatter about the “Circle of Death” caught the attention of local media. Recently, a few SoDo members were interviewed for CT Insider and NBC Connecticut. You can read more about the GHMB study in this Courant article (gift link). Read more about SoDo’s attempts to slow traffic in the area here. The GHMB’s next public meeting is this Thursday.

As well, Bushnell South (aka Capital Avenue redevelopment) was also in the news this past week (gift link), as it seems the parking lot on the southwest corner of Hudson and Capitol is a hot commodity — three developers want it: Spinnaker, The Bushnell, and possibly the government for a new federal courthouse. We have links to three years’ worth of articles about Bushnell South on our website. Speaking of Cap Ave development, Brandon Lira from Spinnaker Real Estate is the guest speaker at this week’s SoDo NRZ meeting, with an update on renovations at 55 Elm.

We next meet on Wednesday, November 15 at 6:00 pm at First Presbyterian Church, 136 Capitol Avenue (enter through the small white building to the right of the church). Our meetings are open to the public and we especially welcome new residents, businesses, and organizations to attend and meet your neighbors! Please join us!

SoDo Neighborhood Blood Drive Survey



The South Downtown NRZ has partnered with First Presbyterian Church of Hartford to sponsor an American Red Cross Blood Drive. We need to make sure we have enough people to donate blood before we can commit. We support and encourage you to take time to give blood; a simple way to make a difference in someone's life. Your one blood donation can help save up to three lives.  

Have questions about giving blood? Visit the Red Cross website here. Any other questions? Contact SoDoNRZ@gmail.com.

The survey closed on October 30, 2023. Thank you for your interest.