The owners of Infinity Music Hall in Hartford’s Front Street district are working to finalize a loan modification from the state that will give them more time to build back the venue’s business, which has been dark since COVID-19 struck in March 2020.
The pending agreement with the state Department of Economic and Community Development, which Infinity owner GoodWorks Entertainment detailed in an interview with HBJ on Friday, would allow the venue to count more part-time employees toward its job targets, which are tied to forgiveness of a $1.3 million loan the state Bond Commission approved in 2013.
Alexandra Daum, deputy commissioner of DECD, noted the amendment during Thursday’s Capital Region Development Authority board meeting.
Faced with high costs of fringe benefits for state employees, UConn Health is seeking another bailout from the state legislature as it is looking for $54 million, $59 million and $61 million over the next three years.
A residential conversion of the former office building on Pulaski Circle and the second phase of the Pratt Street redevelopment, both in downtown Hartford, are expected to win public financing at the upcoming State Bond Commission meeting.
In its first meeting of 2021, the state Bond Commission later this week will vote on millions of dollars worth of loans and grants that would help spur the redevelopment of 460 new apartment units in Hartford.
The funding on the commission’s Friday agenda would shepherd a $100 million Pratt Street redevelopment into its next phase, kickstart the repurposing of a former state office building fronting Bushnell Park and stake a mixed-income apartment redevelopment project near the Colt Armory.
The largest Hartford economic development item the agenda is $13.5 million in loans to help Spinnaker Real Estate Partners redevelop the 55 Elm St. office building into 164 apartments with co-working space and a restaurant.
A nearly $22 million mixed-use development proposed for the corner of Woodland Street and Albany Avenue in Hartford is in limbo, after the city has questioned the developer’s project financing and overall design.
Development Services Interim Director I. Charles Mathews has recommended the city postpone signing a land lease with developer 7 Summits Realty LLC, which had proposed building a mixed-use development at the site that would contain up to 75 mostly affordable apartments and retail space.
Mathews made that recommendation in a February memo that was reviewed Thursday by the Capital Region Development Authority, which committed $5.5 million to the project last year.