Hart Lift Program News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Connecticut provides an environment that is conducive to growth and expansion across a diverse array of industries.

Gjinovefa "Gina" Luari was 24 when she launched her first restaurant in a closed breakfast place in Hartford’s South End. With ceiling-mounted swinging chairs; bright and playful food display; a diverse and enthusiastic staff, the Place 2 Be was a stylish, Millennial-inspired take on food as an experience one could share on social media.

For the first time in decades, all of the storefronts on Pratt Street are occupied thanks in no small part to a program that uses American Rescue Plan funds to revitalize key commercial corridors in the city.

Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin’s offer of up to $150,000 in grants to prepare and outfit vacant ground-floor retail spaces for new businesses has drawn dozens of applicants. Eighteen days after the Dec. 2 announcement of the program, 25 property owners had filed applications with the Hartford Chamber of Commerce, with 38 more beginning the process, according to Julio Concepcion, the chamber’s executive director. The city is funding the program with $6 million of its $112 million American Rescue Plan Act allocation.