Hands on Hartford Community Center

The Hands on Hartford Community Center, formally known as the Tire Storage Building, is the first of a two phase project to be undertaken in the larger redevelopment plan to rehabilitate the Hartford Rubber Work Buildings in the Parkville neighborhood of Hartford. Phase 2 involves the stabilization, environmental abatement, restoration, and adaptive reuse of the Boiler House.

The Tire Storage Building, a two-story brick warehouse with a shallow gable roof, has been rehabilitated to house the non-profit, Hands on Hartford’s  offices, supportive services and residential units. All support services will be located on the ground floor at 55 Bartholomew Avenue and will include a community space, soup kitchen, food pantry, advocacy center, and commercial kitchen with a café. Thirteen one-bedroom and studio apartments will be on the second floor. During the second phase, the boiler house will be converted to supportive housing.

This project is an example of a “success story”, representative of preservation’s positive effects on Parkville’s community character and economic development. A direct reflection of the state’s proactive stance on financial incentives, the importance of public-private partnerships and an example how powerful housing and historic preservation can be at transforming vacant and underutilized industrial buildings.