ConnCORP’s Erik Clemons, Carlton Highsmith, Anna Blanding, Paul McCraven, and Elaine Roper at Saturday’s event.
One hundred residents, city officials, and outreach members celebrated the planned transformation of Dixwell Plaza into “ConnCAT Place.”
ConnCORP, the complex’s new owner, threw a block party Saturday afternoon behind Stetson Library in the plaza’s parking lot as a way to thank the community for support as the organization proceeds with plans to build a new $200 million mixed-use complex on the site.
Plans for ConnCAT Place on Dixwell.
ConnCORP, the economic development arm of the Connecticut Center for Arts and Technology (ConnCAT), plans to transform the eight-acre plot into 150-plus apartments, an office tower, a performing arts venue, a grocery store, and more. (Read previous stories detailing the plans here, here and here.)
ConnCAT President & CEO Genevive Walker.
Chief Investment Officer Anna Blanding said the development is projected to be completed open in 2023
“It’s really a way for the community to live, work, and play all in one space. We’re really excited about the development and more importantly, we’re excited about partnering with this neighborhood full of vitality and such a rich history,” Blanding said. “We want to bring that rich history back to life.”
Dixwell residents, Queen Cee and Melvin Spruill on the food line.
Dixwell residents share a meal together.
At Saturday’s block party, community members danced to soulful jazz perfrormed by Lisa Bellamy and her husband William Fluke. Children played games and hit the popcorn stand. Other Dixwell residents and friends like Queen Cee and Melvin Spruill grabbed a free meal together.
“It’s so nice to see people coming out and uniting after all we went through the past year,” Cee said. “I really am impressed with this project that they’ve been working on coming to life.”
Danielle (and Eliana Coker at the festivities.
Aisha Coker came from Whalley Avenue and brought her children, Danielle, 10, and Eliana, 8, to join in on the fun.
“This is going to provide more services for the people that can’t travel and don’t have the transportation,” Coker said.
Police Officers Doug Pearse and Robert Hayden conversed with residents about what’s to come.
“it seems like there’s going to be a lot more going on and it will provide new opportunities for local community members,” said Pearse, an 11-year police veteran.
“This is a beautiful thing,” said Hayden, who grew up in the community. “We need to have community events like these to actually make a difference. My family is here, and these people here are my extended family. I’ve watched this neighborhood transform and go forward in a positive direction. This is only going to add to it.”
Towards the end of the event, Dixwell/Prospect Hill Alder Steve Winter spoke to the crowd about the struggle that led to the success of securing ownership of the plaza.
“I just want to stress that people have been trying to do this for decades,” Winter said. “Almost since the plaza was built! And it’s just an incredible feat to have put all those pieces together and line them all up to try and transform this space that will be so much greater for the community.”
Carlton Highsmith.
“We’ll meet you all here in about two and a half years when we have a ribbon cutting,” ConnCORP co-founder Carlton Highsmith told the crowd. “Hold us accountable!”
Nice to see something so positive happening in that area. I hadnt realized this was ready to go with funding etc.