A redevelopment project is bringing more housing to the North End of Hartford and bringing hope for the local community.
The former Fuller Brush Factory Building on Main Street will be transformed into Bristle & Main, an apartment complex.
"This is going to spark a resurgence that is taking place in this neighborhood, in my home, that is going to forever change this neighborhood for the better," said Steve Harris, a retired fire captain and former president of The Phoenix Society, who grew up in Hartford's North End.
The building, 3580 Main St., dates back to the 1920s. It was once the world headquarters and main factory for the Fuller Brush Company.
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“Growing up as a child, I saw prosperity and hope," Harris said.
Over the years, it changed owners. Harris remembers when it became a state building, a place where people would go for public assistance.
“It was no longer the building of prosperity and hope. It became the building of poverty and hopelessness for many," Harris said.
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That's how Janice Flemming-Butler remembers the building.
“My experience with this building growing up is one of trauma," Flemming-Butler said. “This is where I came with my mother to get a welfare check to feed me and my six siblings.”
Flemming-Butler now owns Strategic Outreach Solutions, a lobbying firm. Five years ago, she started working to reclaim the building on Main Street for the community.
Backed with private, state and city dollars, 3580 Main St. is being transformed into an apartment complex. It is the first major redevelopment project in the North End in more than 25 years.
"It is something that I feel prideful of today - that this community understands the importance of removing things that are trauma for us, removing stigmas of poverty for us," Flemming-Butler said. "And that we created balance of developing all of the city.”
The building will house 155 apartments. Most will be market-rate, which is what the community needs, Flemming-Butler said.
The neighborhood already has a lot of affordable options, but not many market-rate apartments available.
"You have to diversify our housing stock," said Brandon McGee, deputy commissioner of housing for the state.
Construction will get underway next week. The apartments should be ready to rent within the next two years, according to owner and developer Shelbourne.
