Year-round food truck and entertainment venue may be headed for Hartford’s South End. Will it reignite old neighborhood problems?

Hartford, Conn. – A proposal to create an international food truck and entertainment venue complete with indoor seating and a patio in Hartford’s South End was met with skepticism during a Hartford City Council committee meeting, although many liked the concept.

Art Feltman, executive director of the proposed One World Market food truck court project at 681 Wethersfield Avenue, along with co-founder and manager Ricky Feliciano, unveiled their proposal before the City Council’s Planning, Economic Development and Housing Committee this week. The committee did not vote, and approval of the city council is not required. The developers were asked by the council to give an information session.

The men currently run One World Market, which Feliciano described as bringing “people together for food one world” and a place where immigrants can share their food from around the world.

For four years, they have featured food trucks two days a week at Hartford Hospital and, before that, outside the old statehouse, when there was more of an office population downtown.

“It’s unique. It’s something that people of my generation have been asking for,” said Feliciano.

Feliciano said he knows the Wethersfield Avenue area has a “negative reputation,” and with the permanent food court, “they’ll have a place to feel safe when they visit One World Market.”

The plan is to have four food trucks at a time out of 14 rotating trucks that will include cuisine from the West Indies, Peru, Thailand, Laos, Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Middle East and America.

Under the plan, they would buy and renovate Casona Lounge, and station the food trucks in the parking lot. The food trucks would serve lunches and dinners six days a week, and a breakfast cafe would operate inside six days a week. Customers would be able to eat year-round inside in the remodeled setting or outside on the patio and picnic tables, and WiFi will be free.

There will also be a community space for entertainment, including comedy nights, game events, poetry slams, arts, craft shows and meet-ups.

The facility will be “multi-generational” with items such as video games for children, as well as a place where grandparents can bring their children, Feliciano said.

The facility will offer a storage and kitchen co-working space for truck vendors, caterers and people in the neighborhood who want to start a business but can’t afford space. That aspect will help people who want to go into business to get off the ground, Feliciano said.

The men said the project will be an economic driver, create a regional destination, put money in the pockets of minorities and revitalize a part of the city that is “blighted and depressed.”

The men said they have an option on the property and a construction plan. They have a budget of $2.8 million with an approved grant of $1.1 million and more funds in the application process.

Many councilors said they liked the concept of people coming together around international cuisine and the opportunities the project would create, but the underlying threat is that the South End thoroughfare has historically been a place that every spring and summer on the weekends is plagued with problems, attracts crowds of people and sometimes hundreds of cars, motorcycles, ATVs and dirt bikes. The crowds were especially large in 2020 during the peak of the pandemic, as car gatherings and unlicensed clubs filled the void left by shuttered restaurants and bars.

In part, the city’s response was to put a 9 p.m. closing time on food trucks on public property.

Councilman James Sanchez said he’s been to One World Market and, “I believe in what you’re doing,” but his first concern is how community residents feel about the plan, given past problems.

Feltman said the community was involved from the beginning of planning in 2019. They’ve had meetings with the public, Feliciano has gone door to door, the NRZ supports it – they’ve even incorporated ideas from residents into the plan.

He said the intention is to develop food courts on private property as there are too many restrictions on public property. Some, like Councilwoman Shirley Surgeon, have expressed concern about noise, trash and other disturbance near a residential area.

Sanchez also raised concerns about security given past behavior in the area, to which Feliciano stressed that they will have a security patrol and have the neighborhood police on board. Sanchez advised Feliciano and Feltman to consult with the top of the police department.

Shelby Young, president of International Hartford, said such problems sometimes exist because there is nothing family-oriented in the area.

Young said she thinks about residents who might want to hold a family celebration and how the generations can connect over food and cultures.

“This is more than a place for us to sit and talk,” she said. “It opens doors…immigrants are collective I’m nature, family-oriented. It’s about collective cultures coming together.”

Hyacinth Yenni, chairman of the area’s Neighborhood Revitalization Zone said after the meeting that she is in favor of the project as long as it is well planned and executed with a 10pm closing time and security in place.

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“It will be nice to have something different nearby,” Yenni said.

Henry Ocasio, the owner of a food truck that serves Puerto Rican food, said One World Market has helped him in business and he endorses the new business.

“I just think it’s a great project,” he said, noting that Feliciano and Feltman “have given us every opportunity,” helping with everything the food truck owners need, including resolving conflicts quickly.

“Without them, I would have been stuck,” Ocasio said.