Processing Your Payment

Please do not leave this page until complete. This can take a few moments.

April 16, 2021

Hartford’s Infinity Hall seeks breathing room on state loan as venue eyes Sept. reopening

PHOTO | Steve Laschever Infinity Hall Hartford is located in the Front Street Entertainment District.
By Matt Pilon

The owners of Infinity Music Hall in Hartford’s Front Street district are working to finalize a loan modification from the state that will give them more time to build back the venue’s business, which has been dark since COVID-19 struck in March 2020.

The pending agreement with the state Department of Economic and Community Development, which Infinity owner GoodWorks Entertainment detailed in an interview with HBJ on Friday, would allow the venue to count more part-time employees toward its job targets, which are tied to forgiveness of a $1.3 million loan the state Bond Commission approved in 2013. 

Alexandra Daum, deputy commissioner of DECD, noted the amendment during Thursday’s Capital Region Development Authority board meeting.

DECD could also extend the loan forgiveness date from 2022 to 2025, GoodWorks Entertainment co-founder David Rosenfeld said.

Rosenfeld said GoodWorks, which inherited the financing when it acquired the theater from former owner Dan Hincks in 2019, had been worried it would miss the forgiveness target, creating a looming liability starting next year. The loan balance currently sits at just over $300,000, according to DECD, which previously modified the forgiveness terms back in 2018.

“We just wouldn’t have made it, because there’s been no revenue at all,” Rosenfeld said. “It’s just the reality of a post-pandemic world that things aren’t going to be as robust.”

Rosenfeld tentatively hopes Infinity will start hosting live events again around September. His fingers are crossed that it could be sooner, but it all depends on the impact of COVID-19 vaccinations and the path the virus takes in the months ahead.

Over the past year, GoodWorks, a for-profit that also owns a theater in Norfolk, has still had to cover various venue expenses and costs, despite ticket sales and other revenue completely evaporating due to the shutdown.

“We lost a lot of money last year because we had to pay all these expenses,” he said.

Despite that, Rosenfeld is optimistic that pent-up demand for live entertainment will drive Infinity’s business back to its formerly strong 2019 levels, hopefully within the first six months or so after the venue reopens.

The DECD loan amendment is “a piece of our puzzle to go back into business as the virus fades,” Rosenfeld said. 

He said the state’s flexibility would pay off, as Infinity will help bring foot traffic back to Front Street, which has seen a few businesses go dark this past year, including Ted’s Montana Grill.

”We think that we’re an important contributor to the local economy,” Rosenfeld said. “We’re definitely going to be up and running again.”

GoodWorks is also in the midst of applying for stimulus aid from the federal government’s $16.2 billion Shuttered Venues Operators Grant fund.

Sign up for Enews

Most Recent

Most Recent

0 Comments

Order a PDF