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March 31, 2020

Hartford’s Parkville Market eyeing April debut with takeout-only sales

Rendering | Contributed Parkville Market in Hartford's South End could debut for takeout-only sales in April.
HBJ Photo | Bill Morgan Hartford developer Carlos Mouta and daughter, Chelsea Mouta, in 2019 on the ground floor amid construction of their planned Parkville Market food plaza at 1400 Park St.
By Joe Cooper

The developers of Hartford’s Parkville Market are looking to debut the food/shopping hall in April for takeout sales only to support its small-business vendors hit hard by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Construction of the roughly $5.1 million foodservice-merchandising-entertainment hall being developed to co-anchor Hartford’s diverse Parkville neighborhood was nearly complete before the coronavirus pandemic forced business closings across the state in March, according to Chelsea Mouta, the director of operations. 

The final hurdles to completing the two-level, 20,000-square-foot hall at the redeveloped former Bishop Ladder Co. site at 1400 Park St. include asphalt paving on surface parking lots, building inspection and certificate of occupancy approvals and vendor readiness, said Mouta, who is the daughter of developer Carlos Mouta.

“The building will be ready regardless, we just want to be ready in the event they want to open through takeout,” she said. “If we have vendors who cannot currently do sales, we are trying to create a space for folks who want to sell and operate and to do it in a safe way.”

Photo | Parkville Market
The Parkville Market is nearing its debut in the South End of Hartford.

Mouta said her team was informed Monday that the city of Hartford and its health department would support a takeout-only system debuting in April. The market is now gauging how many of its 11 food vendors under contract would be willing and ready to open for takeout sales next month, she said.

The market is mostly pitching the idea of an April grand opening to vendors that do not operate a brick-and-mortar store and rely on food truck sales, which have been stifled by the coronavirus pandemic.

“If vendors are willing to open, I think people would take advantage of it,” said Mouta, whose staff is developing social-distancing procedures as cases of COVID-19 mount statewide. “We will do everything to be as safe as possible and we will encourage online ordering ahead of time.”

It’s not yet clear how many days or hours the market would be open per week, but Mouta said the building would be closed to visitors and that all takeout sales would be distributed through a service window at each individual kiosk, or by curbside pickups.

The market’s newly hired general manager and marketing/sales manager are in negotiations with other prospective food, beverage and retail tenants as the venue will eventually ramp up to host between 40 to 45 vendors when the building is fully operational. 

Carlos Mouta has said he is searching for ethnic food vendors that will each take up about 400 square feet of kiosk space, and envisions the hall becoming an economic driver for the area as it aims to create a family friendly entertainment mecca that showcases the city’s diversity.

[Read more: Incoming Hartford food hall only a piece of Mouta’s Parkville vision]

Chelsea Mouta said the market will officially open its doors when state officials deem it is safe for large gatherings. The market in the coming months expects to hold a soft-opening week for private events to test its capacity and to get vendors acclimated to lunch and dinner crowds.

“We have to see what appetite people have for opening,” she said. “We have to make sure when we open people will be ready to go out.”

Here is a list of food vendors under contract at Parkville Market:

  • Disco Forno
  • Chompers
  • Bombay Olive
  • Ceviche Bowls
  • Mofongo
  • Lucky Taco
  • Portly Pig
  • Scratch Salad
  • PM Chicken and Burgers
  • Gula Grill
  • Que Chivo
  • Js Crab Shack

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