CT healthcare system finds unusual modern use for historic building as $1B redevelopment takes shape

Hartford Courant – Sunday, August 10, 2025
By Kenneth R. Gosselin

More than $1 billion in redevelopment planned in the next decade on the sprawling campus is now beginning to take shape, with construction of a new, 1,700-space parking garage for the public and employees set to break ground this week.

The Hartford Hospital vision is ambitious, also including a new, in-patient tower, an expanded cancer treatment center, and the renovation of historic properties for community-based clinical services.

But what people will never see — and not more than a handful of hospital employees will be able to enter — is what is considered by the hospital as the lynchpin to the entire redevelopment plan: a $23 million upgrade of its electrical plant that will power the expansion.

“When we talk about it, people are like, ‘it’s not a sexy project,’ ” Keith Grant, vice president of operations for the Hartford region of Hartford HealthCare, the hospital’s parent, said. “For me, this is one of our most important projects. Without it, nothing else goes.”

The electrical project also took an unusual turn: the nerve center of the upgrade to 21st century standards is housed in a historic brownstone built in the 1920s that was once a center of medical research that drew national attention.

Four years ago, the hospital had planned to tear down the Hall-Wilson Laboratory building on Retreat Avenue and replace it with a new structure. The structure would have housed transformer equipment to convert a higher volume of high-voltage electrical power for hospital use and a vastly expanded, super-sized system of what are essentially circuit breakers.

But an outcry from preservationists and neighborhood leaders pushing to save the structure topped by a distinctive copper cupola prompted Hartford Hospital to change course.

Instead of a new building, the equipment has been installed inside Hall-Wilson. So passersby on the street will still see the building as it has appeared for a century — 1921 engraved on the cornerstone. But step inside, and it is pure, modern technology.

“This building is now a machine,” Grant said, during a recent tour.

Preservationists praised the refurbishment of the structure, recognizing that the needs of a modern hospital will guide how historic structures on the 65-acre campus are used in the future.

“We understand time marches on,” Mary A. Falvey, executive director of the Hartford Preservation Alliance, said. “The laboratory, when it was built, was cutting-edge technology for its time. And we understand the needs of the hospital is first and foremost for them. There are often ways to preserve what’s there and incorporate it to modernize.”

The restoration of the exterior of Hall-Wilson alone cost $1.5 million, Grant said.

Passage of time

The future of the historic structures on the hospital campus is intertwined with its massive redevelopment plans.

In recent years, the hospital has come under fire for allowing historic structures to sit and deteriorate, some of them cited by city under blight ordinances.

Hartford Hospital, whose roots in the city date back to 1854, says it has an eye on the past, as it plans for a future focused on patient care and innovation.

“These historic buildings are a vital piece of Hartford’s story and are now both timeless and transformative symbols of Hartford’s evolution toward the future of healthcare innovation,” Jeffrey A. Flaks, president and chief executive of Hartford HealthCare, said. “As we reimagine our campus, we remain committed to honoring Hartford’s rich history by restoring these historic buildings not just to their original beauty, but giving them new life and a new purpose – to deliver state-of-the-art, world-class care.”

Flaks said, “We remain deeply rooted in respect — for our community, our history, and the generations we serve.”
The challenge is preserving the past while conveying an image of cutting-edge innovation and care in state-of-the art structures, all on an urban campus that is in the middle of a city neighborhood.

Since making the decision to preserve the Hall-Wilson Laboratory, the hospital also decided in 2023 not to demolish three, vacant structures it owns at the corner of Jefferson and Washington streets, in the face of opposition from the neighborhood. Instead, the three, boarded up structures — two of them, 1920s-era apartment buildings — will be combined, their facades saved, forming new, community-based clinical space.

The preservation alliance’s Falvey and others worry about the passage of time because the stability of at least one of the Washington Street structures was called into question two years ago. Grant said the designs for the $45 million-plus project are expected to be completed in November, with construction beginning early next year and completion in 2027.

Grant said the hospital is focusing on renovations of historic structures along the northeast side of Jefferson Street. The vision for how they will fit into the hospital’s wider strategy for health care is coming into clearer focus, with community-based clinics emerging as the use.

The project at the corner of could build on the success of a community-based clinic on the same block that was built with the bricks of two Italianate-style homes that once occupied the site, Grant said. Last year, the clinic saw 20,000 primary-care patients, demonstrating a clear need in the community for those services, the hospital said.

“That’s one of things that we have to figure out, right?” Grant said. “You can’t just do the buildings and let them be. They have to be activated.”

The hospital is nearing the completion of a $2 million-plus renovation of a circa 1879 house on Jefferson Street. The Queen Anne, which had fallen into disrepair, was singled out as one of the most notable properties when the Jefferson-Seymour National Historic District was formed in 1979.

The house, which will now be used for administrative offices, was originally owned by Levi Felt, who rose from office boy to comptroller in a 48-year career at Travelers Insurance. A timeline for occupancy has not yet been set, Grant said.

The hospital also is embarking on the renovation of 3 buildings east of the intersection of Jefferson and Seymour streets, one of which had been damaged by a fire a few years ago. Their future uses have not been determined, Grant said.

‘More of a private model’

Earlier this year, the hospital completed the demolition of an aging parking garage at the corner of Jefferson and Seymour streets.

This week, construction will start on a replacement parking garage with 1,700 spaces that will triple the capacity of the old garage and cost about $120 million. The garage eventually will run on the southern side of Jefferson between Seymour and Washington streets. The project is being built in two phases because property, including a gas station on Washington, must still be acquired to complete the development.

The first phase of 1,100 spaces is expected to be open to public and employees by next August and the remainder a year later.

Grant said plans call for ground-level shops, restaurants and a conference center.

“We want to create more space for people to walk and socialize, appreciate what is here, creating a different feel and opportunity for the community to integrate and interact with our colleagues and vice versa,” Grant said. “So it’s not just people coming to work and leaving Hartford, right? So hence, the restaurants and the eateries and so forth and the dining experience and so forth. And there will be a premiere conference center.”

Across Seymour Street to the east, there are plans in the next 3-4 years to build a new in-patient tower that could add 300-350 beds. There are no specific cost estimates, but it would easily run into the hundreds of millions, Grant said.

Grant said two options are being considered.

In one — the most likely — the medical office building at 85 Jefferson St. would be razed and a new tower would be built, Grant said. It also is possible that the existing building could be retrofitted with a new facade and a major addition. In both cases, an existing valet parking lot — a service moving to the new parking garage — would likely become part of the construction.

“We definitely need to have more beds,” Grant said. “The other part is: If you’re a patient that comes in here — to maintain dignity and many other things, it’s important for anyone to ask, ‘I would like to be in a private room.’ We have a lot of semi-private rooms and the intent of this construction is to get more of a private model.”

The new patient tower would be connected the parking garage by a pedestrian bridge.

Designs for a new, expanded cancer care center that would replace the current one also are underway. That project will include an accompanying and much-needed expansion of the hospital’s emergency department. The hospital said it was too premature to discuss specifics of the project.

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