Processing Your Payment

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

January 3, 2023

Chowder Pot of Hartford closing this year as site is eyed for cannabis business

Contributed Chowder Pot of Hartford.
By Skyler Frazer

After almost 30 years in business, Chowder Pot of Hartford is closing in 2023, the restaurant announced today.

Officials from Chowder Pot of Hartford, the seafood restaurant located right off route 91 in the Capital City, said it would be closing in the next several months. The company hasn’t set an exact closing date but will announce it when it has one.

Restaurant officials said the age and size of the restaurant building have made it tough to maintain with limited staff. The company said the building first opened in 1965 as Valle’s Steak House, then the Hilltop Steakhouse before USS Chowder Pot IV took over the location in 1994.

“After almost 60 years and millions of customers, the location is showing its age,” restaurant officials said in a statement on Facebook. “We have decided the right decision is to sell at this time.”

This doesn’t mean the Chowder Pot brand is done, though. The company’s soups will still be available in local supermarkets as the owners “take some time to weigh our options and decide where and in what form the Chowder Pot will pop up as next.”

While the restaurant is closing, “pot” could remain at the location in another form. 

Insa, a Massachusetts-based cannabis company plans to build a large marijuana cultivation facility and retail shop on the Brainard Road property.

According to recent applications to Hartford’s Planning and Zoning Commission, Insa plans to retrofit existing buildings at 165 and 167 Brainard Road. One property currently hosts the Chowder Pot of Hartford restaurant, while the second is a vacant retail building that previously hosted Restoration Lighting Gallery.

The state granted Insa a provisional cultivator license in August, making the company the first to get the green light to establish recreational cannabis operations in the state. The company has also applied for a hybrid retailer license.

According to documents from the city, Insa has purchase agreements for both properties, and plans on ultimately combining the two parcels, according to its application to the commission.

Insa would renovate the former Restoration Lighting space into a 7,600-square-foot retail and educational space for adult use and medical cannabis sales, according to its application. The retail shop will also offer a view into the neighboring cultivation facility through 3-inch-thick clear glass.

Insa’s plans call for a renovation and expansion of the restaurant building at 165 Brainard Road  into an 83,441-square-foot growing and production facility for cannabis products. Roughly one-third of the space would be dedicated to production, office and support services, with the rest set aside for cultivation.

Sign up for Enews

Most Recent

Most Recent

0 Comments

Order a PDF