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December 6, 2019

The Press in downtown Hartford closes adding to Allyn St. vacancies

HBJ Photo | Joe Cooper The Russell has leased the former Black Bear Saloon and The Press restaurant space on Allyn Street in downtown Hartford.
By Joe Cooper

The Press, a prohibition-era themed cocktail bar in downtown Hartford’s former Black Bear Saloon near Union Station, has closed after about a year in operation.

The bar/restaurant quietly opened last summer in the former Judd & Root office building at 179 Allyn St., which was converted into apartment/retail space in 2015. The six-story building is owned by Massachusetts developer-landlord Dakota Partners Inc.

Playing off a newspaper motif, The Press was owned and operated by Jerry Fornarelli, owner of 1st Cut Restaurant Group. Fornarelli’s group also owns The Russian Lady, The Tavern Downtown and the Rocking Horse Saloon.

The Press has been closed since at least September as a sign on the front door states “The Press will be closed tonight for HVAC repair.. .”

Fornarelli did not respond to requests for comment on whether The Press would reopen, but a spokeswoman for Dakota on Thursday confirmed the business is no longer operating there. She did not elaborate on when exactly The Press ended its lease.

Dakota is now marketing the former 125-seat space and the abutting ground-level retail unit to potential suitors, she said. Both units span over 10,000 square feet.

Despite the ground-level vacancies, the building is having success with its residential leasing as 95 percent of the 63 apartments are leased, the spokeswoman said.

Dakota spent $15 million redeveloping the building in 2015 using funds secured by the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) and other partners.

The hope in recent years was that the expansion of the CTfastrak bus service, and launch of the Hartford Line, would boost business and residential activity on Allyn Street --  a two block street connecting the XL Center and Union Station.

But the closure of The Press marks another bump in the road for the Allyn Street corridor, which is still largely home to vacant bar/nightclub space and surface parking lots.

Up or On The Rocks, a former nightclub across the street from The Press at 50 Union Place, also owned by 1st Cut, closed in 2013 after two fatal shootings outside the venue. The restaurant group last year said it planned to renovate the vacant nightclub, but didn’t elaborate on its plans there.

In 2017, the Angry Bull Saloon on Allyn Street closed its doors after voluntarily terminating its liquor permit following the death of an underage college student who fell from the building’s roof.

Also on Allyn Street, the Pyur nightclub closed in 2015 after just three years in operation and Black Bear Saloon closed in fall 2017 after nine years in business.

Earlier this year, Chango Rosa restaurant, owned by the Bear’s Restaurant Group, which also operates several eateries in Greater Hartford, closed in less than two years after it opened at 1 Union Place.

Mexican restaurant Agave Grill, located across from the XL Center, has been operating on the corner of Allyn Street and Ann Uccello Street since 2003.

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