State to Approve $3.85 Million for Meriden Hub Renovation

State officials are poised to approve $3.85 million in funding that will go toward renovating Meriden’s downtown Hub site, a move that is expected to relieve flooding and create the first downtown green in the city’s history.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s office said Friday the state Bond Commission is expected to approve the funding when it meets next Friday, June 21, according to a news release from Meriden’s Democratic state legislative delegation.

This means the state is committing funding toward a renovation project that will transform a 14-acre downtown site for an eventual multi-million dollar redevelopment.

For the redevelopment to happen, the plan is as follows: uncover the now-buried Harbor Brook, creating an intermodal transportation center focusing on rail and bus service, and building over 150,000 square feet of office and retail space, according to a news release from Meriden's state lawmakers.

City officials expect the Hub redevelopment will also lead to further, private investment at the vacant Colony Street Post Office Building and along West Main Street and Pratt Street.

All four of Meriden’s state lawmakers — Senator Dante Bartolomeo and Representatives Cathy Abercrombie, Emil ‘Buddy’ Altobello and Hilda Santiago — are credited in helping secure the funding.  

“Securing state funding for this project for Meriden has been my number one priority since I was sworn into office in January, and I am very thankful to Governor Malloy, to OPM Secretary Ben Barnes, to Meriden’s legislative delegation and to all the Meriden officials who have helped make the Hub project a priority for the State of Connecticut. I know it has been a priority for the City of Meriden for a long time,” Bartolomeo said in a news release. “This is the culmination of a lot of hard work by many people over many years.”  

Meriden Mayor Mike Rohde called it “fantastic news for Meriden.”

“This puts us in terrific shape to complete the flood control project for the downtown area. We will have a dry downtown for the first time in 100 years, and it will be the first time in our history that Meriden will have a downtown green. For 19 years I’ve been working on this, and this state bonding will finally allow us to complete the project.”

In September 1970, the Meriden Hub Mall opened in downtown Meriden.  But as a result of shifts in consumer shopping habits, the opening of the nearby Westfield Shopping Mall, and downtown flooding in 1992 and 1996, the Hub ceased being a viable location for either retail or manufacturing.