Year-round food truck and entertainment venue proposed for Hartford’s South End. Will it reignite old neighborhood problems?

A proposal to create an international food truck and entertainment venue complete with indoor seating and a patio in Hartford’s South End was met with skepticism during a Hartford City Council committee meeting, although many liked the concept.

Art Feltman, executive director of the proposed One World Market food truck court project at 681 Wethersfield Avenue, along with co-founder and manager Ricky Feliciano, this week unveiled their proposal before the city council’s Planning, Economic Development and Housing Committee. The committee didn’t vote, and City Council approval isn’t necessary. The developers were asked by the council to give an informational session.

The men currently run One World Market, which Feliciano described as bringing “people together for food one world” and a place where immigrants can share their foods from across the world.

For four years, they’ve featured food trucks two days a week at Hartford Hospital and, prior to that, outside of the old state house when there was more of a downtown office population.

“It’s unique. It’s something people of my generation have been asking for,” Feliciano said.

Feliciano said he knows the Wethersfield Avenue area has a “negative reputation,” and with the permanent food court “they’ll have a place to feel safe when they visit One World Market.”

The plan is to have four food trucks at a time out of 14 rotating trucks that will include cuisine from the West Indies, Peru, Thailand, Laos, Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Middle East and America.

Under the plan, they would buy and remodel Casona Lounge, stationing the food trucks in the parking lot. The food trucks would serve lunches and dinners six days a week, and a breakfast cafe would operate six days a week inside. Customers would be able to eat indoors year-round in the remodeled setting or outside on the patio and picnic tables, and WiFi will be free.

There will also be a community room for entertainment, including comedy nights, game events, poetry slams, arts, crafts shows and meet ups.

The facility will be “multi-generational” with items like video games for children, as well a place where grandparents can bring their children, Feliciano said.

The facility will offer a storage and kitchen co-working space for truck vendors, caterers and people in the neighborhood who want to start a business but can’t afford a space. That aspect will help people wanting to go into business to get in on the ground floor, Feliciano said.

The men said the project will be an economic driver, create a regional destination, will put money in the pockets of minorities and spruce up a part of the city that’s “blighted and depressed.”

The men said they have an option on the property and an architectural plan. They have a $2.8 million budget with a $1.1 million grant approved and more funds in the application process.

Many council members said they love the concept of people coming together around international cuisine and the opportunities the project would create, but looming in the backdrop is that the South End thoroughfare has historically been a place plagued with problems on the weekends every spring and summer, attracting throngs of people and, at times, hundreds of cars, motorcycles, ATVs and dirt bikes. The crowds were especially large in 2020 during the height of the pandemic as car meetups and unlicensed clubs filled the void left by shuttered restaurants and bars.

In part, the city’s response was to put a 9 p.m. closing time on food trucks on public property.

Councilman James Sanchez said he’s been to One World Market and, “I believe in what you’re doing,” but his first concern is how community residents feel about the plan, given past problems.

Feltman said the community has been involved from the start of the planning in 2019. They’ve had meetings with the public, Feliciano’s gone door to door, the NRZ supports it — they’ve even incorporated residents’ ideas into the plan.

He said the intention is to develop food courts on private property, as there are too many restrictions on public property. Some, like Councilwoman Shirley Surgeon, did express concern about noise, garbage and other disturbance close to a residential area.

Sanchez also raised concerns about safety given past behaviors in the area, to which Feliciano emphasized they will have a security patrol and have the neighborhood police patrol on board. Sanchez advised Feliciano and Feltman to consult top police department brass.

Shelby Young, chairwoman of International Hartford, said sometimes such problems exist because there’s nothing family-oriented in the area.

Young said she thinks of residents who may want to hold a family celebration and how the generations could bond over food and cultures.

“This is more than a venue for us to sit and talk,” she said. “It opens doors … immigrants are collective I’m nature, family-oriented. It’s about collective cultures coming together.”

Hyacinth Yenni, chairwoman of the area’s Neighborhood Revitalization Zone said after the meeting she’s in favor of the project as long as it’s well planned and carried out with a closing time by 10 p.m. and security in place.

“It will be nice to have something different in the neighborhood,” Yenni said.

Henry Ocasio, the owner of a food truck that serves Puerto Rican food, said One World Market has helped him in business and he endorses the new venture.

“I just think it’s a great project,” he said, noting Feliciano and Feltman have “given us all opportunities,” and help with anything the food truck owners need, including quickly resolving conflicts.

“Without them, I would have been stuck,” Ocasio said.