The now boarded-up Sacred Heart Church in the Clay Arsenal neighborhood of Hartford will undergo some big changes. This morning, Mayor Arunan Arulampalam announced that the city has taken steps to convert the old church building into a Puerto Rican Culture Center.
“We want to build something here that’s not only beautiful and vibrant,” he said. “But something that’s really reflective of the community.”
Marvel, which is led by Puerto Rico-born Jonathan Marvel, has been brought on by the city to lead the design. He says the conversion will be done in phases, with the first phase taking up to a year.
In the first phase, the team at Marvel will work alongside the Puerto Rican Culture Center Advisory Board to speak with community members about on what goes inside of the center and to establish how much the project will cost.
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“We have a big Puerto Rican population,” said advisory committee member Shakira Perez. “Many of the children haven’t been to Puerto Rico, so this is our chance to bring Puerto Rico to them.”
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Connecticut is home to nearly 300,000 Puerto Ricans, many of which live in Hartford.
“So many of our family members came here to pick tobacco in Windsor, to pick apples and strawberries in western Mass.,” said advisory committee chair Liany Arroyo. “We helped build Hartford, we helped build Connecticut.”
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The center was first announced in November 2023 under then Mayor Luke Bronin, but this is the first real sign of a plan.
“I think this is going to be bigger than just Hartford,” said Arroyo. “I want it to be for all of Connecticut. I want us to make sure we’re honoring all of our Puerto Rican heroes.”
The mayor says once the design process is over, the city will take bids for construction contracts. There currently is no date set for the opening of the center.
