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Art Center Opens in Upper Albany

ANDY HART

September 18, 2008

First it was Tabor’s Cadillac. Then it was Daniel’s Cadillac. Then it was Thomas Cadillac.

Now it’s the University of Hartford’s Mort and Irma Handel Performing Arts Center.

The $22 million facility officially opened on the site of the former car dealerships last Friday in a ceremony that included performances by some of the students who will be studying at the center.

Located at the corner of Westbourne Parkway and Albany Avenue, the Handel Center is just a few blocks away from Upper Albany’s other major arts venue, the Artists Collective. Supporters of the new center, which is situated near the juncture of the West End, Blue Hills and Upper Albany neighborhoods, are hoping the new facility will spur investment in the area and also lead to a closer relationship between the university and the Hartford community.

The Handel Performing Arts Center contains 55,000 square-feet of state-of-the dance and theatre rehearsal and performance space for the 450 dance students (both college and Community Division) and 150 collegiate theatre students of The Hartt School at the University of Hartford. Actual classes at the new facility began Wednesday, September 3.