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Brazilian Consulate To Open In Hartford In Mid-December

KENNETH R. GOSSELIN

November 07, 2009

A desolate corner of downtown Hartford is getting an unaccustomed touch of the cosmopolitan.

The government of Brazil is opening a consulate in a long abandoned bank branch at Market and State streets in the ground floor of One Constitution Plaza, attracted by the street-level location on a bus line.

Ronaldo Dunlop, Brazil's consul general in Connecticut, said the office will serve the state's growing Brazilian population, increasing in Hartford and other cities such as Bridgeport, Stamford and New Haven. The office also will serve Americans traveling to Brazil for business, Dunlop said.

"It's a good place, convenient and the space is enough for what we need," Dunlop said.

Consulates are a common site in major metropolitan cities such as New York but largely unknown in Hartford with the exception of Peru's, which opened on Main Street in 2002.

"It helps tie us to the international economy," said David E. Panagore, Hartford's chief operating officer. "It's all for the good of Hartford."

Hartford was an obvious choice for the Brazilian government because it is the state's capital and centrally located — and will a provide more convenient alternative to consulates in New York and Boston, Dunlop said.

The consulate is expected to open in mid-December and will replace temporary quarters at 100 Pearl St.

The Brazilian government has wanted to open a consulate in the city since 2008. The long-term lease for 11,000 square feet will allow for good-size spaces for the public, as well as private offices.

For the city, it will add a much-needed presence in space that has been empty for a decade.

"It's always important to have lights on and activity at street level," said Jonathan K. Putnam, a broker at Cushman & Wakefield in Hartford, which represented the landlord, Capital Properties. "It's people coming and going."