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Pharmacy School A Shot In The Arm For Downtown Hartford

Hartford Courant

December 07, 2009

If "eds and meds" — educational and medical institutions — are the key to downtown revival, Hartford just hit the daily double.

St. Joseph College has announced that its new graduate school of pharmacy will be located in the Hartford 21 complex in the heart of the city. The college will spend $5 million to outfit the space in time to welcome its first class of 65 students next fall. The number of students in this, the school's first doctoral program, could increase to 300 in five years.

The announcement is great for the school and for the central business district. It gives the West Hartford school a serious presence in the city and brings the students close to the medical complexes at which they will train. It also could mean more young people living downtown.

For downtown, the news could hardly be better. Hartford 21 has not had a single new retail or office tenant in two years. The influx of graduate students would be the spur that brings more retail to the business district, possibly even another drugstore.

Pamela Trotman Reid, the president of St. Joseph, said she hopes to make meal arrangements with downtown restaurants and seek student rates at the YMCA exercise center. In other words, she is purposely boosting downtown commerce. That's a win for everyone.