BlueHub Capital provided over $16 million in financing, including $3 million in New Markets Tax Credits, to Community Solutions, Inc. to transform an abandoned factory in North Hartford, CT—a community with a poverty rate that is three times the state average—into a thriving hub of economic opportunity.
Completed in October 2020, the Swift Factory offers community space, shared office space and shared commercial kitchen space, with the various tenants creating more than 150 full-time, permanent jobs that are targeted at local residents. Tarek Raslan, real estate project manager for the Swift Factory, said the mission is to serve the neighborhood.
“We are taking the money invested and translating that into direct benefit to the neighborhood,” said Raslan.
The Harriott Home Health Services office space in the Swift Factory.
Just a few months after opening, most available spaces had been leased. Among the tenants of the shared office space is Harriott Home Health Services, which serves patients across Connecticut using a combination of home health care and telehealth technology.
A notable tenant of the commercial kitchen space is Chef Walt’s, a grab-and-go food service company founded by Walter Littles, an entrepreneur who was formerly incarcerated. He credits the Swift Factory for giving him a second chance, and now employs several staff members and has plans to grow his business.
Across the parking lot from the factory itself, the Community First School (CFS) operates out of a converted home. CFS serves students in grades K-5, incorporating community supported human services with an experiential academic program to ensure it is meeting the needs of each child and family.
Students from the Community First School doing activities in their classroom.
With a portion of the office space still available to lease in 2025, the Swift Factory convened with community members to ask what services would be beneficial. The overwhelming response was workforce development training. In response, the Swift Factory decided to build out 10,000 square feet of vacant space to create office, training and multipurpose space catered to workforce development nonprofits.
The Swift Factory’s redevelopment was—and continues to be—conceptualized in partnership with community groups and residents, and a symbol of revitalization, hope and local prosperity.
Three years ago, a small group of artists who had been working together in studio spaces formed a nonprofit collective. With financing from BlueHub, they were able to purchase the studio space they've been using since 2002.
Affordable places to work and live are in high demand among local artists in Lowell. WASL's 50 work/live loft apartments in addition to their 250 studios are supporting these needs by empowering artists while persevering affordability in the area.
