Every summer the town's center of gravity sits at the intersection of LaSalle and Farmington. This year it doesn't. The south side of Farmington Avenue is a construction corridor through November, and the programming, the openings, and the after-work crowd have all shifted a block east. If you live here and you plan July and August around what used to work, you are going to miss half of what is actually happening.
The short version: Blue Back Square is doing the work the Center cannot do this summer, and three new tenants are landing on Memorial Road in a four-week window. Here is how the pieces fit together.
The Farmington Avenue Situation
Phase 2 of the West Hartford Center Infrastructure Master Plan is on Farmington Avenue this year, following last year's LaSalle Road work. The town's engineering page lists a target substantial completion of November 20, 2026, and the current impact zone is the south side of Farmington between Music & Arts and Jenny Andre Hair & Skin Spa. Every business on that stretch is open. Access, not closure, is the story. You just have to work a little harder to get in.
The trade-off underneath the mess is worth understanding. Sidewalks are being widened by five feet on each side of the road, which is what will let the LaSalle restaurants pull tables out against the buildings the way Àvert and Crush Wine Bar started doing last year. The 38 honey locusts that now line that stretch of Farmington Avenue will be replaced by 47 trees in a variety of native species. It is a two-summer inconvenience for a decade of shade and outdoor seating. This summer, you get the inconvenience.
The Tuesday-to-Sunday Spine
Blue Back Square has been programmed like a weeklong calendar this year, and it reads as intentional rather than incidental. If you overlay the schedules, almost every day of the week has an anchor.
| Day | What | Time | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday | Camp Blue Back | 10:00–11:30 a.m. | Courtyard outside Barnes & Noble |
| Thursday | Jazz in the Square | 5:00–6:00 p.m. | The Square |
| Some Sundays | Fitness in the Square | 11:00–11:45 a.m. | The Square |
| Sunday | Blue Back Farmers' Market | 10:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. | Town Hall lot, 50 South Main |
Camp Blue Back returns this summer as a free weekly series designed for young families and children, held every Tuesday morning at The Square, with a rotating lineup of face painting, crafts, interactive performances, balloon artists, and other surprises. The series runs through August 18. Jazz in the Square brings live music to the heart of West Hartford with outdoor performances from talented jazz musicians, and this year the day shifts: every Friday in June, and every Thursday in July and August, 5–6 p.m. If you have been dragging yourself to Friday night in the Square out of habit, you are one day late.
The July Fitness in the Square dates are June 27, July 12, July 27, 11–11:45 a.m., so the Sunday overlap with the farmers' market gives you the closest thing to a full morning at the Square with almost no driving between stops.
The July Openings Reshaping Memorial Road
Three tenants landing in a four-week window is not a coincidence. It is what happens when a landlord clears out post-pandemic vacancies and lines up leases to open in season.
The biggest change is a concept most residents have not seen before. Wonder announced last October that they would be opening in the corner portion of the former West Elm space at 91 Memorial Road in 2026, and the response We-Ha received to an inquiry indicated July 27 as the target date. The West Hartford location will pull from a rotating stable of chef-branded menus. Based on the window signage, that includes Bobby Flay Steakhouse, Royal Greens Salad, Tejas Barbecue, Detroit Brick Pizza, Yasas Mediterranean, Limesalt Mexican, Streetbird Mexican, Alanza Italian, and more. Whether you find the format interesting or not, it is a very different kind of tenant than the West Elm it replaces, and it is going to change foot traffic on that end of the block.
A few doors down, the sign is up for Fat Duck Tavern at 63 Memorial Road, in the former Vinted space. Owner Anton Berseneva and his wife Tatiana had aimed for a June opening. Signage in place in late June suggested the opening was close. Between the two, there is now a real reason to walk the Memorial Road side of the Square in the evening rather than defaulting to LaSalle.
The third piece landed earlier and is now settled in. Coracora, the Peruvian restaurant that spent 14 years building a following at 162 Shield Street, opened its flagship in Blue Back Square in December. The new space is nearly 6,000 square feet with a private dining area, 190 indoor seats, and a 41-seat outdoor seasonal patio, and the patio is the piece that matters for July. The Shield Street site will become a fast-casual eatery, while the new site at Blue Back Square will become the main, upscale restaurant. Two different price points, two different rooms, one family running both. That is unusual in a market this size.
Park Road's Own Answer
Not everything is happening at the Square. Park Road picked up its own new tenant in the space that lost Plan B last summer. Spitz will open at 138 Park Road, the former site of Plan B, and Spitz West Hartford will feature a menu of Mediterranean and Greek dishes alongside American classics. The chain is Los Angeles-based, and this marks the brand's first location in Connecticut and the northeast. If you have been reading the Park Road stretch as slowly emptying out, this is a reason to reconsider. A national concept picking Park Road for a first-in-region location is a specific bet on this half-mile of storefronts.
A Working Week, Sketched
If you want to actually use the summer instead of read about it, here is one way the pieces fit into a week without you crossing Farmington Avenue construction twice a day:
- Tuesday morning: Camp Blue Back at 10, then walk one lot over to the Farmers' Market vendors' warehouse or grab a coffee at the Square before the crowd.
- Thursday, 5 p.m.: Jazz in the Square. Sit down for an early dinner at Coracora's patio or wait a week and try Fat Duck once it opens.
- Saturday, July 25, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.: BookWyrm Fest at the Noah Webster Library, 20 South Main. Third year running. Adventure, fantasy, board games, live-action and tabletop roleplaying.
- Sunday morning: Farmers' Market at Town Hall from 10 to 1. On August 2, Chef Giai of Artisan Restaurant at the Delamar Hotel is doing a food demo, and the West Hartford Art League is running hands-on activities.
- Monday, July 27: Wonder's target opening. First-week menus at a new concept are usually the most interesting they will be all year.
The one thing to plan around: if you are driving in from the north or west, the LaSalle Road entrance to the Farmington Avenue parking lot is affected by Phase 2A construction. Access to businesses remains open at all times, but the LaSalle Road entrance to the Farmington Avenue parking lot will be temporarily closed off. The other entrance to that lot, on Farmington Avenue, will remain open, and the exit onto South Main Street will not be impacted. Use the South Main exit and you will save yourself a loop.
The Center will get its outdoor dining and its new tree canopy back next year. This summer, the Square is where the calendar lives.
If you have been putting off a conversation about your own next move in West Hartford, and you want to talk with someone who reads this town at the block level, Laurie Kane Real Estate is here when you are. Request your complimentary CMA and staging consultation, and let's map what your summer looks like from here.
