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On the Move
Transportation projects only first of mayor's redevelopment trinity
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Business New Haven
10/19/1998
By: Fred Rehm
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New Haven Mayor John DeStefano Jr.'s sweeping $70 million transportation and waterfront initiative announced October 8 is just the first three major redevelopment announcements due this month which, if implemented, could change the face of the Elm City for years to come.
As articulated by the mayor's office, the themes of the three-part plan are “Moving, Improving, Growing.” The first component, announced at the October 8 event, focused on moving people into, out of and through New Haven via rail- and roadways. The trans-portation initiative includes:
• a $30 million Church Street South Extension bridge, connecting to Sargent Drive, to create a “signature gateway” connecting Long Wharf to downtown. It will also provide an alternate route to downtown for commuters from western suburbs, especially during reconstruction of the Pearl Harbor Memorial (a/k/a Quinnipiac River) Bridge;
• a $5 million commuter rail terminal on State Street between Chapel and Court to serve Shoreline East riders;
• a downtown bus depot, also on State Street, to serve Connecticut Transit riders, above which would sit a 300-space parking garage, at an estimated cost of $15 million;
• a waterfront “destination,” anchored by a relocated Yale Boathouse, on 3.6 acres of new land created by filling in the harbor between the Rusty Scupper and the Long Wharf pier. The site would include two public pavilions and a 269-slip marina;
• continued “study” of options regarding the expansion of I-95 at Long Wharf, including the mayor's controversial plan to “bury” the interstate and its price tag, estimates of which have run as high as $500 million.
Included in the announcement, though not a city project, was the inauguration of Amtrak's high-speed rail service, which will offer nine daily trains from New Haven to New York, beginning a year from now, with travel time only 55 minutes.
But that's not all. The mayor is expected shortly to announce a plan to improve the fortunes of businesses in the central business district. This will include the creation of an enterprise center harnessing resources of the city, Yale's School of Management and perhaps the state to help existing downtown retailers do better and would-be entrepreneurs get their ideas from the drawing board to the marketplace.
The third announcement, which may come by month's end, is expected to name the department stores which have completed agreements with co-developers New England Development and the Fusco Corp. to locate stores in the proposed Marketplace at Long Wharf, the $450 million, million-square-foot retail mall at Long Wharf.
- Michael C. Bingham
Stratford site at last cleared for sale, retail redevelopment
A U.S. District Court ruling handed down by Judge Dominic Squatrito on September 25 has paved the way for Stratford finally to have a 308,000-square-foot shopping center built on a 33.6-acre site where Raybestos Manhattan, and later Raymark Inc., once stood.
“The impact of this ruling will open the doors for the redevelopment of the site,” says Stratford Town Manager Mark Barnhart. “It should prove to be the linkage for the redevelopment of the Barnum Avenue Cut-off corridor.”
Leach Family Holdings, a Rhode Island development firm, has already posted a Prospective Purchaser's Agreement (PPA) with the court and has spent an estimated $2 million so far in fees, approvals and design projects.
The choice property lies immediately off I-95, just west of the Housatonic River on Route 1.
Squatrito's four-page summary judgment in favor of the plaintiff in U.S. v. Raymark Industries Inc. ruled that the government will receive “at least” $14,684,551 from the sale of the property. That amount will help defray the cost of the detoxification cleanup, which ended last fall.
The site became a Superfund project after a 1993 study found toxic waste on the property substantial enough to create public concern. The Raybestos plant opened in 1919. Among its automotive products were brake linings requiring the use of high levels of asbestos and lead.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducted an extensive cleanup over a two-year period which to date has cost $212 million, part of which it will get back from the sale of the property, most likely to Leach. The EPA holds a lien on the property since Raymark is in bankruptcy.
The court also ordered, subject to approval by U.S. Bankruptcy Court, that the property be sold by U.S. marshals in a judicial sale, meaning that it would not go to public auction. If that is the case, Leach will receive title to the $36 million complex.
“One way or another, this means the end of Raymark in Stratford and should clear the way for us to begin the project,” says Leach attorney Douglas Cohen. “As far as I know, there is no reason why we won't get title from a judicial sale. Raymark has been very selfish and everyone lost a year and a half.”
For most of its tenure in Stratford, the former Raybestos Corp. was a model business partner with the community, responsible for fashioning Stratford as the “softball capital of the U.S.” due to the national success of the company-sponsored Brakettes, Cardinals and Slo-Pitch teams. It also supported many youth organizations.
Leach is expected to pay between $14 and $15 million for the site.
At press time Leach had contracts for a 65,000-square-foot Shaw's supermarket, a Wal-Mart and Sears Paint & Hardware as anchors. It also anticipates leasing property to a bank, a mid-priced restaurant and five or six upscale stores.
In addition to adding an estimated $1 million annually to the Stratford tax rolls, the project will employ in the vicinity of 1,000 people and attract more purchasing power to Stratford.
“We will keep it simple, but nice,” says Cohen.
The mall will be directly across East Main Street from the Dock, a 150,000-square-foot complex that recently settled out of court a suit against Leach and the Connecticut Traffic Commission regarding the widening of East Main Street.
Stratford currently has two retail centers on the nearby Barnum Avenue Cut-off with capacity for additional development. Stratford Square, practically across the street from the Raymark site, has ample parking but an empty theater complex and vacant supermarket property. The store connected to the Burlington Coat Factory, which once housed a Grand Union, is likewise vacant.
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