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What’s
Happening?
A project-by-project rundown on downtown
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Business New Haven
3/9/1998
By: Linda Mele
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If you aren't in New Haven every day, you're likely to miss the start or completion of some kind of building or renovation project that has contributed to the largest development, renovation and construction boom in more than a decade.
In the first half of the current fiscal year, city coffers have already been enriched by more than $2 million in building and trade permit fees for some $145 million worth of construction.
Both public and private projects are giving the city a much-needed facelift, increasing the grand list and generating jobs.
In his State of the City address last month, Mayor John DeStefano Jr. said nearly 1,000 jobs were created last year, unemployment is down to 4.2 percent, and retail sales grew by nearly 50 percent. This year, things look even better.
Downtown development valued at $34.9 million in public investment and plans for more than $85.5 million worth of privately financed projects throughout the city are either in the works, already begun or are nearing completion.
Most important, the increase in activity doesn't look like it's ready to end any time soon.
So, what's contributing to this resurgence? What's happening in the Elm City that has everyone so excited and optimistic about New Haven's future as the millennium approaches?
The Yale Co-op moved to new headquarters in Chapel Square Mall, while Barnes & Noble renovated and opened the Yale Bookstore at the Co-op's old site on Broadway. The Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce Foundation, the non-profit company that currently owns the mall, and the city are embroiled in a legal dispute with Baltimore developer David Cordish over Cordish's agreement to buy the mall. Stay tuned for developments.
Yale University is retrofitting several older buildings on campus; has a power plant generation project in the works; is preparing for a major renovation project at the Yale School of Music on Cedar Street; and will move the Yale School of Art to the former Jewish Community Center on Chapel Street after renovations there are completed.
The Edw. W. Malley Co. building has been demolished and will be replaced by a landscaped park until a “suitable” use is determined. The rumor mill has WTNH-TV moving its headquarters there from its current Elm Street location, but nobody will confirm or deny it.
Food Tech International moved into the old Perri Sausage plant on Kendall Street; Harty Press has a 3,000-square-foot addition to its plant at James and River streets in the works; Christian Community Action has begun a $200,000 renovation project at its 660 Winchester Avenue facility; Associated Packaging (Palmieri Food Products) is expanding into the former Amy Sue Sleepwear building on Fox and Ferry; A&D Pallet Co. moved to Hoover Street from East Haven; Clinton's Inc. opened a new manufacturing facility on Union Street; and Onofrio Brothers will expand into larger space for its meat and vegetable processing operations at 222 Forbes Avenue, the former Alpert meat packing plant.
The former United Illuminating headquarters at 80 Temple Street will be converted into a conference center and offices. While actual renovations won't begin for a month or so, the owners are targeting an early 1999 opening date. The same group also owns the Temple Medical Building/New Haven Hotel complex.
The former YMCA building at 152 Temple Street will house 123 upscale apartments and high-end ground-level retail shops. Work began in February 1997 and model apartments should be ready within the next few months. The retail shops should be ready around the same time.
Though announced with much fanfare last May, Williams Specialty Steel still hasn't broken ground for its proposed 250,000-square-foot steel plant on 25 acres at the old Cedar Hill railroad yards, and negotiations to lease the site have broken down. Still, nobody is saying the project has been scrapped.
Work on “Big Blue,” the 550,000-square-foot former SNET building at 300 George Street, is progressing. The lobby has been refurbished and owner Robert Matthews is negotiating “with several users who would occupy at least 50,000 square feet each.” Matthews says he still hasn't decided on a new color for the outside of the building. Matthews also says that rumors the site is being considered by Gateway Community-Technical College are groundless.
The former 55,000-square-foot CHCP facility at 150 Sargent Drive has just undergone a major rehabilitation and now houses a variety of doctor's offices.
New Haven Manufacturing at 440 Blake Street, bought last year by Matthews, is also being renovated because of Stromberg Biometric Systems LLC's move from that site to Matthews' 110,000-square-foot property at 59 Elm Street, where his own offices are located.
The $1 million restoration project at the Shubert Performing Arts Center completed last fall included an overhaul of the theater; a new state-of-the art sound system; a redesigned boutique; and new carpeting, wallpaper, paint, molding, restrooms and concession stands in the main and lower lobbies. The landmark 1914 building also got a facelift.
The Temple Street Garage is being renovated to the tune of $9 million to accommodate the new downtown development projects.
State-funded renovations in the $5 million range at Veterans Memorial Coliseum, home of the new Beast of New Haven AHL hockey team, significantly improved the looks of that structure.
Spurred by downtown revitalization, the city is working on a $3 million-plus downtown streetscape improvement project that would create a public plaza at 156-158 Temple Street to link the Temple Street corridor to downtown's entertainment and theater district.
The formation of the Town Green Special Services District, with its own clean-up crew and hospitality/security team, has helped brighten up downtown and keep it safer.
Sidewalk, curbing and landscaping improvements worth $2.475 million are scheduled for business districts on Wooster Street, lower Dixwell Avenue, Upper Chapel Street and Morris Cove.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation plans to build an $8 million headquarters in the Arena block bounded by State, Orange, Grove and Wall streets. Easement problems have stalled the project, but they are expected to be remedied soon.
The owners haven't held a “grand opening” yet, but the new 300-plus room Omni New Haven Hotel at Yale opened in January at 155 Temple Street, the former Park Plaza Hotel.
The fate of a number of properties owned by Schiavone Management is still up in the air, according to Craig Schiavone. She and husband/developer Joel, who had a significant role in the downtown resurgence of the late 1970s and early 1980s, are still negotiating with Yale University regarding the purchase of several properties they own.
The old New Haven Water Co. building at 100 Crown Street now houses Bradford Advertising, which moved from the old Yale Boathouse on Forbes Avenue. Offices and a ground-floor restaurant are planned for the rest of the building.
A new Shaw's Supermarket is under construction on Whalley Avenue and the Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse store on Route 80 next to Super K mart is slated to open its doors on March 11.
The Whalley Commons shopping center near Amity Road, anchored by Walgreen's, is nearly full.
New restaurants/bars/cafes in the city include the Old New Haven Restaurant & Bar, a relocated Bentara, the Polo Grille & Wine Bar, Gotham Citi Café, the relocated Dos Tacos, Mom's India Kitchen, the Riviera Steak House, Soupy Pails, Anna Liffey's, Gecko Cafe, El Niño and the relocated Pavilion East.
Others in the works - some nearly ready to open - include the Amalfi Grill, Buona Notte, Legends, TK's American Café, Crown Street Brewing (originally slated to be called BoneDaddy's), Bo's Bar-B-Q Barn, Simply Scrumptious, C'dell'Arte, Cafe 1 and Club Liquid.
Plans for the long-overdue and much-needed reconstruction of the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge over the Quinnipiac River are still wending their way through the development process. The state expects to choose one of the proposed alternatives and forward it to the Federal Highway Administration this summer.
The city's plan to link downtown to a two-story, one-million-square-foot, $100 million-plus regional mall on Long Wharf is inexorably tied to the bridge work and a proposed plan to reconfigure I-95 and place it below grade along the Long Wharf corridor. According to DeStefano, Newton, Mass.-based developer New England Development “has secured all site control, the two lead department stores, a plan to relocate the post office, and will incorporate the Pirelli building into the development [plans].”
Regional jet service in and out of Tweed-New Haven Airport is the objective of a Tweed-New Haven Airport Authority formed last year. This project is a top 1998 legislative priority for the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce, whose leaders say sustained economic growth and development cannot happen if the airport is not expanded. Intense opposition from the airport's neighbors in New Haven and East Haven, however, may throw a monkey wrench into the authority's plan to take over airport operations from the city July 1.
In his State of the City address, DeStefano said he was “committed to the success of Science Park” and that the city would “not abandon Newhallville” or “the vision that arose with [its] creation.” In January, Yale announced that four biotech firms, all founded by Yale Medical School faculty, may move into the complex. Yale and the city are also still working with the state on plans to develop a $12 million biotechnology research center in the Route 34 corridor.
Plans for the it-seems-like-it's-been-forever empty Macy's building are hush-hush. Gateway Community-Technical College has expressed an interest in the site in order to consolidate its Long Wharf and North Haven campuses. City officials and unnamed developers, however, would rather see a downtown multiplex theater there, but nobody will talk about the details yet.
So the next time you're downtown, don't blink. You might miss something.
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