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The Future of Downtown New Haven
So bright we gotta wear shades, say boosters, though doubts linger
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Business New Haven
08/18/2003
By: BNH
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So bright we gotta wear shades, say boosters, though doubts linger
Few question that perceptions about downtown New Haven are changing — but how? And with whom? To get a better idea, we asked a (completely non-scientific) cross-section of professionals who live and/or work in the city center for their thoughts. They include: Carl Traub, principal of the commercial real-estate firm Traub & Co., which represents a number of high-profile downtown office properties; Michael Rosenthal, president of Savitt Jewelers on Chapel Street, which has been doing business in downtown New Haven since 1919; Kristen Busch, a 23-year-old marketing and public-relations coordinator for H. Pearce Co., Realtors, based in North Haven; Robert Forte, an independent marketing and development consultant who lives and works downtown; and Christopher Nicotra, vice president of Premier Resource Group, a New Haven real-estate development company.
How are perceptions changing about New Haven on the part of businesses or individuals from outside of the region?
Traub: Companies have developed a better feeling about being in downtown New Haven. They [would prefer] to be in a city. They like the all the things — banks, chamber of commerce, law firms. Are they coming in? Some do; some don’t. But New Haven is giving a better impression to them than I can remember any time in the past 15 years.
Busch: I have seen a lot of changes in downtown. It has become extremely popular with college kids because of the entertainment scene and restaurants. Over the past years I have seen it become [a fixture of] the college scene.
Forte: People are far more comfortable coming into New Haven than they have been in the past. I’ve been around New Haven for 25 years, and over the last three or four years I’ve seen a big, big difference.
What is the difference?
Forte: Part of the comfort level has to do with the excellence maintenance of the downtown area, the liveliness of the street scene — there’s nothing like a crowded sidewalk to bring more people out — plus the restaurants and the arts. This is the best restaurant town in Connecticut, and everyone knows it. Those [attributes] make businesses feel much more comfortable [headquartering in downtown New Haven].
Carl, why is Shelton — a mere 12 miles from New Haven — eating downtown New Haven’s lunch in terms of business attraction?
Traub: It’s economics. The cost of space in Shelton, Hamden, Milford is $18 to $21 per square foot, which is very competitive with downtown New Haven — and parking is free: four cars per thousand. [In New Haven,] if you [factor] it back into the rent, it’s $2 and $3 per square foot. That is a negative. It’s not just New Haven; it’s Hartford, or any downtown where you have to buy parking. Companies that can overlook that are those that have can use the facilities of downtown — the facilities at Yale, or the interplay of the other companies that are downtown. New Haven is still a nucleus for New Haven County. It pulls from North Haven up to Wallingford and to Milford, and that is a big draw.
What characterizes companies that ought not to consider relocating to downtown New Haven?
Traub: Companies that just need a good labor base. I’m not going to say they’re not going to come; they just don’t necessarily need to come downtown. That’s compared to a Pfizer, that came [Pfizer agreed to build a small facility on a parcel at Howe Street and Frontage Road] because they have a strong pull from the medical and biotech community.
Don’t low labor costs give New Haven a competitive advantage over other markets?
Traub: Yes, housing and salaries are cheaper here (than in larger Northeastern cities). You have a walking draw to an office building. You have housing that is pretty reasonable, with more coming [soon]. You’re bringing in older people who don’t need houses [because] their kids have grown up, and they [seek] culture and restaurants. Yet they are still able to work down here. [Also,] people are staying in the workforce longer.
How are downtown businesses doing?
Nicotra: They’re all doing very well. When we first got into this business, [downtown New Haven] retail space was the ugly duckling that nobody wanted to touch. Now the retail spaces are priced higher than office space, and there’s a lot more demand for good retail space, and it’s driving the prices up.
Rosenthal: Our business [jewelry] is economy-driven because of the product we sell — it’s not a necessity. So when the economy is strong, we’ve had our best years up here. [Lately] it’s been a little soft because the economy is slower. But I don’t think that has anything at all to do with the downtown area; I think downtown is very strong.
Forte: Retail businesses and restaurants seem to be doing well. Gift stores like Wave and Peter Indorf Jewelers and Group W Bench — when I go into those stores, there’s traffic, there’s activity. I know that Grand Avenue in Fair Haven — which is not technically part of downtown — is one of the most bustling shopping centers in the region. I also think non-retail businesses downtown are doing well. The economy has started to turn around, and I think people are feeling pretty good.
There’s a perception that College/Chapel was and is the most vigorous part of the mix. Do you agree, Michael?
Rosenthal: We’ve been in this spot [1064 Chapel] for more than 30 years. We did at one time have a branch in Hamden, but we found that most of our customers were just as happy to come downtown. So it didn’t make any difference when we closed that store. We’ve arranged for them to have parking down here, and we also sell the parking vouchers for people who are parking on the street. So we try to make it as convenient as possible for our customers.
Are more people living downtown, and has the retail customer mix changed in recent years?
Rosenthal: Our customer mix has held fairly constant. We do a lot with the Yale community because we’re in the middle of the Yale [campus]. But we’ve always had a strong customer base from the city as a whole.
Forte: I live in Wooster Square. I take my dog out at 11 p.m., and there are people walking their dogs in the park. That wouldn’t have happened ten or 15 years ago. There’s a real comfort level there that wasn’t [present] before.
Kristen, Robert and Chris: What made you decide to live in downtown New Haven?
Forte: The beauty of downtown for me is that I’m five minutes from two-thirds of my clients. That proximity has worked very much in my favor.
Busch: Because it has a ‘young’ atmosphere. You can walk around, and it has New England charm. It is not too large or too small a city. Everything is all around you. You can walk to stores, coffee shops and events.
Has moving to the city changed your life?
Nicotra: It has added so much more to my life. Just being able to get up in the morning and being able to walk down to Starbucks or Willoughby’s. I went a full year without an automobile in the city to see if I could do it. I rode my bike, walked and went jogging. I ate out at a different restaurant all the time and got a library card. I really got involved in the lifestyle. Since then, my friends who had lived in other areas in New Haven County have all moved to [downtown].
What downtown changes in recent years do you consider significant?
Rosenthal: The facelift that has taken place behind the Shubert Theatre, plus the influx of new restaurants contribute to people wanting to come downtown.
How will a ‘reinvented’ Chapel Square Mall impact your business or all downtown retailers?
Rosenthal: We have found in the past that customers who want to buy jewelry and [intend] to spend a reasonable amount of money are intelligent enough to shop around to see where they can get the best value. So anything that brings people downtown from the [suburbs] is fine with me.
What would be the optimum Chapel Square model that would actually help your business?
Rosenthal: I was hoping it would be kind of a Quincy Market-type [development]. The ideal situation would be to make it a destination for people to come into downtown to enjoy the day, walk around, [for lunch] maybe enjoy some of the great restaurants around here.
Do those of you who live downtown look forward to enhanced shopping options that a re-opened Chapel Square would bring?
Busch: I think it’s going to be great for downtown. It will attract more people and it is going to help New Haven become more versatile in the type of stores it does have.
What do we need to do to sustain downtown’s positive momentum?
Nicotra: I think it will happen naturally. Residents will drive the market, so anything that gets converted into housing will continue to drive the market. I don’t think we could put up enough housing. I think the more housing we get will attract more businesses and private investments.
In terms of places for people to live and work, is downtown in danger of becoming landlocked?
Traub: We only have two buildings that works for Class A [office space]: 1 Audubon with 60,000 square feet of space and [the Connecticut Financial Center at 157 Church Street, which has] about 40,000 square feet. Those are good draws if a company wants to come in, but that’s all there is. We lost [the former SNET headquarters at] 227 Church Street: 160,000 square feet of that went to residential, and about half of 900 Chapel Street [office complex and apartments above the former Chapel Square Mall] to [apartments]. We’ve lost office space inventory. We have less office space today then a couple of years ago.
What might me needed to stimulate commercial growth downtown?
Traub: In the Central Business District we need a building that would [house] 300,000 square feet [of office space]. We’re coming out of a deep recession statewide. But we haven’t lost tenants, and we haven’t seen any real estate in trouble. Real estate follows the cycle. Let’s assume we’re at the low ebb. [If one assumes that,] real estate is going to follow the recession by six to eight months, and there’ll be a rush for office space soon enough.
How optimistic are you about being in downtown New Haven, as well as the prospects for your own business?
Rosenthal: We’ve been here in the bad times; and I consider these the good times. So I am very optimistic. The facelift that has taken place behind the Shubert theater and the influx of restaurants are a plus. People enjoy coming downtown. I consider it kind of a ‘mini-Boston’ type of atmosphere. It’s enjoyable to walk around town, and the more events they have — concerts, festivals — the better.
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