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Editorial: Chapel Square Secrecy
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Business New Haven
1/19/2004
By: BNH
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Developer David Nyberg doesn't much like to talk to the media, but he did take time earlier this month to sit down with BNH Publisher Mitchell Young to demystify the goings-on at the former Chapel Square Mall, a linchpin in the redevelopment of downtown New Haven (see story, page 1).
Projects involving Nyberg's company, College Street, LLC, include the Palace Performing Arts Center, the successful transformation of the former Strouse-Adler factory into luxury apartments and the office tower at 900 Chapel Street. The company is also involved in a host of residential and commercial projects outside of downtown, including in Wallingford and Hartford.
The city administration has entrusted Nyberg with a difficult undertaking: the resuscitation of Chapel Square Mall. No one who cares about the future of downtown would root against him. But because an early-1960s-vintage facility that suburban shoppers long ago abandoned is not an easy sell to national retailers, the September 2003 target date for reopening the mall has come and gone.
Nyberg and partners have been forced to re-jigger the vision of the former mall. There may be fewer national retailers interested in New Haven than originally envisioned, but demand for downtown housing has created an opportunity to build some 75 market-rate apartments on the second floor. Meanwhile, office space on the block - including in the 900 Chapel office tower - remains in demand.
In part due to the obstacles the project faces, Nyberg and city officials, including Mayor John DeStefano Jr. and development czar Henry Fernandez, have mostly remained mum on the mall project. This only serves to feed the curiosity of the rest of us - and gives ample ammunition to the skeptics.
Acknowledging that redevelopment of the Chapel Square block is a make-or-break proposition for downtown, the public and private project partners have a public responsibility to communicate what the rest of us can expect from their efforts.
It's our downtown, too.
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