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Doing It Downtown
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Business New Haven
8/20/2001
By: Linda Mele
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Now that the Galleria at Long Wharf mall is deader than a dirt, it's time for the city to move forward in other directions. City Hall - whether it be that of incumbent John DeStefano Jr. or either of his opponents in this year's mayoral campaign - will inevitably shift the focus to the projects that will have the greatest positive impact on residents, visitors and businesses.
Few could argue that the focus should be on moving people in, out and around the city, a job at which the city has failed miserably in the past.
The state is set to begin Phase II of a 12-year, $700 million project - that's in today's dollars - called the I-95 New Haven Corridor Improvement Program/I-95 New Haven Harbor Crossing Project, that will widen and reconfigure the Pearl Harbor Memorial (Q) Bridge and the highways and exits/entrances along a 7.2-mile stretch of highway between Sargent Drive/Long Wharf (Exit 46) in New Haven and Cedar Street (Exit 54) in Branford.
Phase I is the new State Street Commuter Railroad Station and a number of “corridor-wide transit improvements” necessary to complete before work on the roads and/or the Q-Bridge can begin, according to state Department of Transportation (DOT) supervising engineer Christopher Gallucci.
Gallucci says that while work on each phase is being performed, the state will keep current lanes open during peak travel hours and try to help by seeing that alternate ways to get where travelers are going are in place, including busses, trains, taxicabs, van/car pools and shuttles. Additional “enhancements to the region's entire transportation infrastructure” are also scheduled to take place prior to and during the major reconstruction/widening of I-95, officials say.
“We will maintain existing lanes during peak commuter hours,” Gallucci explains, in order to lessen the impact of the project on already congested roadways. The state also hopes to encourage alternate ways to get in and out of New Haven, he adds.
As noted above, Phase II includes the widening and reconstruction of I-95 from East Haven to Branford; Phase III features the widening and reconstruction of I-95 from Woodward Avenue (Exit 50) in New Haven to Lake Saltonstall in East Haven; Phase IV is the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge; and Phase V is the reconstruction of the I-95/I-91/Route 34 interchange (see related story, page 1).
It's interesting to note that when I-95 from Greenwich to the Rhode Island border - a span of 129 miles - was originally built in 1958, the cost was $500 million. The cost to build the original Q Bridge was $35 million.
Gallucci says he doesn't like to use the “B” word - billion - but the cost of the New Haven project and the I-95 improvements over Lafayette Boulevard and downtown Bridgeport add up to $1,060,000,000 - if they come in on budget. Imagine the worth of a dollar over the next 12 years and the project's final cost boggles the mind.
The Bridgeport project began in 1996 and is expected to be completed by 2004, officials say.
The Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge was originally designed to carry 40,000 vehicles per day; by the year 2015, that volume is expected to have increased to 140,000 daily vehicles, according to DOT officials.
So, no matter where you live or work or where your company is located, this project will probably affect your business in some way within the foreseeable future.
In addition to the road projects, renovations and expansion projects at Tweed-New Haven Airport will also likely move forward, even though the city of East Haven and many residents there are opposed to such plans. After being bogged down for years with a multiplicity of disputes and lawsuits, plans to expand and upgrade the airport have survived scrutiny by a number of regional boards, committees and commissions.
When the flyway opened and was dedicated on August 29, 1931 as New Haven Municipal Airport, few could have foreseen the problems it would have some 70 years later. Located in Morris Cove, 4.75 miles from the center of the Elm City and 1.5 miles from the center of East Haven, the original site encompassed 236 acres of land.
John Hancock (Jack) Tweed was secretary of New Haven's first airport committee, and in 1930, the Municipal Air Board appointed him manager. He served in that capacity until he retired in 1961. The city renamed the airport after him, rededicating it in 1961.
The South Central Regional Council of Governments and the FAA have approved the newest plans for the airport, which chiefly include runway lengthening. But as long as lawsuits bog down the process, it is impossible to know when the plans will actually be implemented.
Alternatives
Once the infrastructure improvements are in place, what can the city offer to induce people to come to the city to shop, open or expand their businesses, attend free concerts on the Green, take in a street festival, see a show in the entertainment district, or eat in one of the city's great restaurants?
And, over the life of the 12-plus-year construction project, what will the city be doing to take advantage of the reconstruction to make it easier and safer for people to go downtown?
Terry Britney of Hamden says the city should take one street at a time and rid them of blighted buildings, abandoned cars and other nuisances that lower the quality of life for residents and business owners.
“If they're methodical, they could clean up the city in no time,” Britney says, “and then start to rebuild it.”
“As it is now, I'd rather travel 30 minutes or more to go to a mall than go to New Haven - which is only ten minutes from my home - to shop,” Britney says. “I probably wouldn't have shopped at the proposed mall because of the traffic problem, whether it was real or perceived.”
A look at the alternatives from which people can choose once Phase II begins shows that a variety of transportation modes are being upgraded and enhanced in an attempt to elevate the perception of public transportation, including trains, busses, van pools, car pools, company sponsored shuttle busses and taxi cabs.
According to Gallucci, the State Street Commuter Railroad Station being built between Court and Chapel streets should be finished sometime next spring. It will serve Shoreline East commuters between New Haven and New London and all points in-between.
“It will be strictly for commuters who are being picked up or dropped off,” says Gallucci. “No parking spaces will be available there.”
High-speed service on Metro North will continue to operate between Metro North stations in Connecticut and New York.
Connecticut Transit and Dattco “S” routes serve the area's bus service needs, and Rideworks helps to connect people who are driving to the same or nearby locations.
But what about the people who live and work in the city? And if they aren't commuters or have jobs that require the use of their car during the day, where are they supposed to park?
William Kilpatrick, director of the New Haven Parking Authority, notes that there are today in excess of 15,000 parking spaces in the downtown area.
“The $11 million renovation of the former Macy's garage should be completed by the fall of this year,” Kilpatrick explains, “which would release 1,200 spaces, and work on the $9 million 'Mid-Block Garage' behind Church, Wall, Elm and Orange streets will provide another 800 to 900 parking spaces and should begin in the spring of 2002,” a 12- to 15-month project.
Kilpatrick also says the city provides free parking downtown for the summer concert series and free parking at the Temple Street garage on Saturday nights.
Feeling the Empowerment
The Empower New Haven initiative, begun in January 1999, encompasses an array of programs designed to create jobs, provide affordable housing, generate new tax revenues, bolster educational programs and train the employees of tomorrow.
“Central to our city's future growth is a continued focus on the areas where we can compete and win,” says DeStefano. “New Haven is successfully positioned as the creative capital of Connecticut in both knowledge-based businesses and the arts.”
The city received Empowerment Zone designation in 1999 - one of only 15 urban centers nationwide to receive that distinction - and it covers about five square miles in six neighborhoods or census tracts. That designation originally would have brought $100 million in grants and $130 million in tax-exempt bonds from the federal government over a period of ten years.
However, like many other programs, Congress cut first-year funding from $10 million to $3 million, and is slated to provide only $3.6 million the second year.
Last summer, 220 EZ participants in job-training programs each put in an average of 112 hours with area employers. That's certainly a promising start for a fledgling enterprise, but there are more than 220 young people in New Haven that need and want jobs, and much more remains to be done to reach and empower them.
One of the key components of the Empower program are the partners that have helped the program survive, including the city, the Hospital of Saint Raphael, the Workforce Development Board, the South Central Connecticut Agency on Aging, the Community Economic Development Initiative, the New Haven Board of Education, the Regional Workforce Board and the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven.
Ninth Square Resurrection
While the residences in Ninth Square were gobbled up almost as quickly as they came onto the market, businesses have found it a bit more difficult to stay alive and prosper in that downtown neighborhood.
Says a spokesperson for McCormack Baron & Associates, which manages the development, says a number of new businesses have recently opened in or relocated to Ninth Square, which is hopeful may spur others to do the same. These include:
• Yale opened a recording studio on the first floor of the old firehouse on Crown Street. It will have residences on the second floor.
• A full service deli/mini grocery store opened on Orange Street in May, and Tycoon's, which offers American food, has made it to a second year at 10 Orange Street.
• The Svigels Associates architectural firm has purchased 84 Orange Street and plans to make it a combo residence and office building.
• 95 Orange Street is being looked at for redevelopment as a restaurant and apartments.
“We're very optimistic that the available space will soon be utilized,” says the McCormack Baron spokesperson, who asked that her name not be used.
Broadway Blue
Yale continues to make improvements in its many real-estate holdings and the businesses it attracts, especially in the Broadway retail district. The façade improvements on Chapel and College streets are impressive and a series of new businesses on Broadway, in the heart of the Yale community - Urban Outfitters, Koffee? II, a 24-hour grocery store and at least a half-dozen more new stores - are a tribute to the vitality of that portion of downtown.
“Yale plays major role in the bioscience presence in the city and continues to be a major partner with both the business community and City Hall,” says Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce president Anthony Rescigno.
Downtown Doings
Henry Fernandez, the city's director of development administration, says that 60 new businesses have opened in the downtown area in the last 18 months.
Three downtown blocks are also in line for redevelopment and three developers - William, Jackson, Ewing Inc. of Baltimore; Phelps Inc.; and Matthews Ventures - have lined up with proposals to redevelop the former Macy's building, Chapel Square Mall and the piece of property formerly occupied by Malley's, even though some of the property is still in litigation initiated by Baltimore developer David Cordish.
“I'm very excited because a big piece of the puzzle that's missing is the development of these three blocks,” Rescigno says, “and their development is a major step in completing that puzzle.”
The Baltimore group is best known for the renovation work it did on Union Station in Washington, D.C. and Grand Central Station in New York.
Phelps owned the Wyatt Oil tanks athwart New Haven Harbor and Robert Matthews of Matthews Ventures bought and sold “Big Blue,” the former SNET headquarters at 300 George Street, and has had his hand in the New Haven development pie for years.
Other major downtown projects:
• Winstanley Enterprises of Massachusetts bought 300 George street from Matthews and performed some $20 million in renovations, which attracted biotechnology companies Achillion Pharmaceuticals and Molecular Staging.
• Projects are also on the drawing board for the former W.T. Grant building on lower Chapel and the former Strawberries record store building at Chapel and Church, which would include retail operations on the ground floor and residential apartments on the upper floors.
• Façade improvements on lower Chapel Street continue, including a signature examples - a building on the corner of Orange and Chapel streets - which was restored to its former grandeur and now houses a beauty-supply business.
• The former Strouse Adler building is moving forward with the conversion to residential housing (more than 100 apartments) and a development project for the onetime Shartenburg site is in the works.
• A new operator for the Shubert Performing Arts Center - the Columbus, O.-based Connecticut Association for the Performing Arts - is hoping to revive that College Street jewel by bringing in new, live productions.
• The city continues to seek ways to improve bus traffic and bus stops in the city and is currently working with community members and bus riders to create a “community green space” and new bus stops on Chapel Street.
• The second phase of Granite Square at Audubon and State streets - owned by David Beckerman of Starter Sportswear fame (BNH, August 6) - includes a 55,000-square-foot office building - the first such project in New Haven in more than a decade.
Fernandez adds that there are more businesses on Grand Avenue that there were 20 years ago, and “The merchants have even formed the Grand Avenue Village Association and are working to solve the problems of parking and cleanliness.”
In addition, “The hospitality officers of the [Town Green] Special Services District that help people find their way around the downtown area are doing a good job, and work in the Fair Haven/River Street corridor has attracted new businesses and residents,” Fernandez adds.
“With all that's happening in and around New Haven,” Rescigno says, “it's a very exciting time for the city.”
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