Business/ Economic Development

$5M Boosts Mill River's Possible Futures

by | Apr 12, 2024 1:16 pm | Comments (25)

Laura Glesby Photo

Erick Gonzalez, Annette Genovese, and Rosa at Martinez-hosted meetup.

Colliers Rendering

One possibility: a Mill River boardwalk?

To revitalize a neighborhood known for its warehouses and abandoned factories, focus on nature.

Residents and business owners offered that advice to city officials planning a more walkable, community-oriented Mill River district.

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"Local" Lunch At IKEA

by | Apr 4, 2024 4:18 pm | Comments (9)

Laura Glesby Photo

Lunch is self-served.

After a single bite, I realized I had ordered the wrong entree at IKEA. The veggie balls” were a blank slate: a mush of chickpeas, carrots, peppers, and other veggies I usually enjoy, mashed and blended until they amounted to something almost as thoroughly bland as the cauliflower rice I got on the side.

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Extra Step Added For Transit-Oriented Housing

by | Apr 4, 2024 11:34 am | Comments (29)

New Haven Parking Authority/Patriquin Architects

Big buildings, not empty lots, envisioned for Union Station area.

With climate change in mind, an aldermanic committee advanced a zoning proposal that would allow as-of-right restaurants, supermarkets, and offices — but not housing — along the Union Station railroad tracks.

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East Rock Breads Breaks Into Business

by | Mar 22, 2024 3:57 pm | Comments (12)

Nora Grace-Flood Photos

Milling your own grain is like grinding coffee to order, according to Frisch, who does both.

Bill Frisch signed up for the city’s DNA of the Entrepreneur program — and found the right recipe to make his business, East Rock Breads, rise to the top.

City officials joined Frisch outside his shop at 942 State Street Friday to cut a formal ribbon for the new shop and publicize the secret ingredient to that shared success: $15,000 in funding from the city’s Leaseholder Improvement Program.

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Dixwell Deal Falls Apart

by | Mar 21, 2024 4:14 pm | Comments (24)

Thomas Breen photo

The ex-Monterey club: Still vacant. Still Ocean-owned.

Reator Latasha Eaddy: City-Ocean deal fell apart "quite some time ago." Private sales in the works, including for 269 Dixwell (pictured).

A city plan to acquire the derelict former Monterey jazz club and three surrounding Dixwell buildings from an oft-fined megalandlord has hit a flat note — and, apparently, collapsed altogether — after the Elicker administration ditched a purchase-and-sale agreement and issued new clean-up orders. 

Months after that public deal fell apart, Ocean Management is reportedly now lining up new private buyers for these same properties.

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"Winchester Green" Grows Into Construction Zone

by | Mar 21, 2024 3:46 pm | Comments (4)

From "mass-level instruments of death" to homes and community: Matt Pugliese, Alder Kim Edwards, Alder Troy Streater, Eric Steinberg, Alex Twining, Arlevia Samuel, David Silverstone, Jake Pine and Mayor Justin Elicker break ground on Winchester Green.

As excavators pushed dirt from side to side at 315 Winchester Ave., city officials and housing developers dug shovels into a picture-planned pile of rocks to symbolically break ground on the mixed-use development that will one day be called the Winchester Green.

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Family Dollar Shoppers Don't Want Change

by | Mar 19, 2024 4:25 pm | Comments (5)

Alex Ankrah and Josephine Bailey: Family Dollar is a top-dollar date space.

Mother and daughter Hinasta L and Celeste Burrell left Family Dollar with Rockin’ Protein, hand sanitizer, period pads and heavy hearts — as they prepared for potential closure of the only store in the city keeping their pockets lined with more than lint.

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Ball & Socket Arts Turns Factory Into Gallery

by | Mar 19, 2024 10:18 am | Comments (4)

John McDonald Photo

Ball & Socket Arts front view.

When asked to name the cultural hubs of the Northeast, most people would not consider Cheshire, Connecticut a part of that list. A group of enthusiastic artists and supporters of the arts are hoping to change that over the next few years, as Ball & Socket Arts, a complex located on West Main Street right along the Farmington Canal Linear Path, continues its efforts to create a central location aimed at encouraging ongoing creativity and attracting New Haven County residents and beyond to its galleries, performance venue, art education center, and more.

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Prodigy Designer, 20, Turns Heads Worldwide

by | Mar 13, 2024 12:57 pm | Comments (3)

Joshua McCown.

Spaced out on the walls of Time A Tell, a clothing store and smoke shop at 1700 Dixwell Ave., are black-and-white photos. Each shows a celebrated rap artist — Baby Money, DThang, Cuban Doll, Skilla Baby, and Babyfxce E — wearing Time A Tell clothing made by Joshua McCown, the shop’s 20-year-old owner.

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Blighted Scientology Building Returned To Tax Rolls

by | Mar 8, 2024 2:28 pm | Comments (42)

Paul Bass Photos

No sign of "religious" activity: Assessor Pullen (left); portions of the blighted Scientology building.

Scientologists will have to pay taxes after sitting on plans to resurrect Ron Hubbard’s spirit inside the deteriorating doors of a former furniture store — now that the city revoked the church’s tax-exempt status.

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Port Authority Picks Up New Properties

by | Mar 7, 2024 2:46 pm | Comments (22)

Thomas Breen photos

Port Authority's Sally Kruse: Planning for harbor growth.

Ghost ships ahoy? A foggy look at the port district on Wednesday from the Tomlinson Bridge.

Steel rods on Stiles Street.

Need a spot to store lots of steel rods or planks of wood?

Then you’re in luck, because the New Haven Port Authority has now bought more than three acres of previously state-owned land in the city’s industrial waterfront district — and is looking to lease to companies needing a place to put their shipped-in goods.

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Cigars, Cupcakes & Lemonade: Black Entrepreneurship On Display

by | Mar 6, 2024 12:30 pm | Comments (0)

Lisa Reisman Photo

Hip-hop superstar Jadakiss joins the party.

Quick: Name the New Haven location where a platinum-selling Grammy-nominated hip hop superstar and coffee entrepreneur joined an award-winning cupcake maker, an up-and-coming cigar collective, and a community-minded lemonade company.

That was Dwight Street’s Cambria Hotel last week, where area entrepreneurs showcased their wares before 100 people in a coffee-tasting event featuring Kiss Cafe and sponsored by Gorilla Lemonade in celebration of Black History Month.

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Orchid Gallery Prepares For Inaugural Show

by | Feb 28, 2024 9:34 am | Comments (2)

niko w. okoro and Erik Clemons.

A new art gallery is coming to the Lab at ConnCORP, on Newhall. The Orchid Gallery, organized by niko w. okoro of the bldg fund, is born out of conversations with area artists, with the goals of making a space for Black and Brown artists in the community to be seen and heard, supporting them in their professional development, and making a place where artists can come together.

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