Neighbors Back Clock Factory Project

Not every environmental clean-up site involves radium.

It does if you’re cleaning up a centuries-old factory where generations of ​“radium girls” labored to make clock dials glow in the dark.

That issue raised some concerns during an otherwise warm reception for the ​“Clock Shop Lofts” project, a planned renovation of an empty old clock factory complex on Hamilton Street into new apartments.

Developers Josh Blevins and Bill Kraus made a presentation of their plans to the Fair Haven Management team at the group’s regular meeting Thursday night at the Blatchley Avenue police substation.

Blevins, of the Portland, Oregon-based Reed Realty Group, and local consultant Bill Kraus propose to turn the former Jerome Clock Company — once the world’s largest producer of affordable clocks — into a $37-$40 million historic rehab. They plan to turn the 130,000 square foot factory complex into 130 units of affordable housing, mainly for artists.

Pending is a two-phased development: First they plan to spend nine months to a year cleaning up the site, including that radium. Following that, the developers plan to create the apartments — one bedrooms renting for approximately $900 a month — for artists, ​“makers,” and entrepreneurial-oriented people. The goal is to spark a revival of the blighted and long abandoned stretch of Hamilton Street between Chapel and Grand.

About 40 neighbors crammed into the substation during the presentation.

One questioner asked whether the plan would include ground-level retail to enliven the street.

The answer was no, not on the ground level anyway. Although with artists being the primary tenants, Kraus said, there will likely be a gallery space behind, in the interior where the factory’s loading dock was located.

Another questioner asked about proximity to transportation and to grocery stores. Kraus pointed out the development is half a mile from Union Station and across the street from Ferraro’s Market.

“This type of building attracts people who want to give back,” Kraus said. He said artists historically go into a blighted area and spearhead a renewal.

“This will be affordable for 30 years” under terms of government agreements, Kraus pointed out.

He said the Clock Shop Lofts will be the second artists’ live-work space he has been involved in. The other, Read’s Artspace in Bridgeport, is going great guns, he said, with artist-dwellers reshaping a once almost entirely abandoned neighborhood.

The apartment’s affordability is made possible in part by a 15-year tax abatement arrangement pending with the city. That issue — is it too much of a give-away- for the cash-strapped city? — triggered a spirited discussion when the Independent first reported the plans. Neighbor did not press that point at the management team meeting.

The alders must approve that abatement, along with the city’s planned contribution of $400,000. That will complement a $4.4 million state grant and the developers’ own $1.4 million going toward the clean-up.

Kraus said he hopes all of that — including the purchase of the property, for $1.7 million from its private owner — will unfold within the next two months. That’s critical because if that timing does not work out, it potentially jeopardizes the $4.4 million in state money for the clean-up, he said.

By the time Kraus brought in Blevins, whose company is currently transforming an old wool factory in Lawrence, Mass., the radium was discovered.

Neighbor Michelle Rodriguez asked if community gardens will be possible on the site. Blevins replied that one of the techniques of abatement for contaminants is ​“capping” — paving over ground, leaving, in a secured fashion, contaminants there. If gardeners could work around that drawback, he said, he is all in for community gardens. He added that the plans maintain an open space courtyard in the back, although it is not visible from the street.

New Haven Farms new Executive Director Jacqueline Maisonpierre said her group is happy to participate in post-clean up, post-radium gardens at the site. ​“We can handle putting in the beds,” she offered.

In after-meeting discussions, Fair Haven activist Lee Cruz highlighted the radium clean-up as ​“complex.” He asked if the developers have the know-how to manage it.

“I’ve been praying for a project like this. It requires a heavy hitter to do the clean up,” Cruz said. ​“I’m heartened by what I’ve heard.”

The architect on the project is no longer Crosskey of Hartford, which did some initial planning and renderings. Steve Ewoldt of in Portland, Oregon, has taken its place.

Fair Haven Alders Ernie Santiago, Jose Crespo, and Kenneth Reveiz, were in attendance, as was Wooster Square Alder Aaron Greenberg, who gave the Clock Shop Lofts project an energetic thumbs up.

Crespo said when the the city’s $400,000 contribution to the clean-up and the tax abatement issues come before the alders for final approval, he intends to support Greenberg (whose ward includes the project) in voting for it. (The project is technically in the industrial east portion of Wooster Square, between I‑91 and the Mill River that abuts Fair Haven.)

The developers said they came to the management simply to provide information and update. They were not before the management team asking for any formal letter or statement of support, they added.

However, based on the enthusiasm expressed, they could have received one. Blevins said he wants the finished project to glow, but in the right way.