Thomas MacMillan Photo
Murphy: Governoment’s role is to “Set up development.”
With unanimous rave reviews in City Hall’s aldermanic chamber, New Haven’s largest-ever proposed downtown development project — a $395 million plan for the vacant New Haven Coliseum site — moved another step closer to reality.
The reviews came at the Board of Aldermen’s Finance Committee meeting Wednesday night. The matter at hand: a proposed land disposition agreement between the city and development company LiveWorkLearnPlay.
The agreement, and an accompanying proposal to abandon part of Martin Luther King Boulevard, would set the stage for a Montreal-based developer called LiveWorkLearnPlay to build the two-phase mixed-use development in the block bordered by Orange, George and State streets, and MLK Boulevard.
The Finance Committee unanimously approved the deal with a couple of minor tweaks to the language.
The Board of Aldermen’s Legislation Committee will consider a companion zoning change proposal Thursday evening. Then all three items will come up for a final vote next month by the full Board of Aldermen.
These latest legislative movements come after three years of work by the city and LiveWorkLearnPlay. The has earned positive reviews at a series of pubic meetings held on the plan, and Wednesday evening was no different.
The full project, tentatively scheduled for completion in 2020, would include some 719 housing units, 76,900 feet of retail space, 200,000 square feet of office space, a new public plaza, and a 160-room hotel. Click here for a rundown on all the numbers.
City Economic Development Administrator Kelly Murphy told aldermen Wednesday night that the development will bring 4,700 construction jobs and 2,800 permanent jobs to the area, along with new property taxes.
LiveWorkLearnPlay would put up $362 million to pay for the development. Another $32.5 million would come from public money, of which the city would pay up to a total of $12 million.
“This project is not just going to be a project. It’s going to be a marvelous New Haven neighborhood,” said Max Reim (pictured), principal at LiveWorkLearnPlay. He said the new development will help reconnect neighborhoods and create a new gateway to the city.
Reim read aloud from a letter of support written by Mayor-Elect Toni Harp, which quoted her saying that the development will “transform a parking lot into a vibrant mixed-use urban village.”
During public testimony at the committee meeting, one person after another stepped up to praise the project and its promise of jobs, taxes, neighborhood reunification, housing, and business.
Equella Salters (at right in photo), a participant in the city’s Construction Workforce Initiative job-training program, testified with a phalanx of her fellow trainees. “We’re ready to work. We’ve been training long and hard and we need jobs. That’s the bottom line.”
“This development could not be any better if I saw it in my dreams,” said the Town Green Special Services District’s Win Davis.
Even Joe Coppola, managing partner of ProPark, the company that runs the lot where the development will stand, threw in his support. “I may be losing a parking lot, but we’re going to be gaining a lot of opportunity for the city.”
During deliberation, Beaver Hills Alderwoman Claudette Robinson-Thorpe asked why the city should be give the land away to LiveWorkLearnPlay (the official sale price is $1) and pay millions on top of that.
The land has been vacant and underutilized for years, Murphy responded. It’s tough to bring in mixed-use development, which the city values. The city is paying for infrastructure improvements.
“That’s the role of government,” Murphy said. “To pay for things that set up development.”
East Rock Alderwoman Jessica Holmes asked about continued opportunities for community input as the project goes forward.
“We are a completely transparent company,” said Reim. “We commit ourselves to an open process forever and ever. Great ideas don’t stop here. These plans don’t stop here. The idea is to create a living, organic development that always develops with time.”
Hill Alderman Jorge Perez made two minor amendments to the language of the deal before the committee voted unanimously to approve the deal.