The public square seen from Orange Street.
Hill Alderwoman Dolores Colon liked the European-style square, the rooftop gardens and farms, and the posh new hotel proposed for New Haven’s next downtown big development — as long as it has a union label.
Colon was giving an early but positive response Thursday night as she hosted the first open-to-the-general public meeting about a $250-$300 million plan to build of the old Coliseum site redevelopment plan drawn up by the city’s preferred developer, LiveWorkLearnPlay.
About 75 people from all around town gathered in the cafeteria of the Hill Central School Thursday night to hear the pitch of the Montreal-based LiveWorkLearnPlay team for how to turn the four and a half acre graveyard of the old New Haven Coliseum (now a parking lot) into a future “destination” as well as a “gateway.”
The builders hope to construct 524 residences in five-to-six story mixed income buildings with retail all along the landscaped streets; a distinctive hotel rising on the corner of MLK Boulevard and Orange Street that would run along Orange across the Connector into the Hill; an office tower on State Street; a fitness center; a public square vibrant with community-planned events; and a“laneway” with spots for 35 “best of the best” entrepreneurial, unique, carefully screened New Haven businesses.
Click here for more details in a previous story on the plan as unveiled before the New Haven Development Commission last month; and here for how it previously played to the Downtown/Wooster Square Management Team.
Planners now need approvals from both the city and state, and LWLP needs to find the money, to pull it off. Officials said the project is seeking no public subsidy at this point; at a later point they plan to discuss whether to help the developer add affordable housing.
Alderwoman Colon called the plans “positive, well matched for New Haven.” She cautioned thought that the hotel needs provide living0wage jobs. “Hope it’s a union hotel to make for people to be able to earn a living,” she said.
Right now the site is a surface parking lot. LWLP’s Max Reim said he aims to transform it into a spot not for cars but for fun human activities, a destination for concerts, running clubs, yoga work-outs out, a place to meet your pals again again for the the greatest bagel of their lives, a hub of local and regional activity, and a new gateway to the Elm City. In the process, he said, he hopes create hundreds of new jobs .
When Reim and his colleagues finished limning their proposed plans and the hoped-for benefits, a general murmur of approval came from the room. They fielded no public questions. Instead they invited any and all suggestions via tete-a-tetes while participants also took in ample sandwiches, cookies, and coffee.
Eric Daniel, Michael Scandariato, and Reim.
Eric Daniel (pictured) introduced himself as the represented of the Greater New Haven Business and Professional Association,which represents African-American businessmen and contractors. Would Reim address his group so they might be able to get in on the opportunities potentially opening up? Daniel asked.
“Be my pleasure. Consider it done,” Reim responded as he and Daniel exchanged business cards.
The new general manager of the New Haven Hotel two blocks up George Street, Michael Scandariato, dropped by to see what kind of hotel Reim wanted to attract to the site.
“Brand or boutique?” he asked.
“Flag hotel,” replied Reim. He told Scandariato that recently he tried to get a room at the new manager’s hotel, but it was filled up. The city needs more hotel space, Reim said. The two men exchanged cards.
Is An Orange Street Crossing Essential?
Reim said he liked suggestions he has heard so far from the public. One person who proposed a jewelry store with New Haven-inspired wares. Other people have proposed what he described as “a celebration of Hispanic food and flavors at a seasonal market” in the development.
City economic development officer Chris Canna said the next stop for the LWLP road show is a private meeting with the New Haven state legislative delegation because a centerpiece of the plan — extending Orange Street across a dismantled Route 34 and re-connecting it to the streetscape of the Hill—is vital to LWLP’s vision.
He said City Plan staff has been working diligently with the state Department of Transportation on related traffic and engineering issues.“We’re doing everything we can to get the Orange Street crossing,” Canna said.
He described it as indispensable to the current configuration of the project, but not necessarily a vision breaker should it not come to pass.
“Personally, I’m very optimistic,” he said.
No date has yet been set for the meeting with the state delegation.