$30M Farnam Courts Redo Aims High

With a new developer on board for the proposed overhaul of Farnam Courts, the housing authority is looking to take the crime-ridden housing project in a new direction — less ​“family development” and more of an apartment tower like 360 State.

The board of the Housing Authority of New Haven (HANH) Tuesday evening voted unanimously to hire Trinity Financial to redevelop Ribicoff Cottages in West Rock and Farnam Courts on Grand Avenue. Trinity has partnered with HANH on several other projects in town.

To accommodate displaced families, HANH plans to convert the old Cott soda factory at Chatham and Ferry Street into homes, as well as build more housing at Eastview Terrace.

For months, the authority has been working on plans for tear-down and rebuild of the 70-year-old 244-unit housing complex. Tuesday’s approval marks a step forward in that process, which is still about five years away from completion, said HANH director Karen DuBois-Walton.

The meeting’s discussion — and unveiling of a conceptual drawing — offered some preliminary ideas of what a re-imagined and rebuilt Farnam Courts might look like.

Farnam Courts sits in an industrial part of Grand Avenue that’s cut off from Wooster Square by I‑91. In place of what is now a low-slung complex of adjoined homes and courtyards, the authority aims to erect a multi-story, apartment building that could have greenspace on the roof, like 360 State, the new luxury apartment tower downtown. DuBois-Walton said such a structure would be more in keeping with the surrounding ​“light industrial” neighborhood and would dovetail with city plans for the improvement of the Mill River district and the stretch of Grand Avenue between the river and downtown.

The new tower would have 360 apartments, an expansion from the 244 units at the current Farnam Courts, DuBois-Walton said. Instead of warehousing poor people like the failed Elm Haven projects in Dixwell, the Farnam redo aims to house people of mixed income.

The redevelopment would contrast with other recent Housing Authority rebuilds like Q Terrace and the new Brookside. Those projects have been redesigned to feel more like collections of colorful family homes, with individual patios, porches, and lawns.

That kind of ​“family development” didn’t work at Farnam Courts, DuBois-Walton said. To try to recreate it would make an ​“island” of such homes in what is otherwise an industrial area that’s ​“not ideal for families,” she said. 

360 State is fully leased out, DuBois-Walton said, indicating that demand exists for that kind of one- and two-bedroom apartment housing.

As part of the redevelopment, the housing authority plans to create homes for families at two other locations. The authority will put up new housing at what is now a grassy area near its Eastview Terrace project. And it will be converting the old Cott soda factory in Chatham Square into housing, DuBois-Walton said.

All together, the plan will cost some $30 million. Plan A for financing is winning a federal Choice Neighborhoods Initiative grant, DuBois-Walton said. Plan B is bonding, tax credits, and private developer equity.

The new apartment building could include retail on the first floor, and the conceptual drawing shows industrial buildings constructed in the rear of the site.

Gabby Geller, a project manager with Trinity, said she aims to start work next summer.

As with other housing authority redevelopments, HANH would find new housing for all current Farnam Courts tenants, who would have the option to return once the new building is complete.