With local brass band Kings of Harmony belting out a toe-tapping rendition of “Oh Happy Day,” the only thing missing in front of the newest development in the Dixwell neighborhood was a second line.
The midday celebration Monday for the opening of a brand new G Cafe and the Ashmun Flats apartments at the corner of Ashmun and Munson streets drew a crowd that came from the Dixwell neighborhood, nearby Science Park and Yale University, just as its developer Juan Salas-Romer intended.
“What we really wanted to do with this is express the three communities coming together,” Salas-Romer said. “We really wanted to the Dixwell community to feel represented, the Science Park community to feel represented and the Yale University community.”
To make that happen, the Venezuelan-born developer (pictured), who has a special place in his heart for New Haven, said he did a lot of listening to people from the community.
“It’s not always possible to please the community and be economically sustainable,” he said. “There has to be a balance. You have to pay attention to the sensitivities [of the community]. If you are blind to that as a developer, your plan will backfire.”
Salas-Romer purchased a trio of properties that included the former home of the Red Café Ultra Lounge (and before that, the Cardinals Café) at 320 – 324 Ashmun St., a gravel lot at 202 Munson St., and the former Pentecostal Apostolic Faith Assemblies church at 27 – 29 Henry St. (Read about that here and here.) The last was purchased in February.
The Ashmun Flats/G Café project is the latest effort to revitalize the northern stretch of the Dixwell neighborhood. It nearly abuts the Farmington Canal Trail and is a block from Science Park as well as recently opened $3,000-a-month Winchester Lofts development
People marveled Monday that Salas-Romer and his team at NHR Properties turned this …
into all of this …
Dixwell Alder Jeanette Morrison (pictured) said that Salas-Romer kept his word about bringing in a commercial partner that would provide a service that would be attractive to a large number of people.
The snazzy tiled floor at the new G Café.
“There were people who said, ‘Oh we’ve got these people coming into this neighborhood, but they’re not giving anyone jobs,’” Morrison said. “That’s a lie. You did employ people from this ward.”
A scene from one of the three-bedroom apartments of Ashmun Flats.
She said he also kept his word about hiring people from the neighborhood to help construct the mixed commercial and residential project which not only includes an outpost of G Café, the second in New Haven, but also to create a development that would be attractive to professionals and families. Five of the eight apartments in the project are units with three bedrooms.
Whole G Bakery owner Andrea Corazzini said he plans to hire and train baristas from the Dixwell neighborhood to work at the third and newest outpost of the G Café coffee-shop and bakery. (Read about the opening of the downtown location at Pitkin Plaza here.)
“We are happy to be in this neighborhood,” he said.
In addition to keeping his word to the neighborhood, Mayor Toni Harp announced that the Salas-Romer family donated $10,000 to the new Dixwell Community “Q” House.
“The completion of this construction project is another positive sign for a growing city,” Harp said. “I always welcome new housing units in particular because it suggest that the city is in demand from people who want to live here.”