Gilad Edelman Photo
A dilapidated parking garage at the corner of Crown and High is about to undergo a makeover — and a growth spurt.
The Board of Zoning Appeals last week granted variances to allow developer Metro Star Properties to expand and add two stories to the three-story, 30,030 square-foot circa 1920 building at 280 Crown St., which for decades has housed a parking garage. The renovated building (a couple of doors down from a different, more celebrated garage) will contain 24 residential units as well as commercial space on the ground floor.
Robert Smith, the head of Metro Star, spoke at last week’s zoning meeting. He said 280 Crown, which also houses S’Wings restaurant on the ground floor, hasn’t been renovated in 50 years.
“The project is potentially transformational for this particular area,” he added.
“Look at what it looks like now,” said architect Sam Gardner (pictured) of the New Haven firm Gregg Wies & Gardner. “It’s kind of in rough shape.” The renovation will improve the brick veneer, which he said is falling apart after “many, many years of salt and water.” The two new stories will be set back to create outdoor terraces.
The new project, which won a recommendation from the City Plan Commission, will take advantage of the property’s parking garage heritage, reserving 15 underground parking spaces for future tenants.