Downtown Rent Tops $6K

The rent has reached the sky in downtown New Haven, with a couple paying $6,200 a month to live in a two-story apartment at the top of the historic Union Trust bank building.

Not just the ​“Sky Apartment,” but all but 13 apartments already have tenants in the137-unit residential building, newly christened ​“The Union,” across from the Green at the corner of Elm and Church.

David Kuperberg, whose Cooper Church LLC bought the former Union & New Haven Trust Co. building back in 2013, praised the latest developments in New Haven as he presided over a celebration of the building’s formal opening Tuesday afternoon. 

The company said a Yale University professor and his author wife have signed on to rent the Sky Apartment for the cool $6,200 a month. It includes a spiral staircase, private balcony, hardwood floors, and rooftop hot tub. (The company did not identify the couple by name.) The rest of the apartment building features mostly studio apartments and one- and two-bedroom apartments. A floor down from the Sky Apartment are penthouse apartments, some with views of the historic New Haven Green, the Long Island Sound and the new Q Bridge. The renovation of the circa 1927 building preserved its historic cupola while converting the former offices above the Wells Fargo Bank into apartments. The company bought the building for $13.5 million, then spent $21 million to renovate it, according to city records.

“New Haven is beyond my instincts and thoughts as to how good of a city this place is,” Kuperberg told a crowd gathered on the 12th floor of the building. ​“People want to live here. I think New Haven is, and this is from an outsider, I guess, new convert to New Haven, I can tell you this city is better than even some of you think.”

Kuperberg said not only is he ready to do more development downtown, but would be happy to speak with other potential developers and investors ​“any time” the city asks him to do so.

“I don’t view more development as competition, but as additive,” he said. ​“Use us as spokespeople. We plan to be here for a long time.”

City Economic Development Administrator Matthew Nemerson, poking a little fun at the man the Republican Party nominated the same day for president, said that it was ​“delightful … to have a real New York City developer here who lives up to all of his promises and delivers what he says he’s going to deliver.”

He said some skeptics were concerned about the ability to rent out the Union. He called renting the Sky Apartment at such a high rent a feather in the caps of both the developer and the city.

“To hear that it is 90 percent [rented] tells us exactly what you’re saying is true — this is still a very, very strong market,” Nemerson said. ​“This also is a lovely location. This view of the Green, this site off of the common square, says something about New Haven. That it’s now residential and people want to live here and look over this Green and be part of the downtown and not come here just for office use.

“How exciting is it that that’s the kind of value we have here,” Nemerson said of the Sky Apartment.

Kuperberg said he and his partner came into their decision to develop in New Haven by accident. The previous owners of the building had hoped to put a four-star hotel in the historic building when they bought it in 2009 for $10.5 million. Instead, the sold it to Cooper Church.

“We didn’t come to New Haven, research and say, ​‘We want to build here,’” he said. ​“Instead the building came to us.”

He said he and his partner did some back of the envelope analysis and the gut feeling that the historic nature of the building and its location was the right thing to do sealed the deal. They didn’t plan on falling in love with the city, but that is what has happened.

“It’s a great city, it truly is,” he said. ​“People want to live here. People want to live here as their permanent residence. People want to leave the suburbs come to the city and it’s going to get better and better. We want to develop more here, we want to build more buildings and more residences here and I think you’ll see us soon do that.”

Kuperberg said a decision hasn’t been made on what if anything will be done with the adjacent Wells Fargo parking lot that the company also owns. The company found that many of the tenants of the building don’t make use of the 100 spaces in the three New Haven Parking Authority parking lots downtown, where arrangements were made for them to park. He said most of the tenants choose to bike and walk. And he said that’s not a bad thing.

“This is a really good place to develop residentially,” said Kuperberg, who has been in real estate for 38 years. ​“This a very livable city with the best food of anywhere in the Northeast. I love what’s happening in this city. I’m here more than you can imagine, and it is always a positive experience. The more I’m here the more positive I am that things are just going to get better and better.”

Will the developer, who splits his time between New York City and Colorado move here?

“I’m going to be 60 years old,” he said. ​“And the one thing I’ve learned is to never say no to anything.”

Mayor Toni Harp called the completion of The Union a milestone for the city, one that signals to other investors and developers that New Haven might be the right place for their next project.

“We are delighted to see how there’s new life in this cornerstone property, and we treasure what it means beyond all work that has been done here,” sh e said. ​“We recognize how this investment in New Haven signals progress for New Haven. We know the confidence these owners and developers place in New Haven’s future helps to decide New Haven’s future. We’re grateful for their confidence and we’ll keep working every day to earn it all over again. “

2 Other Openings

Opening news for downtown abounded Tuesday as Harp and Yale University Properties welcomed two new tenants a few blocks from The Union to the Whitney-Audubon Arts and Retail District.

Harp, Yale Associate Vice President for New Haven Affairs Lauren Zucker and Downtown Alder Alberta Witherspoon joined brothers and longtime barbers Pasquale and Silvio DeSisto of Phil’s Hairstyles on Wall Street and Whitney Avenue in opening a third location of their shop at 71 Audubon St. The new location is Phil’s Hair and Spa, which is a full-service salon and spa aimed at women.

The trio also helped cut the ribbon on the Phone N Computer Repair Center at 55 Whitney Ave. The business is owned by Fitim Cena who repairs smart phones, tablets and computers often while customers wait. His services include repairing hardware, cracked screens, water damage, and cleaning up viruses.

Zucker pointed out that both of the business owners are immigrants who have decided to create businesses in the community. Cena hails from Kosovo, while the DeSisto brothers, who have been in the city long enough to have cut the hair of presidents George H.W. and George W. Bush during their time at Yale, hail from Italy.

She said that attracting new businesses to downtown is part of Yale’s commitment to promote the city’s economic development.

“Yale has contributed to the vibrancy of downtown New Haven and as a result is one of the cities top taxpayers,” she said. ​“Strong stores equate to strong jobs for our local work force, and we encourage all of our merchants to hire local and utilize the resources of New Haven Works.”

Harp praised the new businesses. She called each ribbon-cutting ceremony she attends ​“irrefutable evidence of a city on the rise, a city in demand, a city with promise for business owners and investors.”

She said the repair center will support New Haven’s technology hub status and the thousands of students who might need the business’s services. She called the new salon and spa a great place for people to go while they wait to have their technology repaired.

She also took the opportunity to praise Yale.

“Yale University Properties is among the city’s most responsible and conscientious landlords,” she said. ​“So in that sense these business are in good hands.”