Seal Checks Out Mill River District
by | Feb 16, 2025 8:46 pm | Comments (7)
Seals belong in the aquarium, right?
Mill River
Zoners Nix Smoke Shop Next To Strip Club
by and | Feb 12, 2025 1:11 pm | Comments (22)
Zachary Groz photo
Applicant Villanueva: Spot is a "gold mine"
Thomas Breen photo
Landlord Marty Halprin: Time to look for another potential tenant.
A new smoke shop won’t be able to open up next to a methadone clinic and a strip club — after city zoners stamped out the latest bid to convert a vacant storefront into a tobacco sales “gold mine.”
Videos Show Fatal Cop-Shooting Scene
by | Feb 3, 2025 5:08 pm | Comments (10)
West Haven Officer Robert Rappa's body-worn camera footage. Note: Videos show graphic violence.
5:30 a.m. at the Mill River Crossing housing complex. Police enter an apartment with a key. “My baby!” a woman cries out. Gunshots ring out. A 35-year-old man is killed, two cops injured.
That scene is depicted in videos and a “preliminary report” released Monday by the state Office of Inspector General.
Inspector General Robert J. Delvin released the documents regarding a Jan. 29 early-morning shoot-out that left 35-year-old Aaron Freeman dead and two West Haven police officers injured. An officer — it’s unclear yet which one — killed Freeman, after Freeman allegedly shot first.
Cop Raid, Shoot-Out Leave Renters Shaken
by | Jan 30, 2025 4:17 pm | Comments (8)
Nathaniel Rosenberg photo
Mill River Crossing, where an early-morning police shoot-out left a suspect dead.
Free counseling from area therapists. A new police officer in residence. And (hopefully) fixing the broken intercom system.
Those were some of the solutions that leaders of New Haven’s housing authority offered to residents of Mill River Crossing at a resident-only meeting held on the property Wednesday evening — after a man died and two cops were injured during a shoot-out with police in the building early that morning.
Alameda Animates Mill River District Visioning
by | Dec 10, 2024 2:41 pm | Comments (14)
Can the city help bring this vision to life?
Oh, that's an alameda. Cool!
Imagine an alameda — a long shady tree-lined walkway — running down the middle of Blatchley Avenue all the way from Grand Avenue to the Quinnipiac River.
And how about building up underused lots into lots more housing on East Street and on Wolcott?
Those were a few of the neighborhood-changing ideas that emerged Monday night at 162 James St., CitySeed’s new building, where city economic development officials convened a second public meeting for citizen input to envision a now-and-future identity for the Mill River District.
Continue reading ‘Alameda Animates Mill River District Visioning’
Concrete Co. Eyes More Trains, Fewer Trucks
by | Nov 26, 2024 1:49 pm | Comments (0)
Thomas Breen photo
Suzio truck rolls on out of the Chapel St. concrete plant.
Expect 4,000 fewer truck deliveries per year to an industrial riverfront stretch of Chapel Street — as a Meriden-based concrete company plans to build out capacity for train transport, instead.
Continue reading ‘Concrete Co. Eyes More Trains, Fewer Trucks’
Kaleidoscopic Mural Unveiled On Chapel
by | Nov 19, 2024 2:55 pm | Comments (10)
Thomas Breen photo
Whoa!
Lisa Reisman photo
Payton, Ellis, and Anaya with muralists Jessie Unterhalter and Katey Truhn: “This is why we’re doing this.”
The challenge was steep. To scour the globe for a muralist to lend such pizzazz to a 240-foot blank warehouse wall that it would bring life to a faded stretch of town.
In the end, one factor sealed the deal: cartwheels.
The Word On Chapel & East: Swirling Colors Hit The Wall
by | Sep 30, 2024 4:13 pm | Comments (22)
Paul Bass Photo
Jessie Unterhalter at work Monday.
“Beautiful!” a passing motorist called out while heading downtown Monday on Chapel Street.
“Thank you!” Jessie Unterhalter said for the tenth? 20th? time of the day.
Unterhalter didn’t want to be rude. People passing by the once-blank warehouse wall at Chapel and East Streets have brightened to see the swirling bright colors Jessie Unterhalter and Katey Truhn have been painting there for the past three weeks. Unterhalter appreciated their appreciation.
Continue reading ‘The Word On Chapel & East: Swirling Colors Hit The Wall’
Ex-Clock Factory Has Another Fire
by | Aug 27, 2024 3:12 pm | Comments (8)
Paul Bass Photo
Firefighter Dan Kisluk on scene Tuesday.
For the second time in a month, firefighters Tuesday raced to the abandoned clock factory on Hamilton and Wallace Streets.
Squatters Set Up In Almost-Sold Factory
by | Jul 12, 2024 12:13 pm | Comments (28)
Arthur Delot-Vilain photos
Franklyn Gallo: RV is "better than living on the street."
The clock company's latest tenant.
Inside the nearby shed.
Housing has finally come to the old Hamilton Street clock factory — in the form of a parked RV occupied by a homeless former construction worker.
Time is ticking, however, for the temporary residents of the dilapidated industrial complex, now that the city’s housing authority has finalized an agreement to buy the blighted property out of tax foreclosure.
Industrial District Tour Eyes Mixed-Use Future
by | Jul 12, 2024 9:36 am | Comments (18)
Asher Joseph photos
Minsky, Eyzaguirre, Pickett, and McLeggon in the Art to Frames showroom ...
... as employees put together custom frame orders, as viewed on Development Commission tour of Mill River / River Street districts.
Machinery whirred as employees of Art To Frames on River Street fulfilled custom frame orders, during the final stop on a city Development Commission tour showcasing what a commercial-industrial district near the Mill River currently looks like — and what it some day might be.
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Last Warming Center Closes For Summer
by | May 15, 2024 2:08 pm | Comments (3)
Laura Glesby Photo
Christopher lines up for the 180 Center's final night as a warming center.
At 6:15 p.m. sharp on Tuesday, Christopher ambled over to the 180 Center on a crooked foot.
It was the last night that the last warming center in New Haven would offer shelter for the season, and Christopher didn’t know where he’d sleep on Wednesday.
“I haven’t got that far yet,” he said.
Housing Plan Dropped Amid Parking Dispute
by | May 10, 2024 9:26 am | Comments (78)
Wooster Lofts LLC rendering
Apartments that won't be built on Hamilton St.
A Hamilton Street parking lot will remain a Hamilton Street parking lot for the time being, now that a local landlord has withdrawn a housing application in the face of several neighbors’ car concerns.
Continue reading ‘Housing Plan Dropped Amid Parking Dispute’
Zoning Q: More Housing, More Parking?
by | May 6, 2024 12:47 pm | Comments (58)
Clockwise from top left: Up to 64 new apartments eyed for Hamilton St.; developer Yoon Lee; the 63 Hamilton parking lot; Lost in New Haven's Rob Greenberg.
A bid to provide lots more places for people to live on Hamilton Street has prompted pushback from some neighbors over where current and future residents and visitors will be able to put their cars.
$5M Boosts Mill River's Possible Futures
by | Apr 12, 2024 1:16 pm | Comments (25)
Laura Glesby Photo
Erick Gonzalez, Annette Genovese, and Rosa at Martinez-hosted meetup.
Colliers Rendering
One possibility: a Mill River boardwalk?
To revitalize a neighborhood known for its warehouses and abandoned factories, focus on nature.
Residents and business owners offered that advice to city officials planning a more walkable, community-oriented Mill River district.
Health Dept. Move Centers "Wellness"
by | Feb 1, 2024 5:26 pm | Comments (1)
Nora Grace-Flood file photo
City Health Director Maritza Bond Thursday at her department's new HQ: Wellness the new "holistic approach."
City officials cut the ribbon on a “health and wellness” center — and hoped the fresh color scheme and branding strategy could sell STI tests, school physicals and flu vaccinations to the public as presents rather than punishments.
3rd Graders Push & Pull — For Science
by | Dec 6, 2023 11:17 am | Comments (3)
Maya McFadden photo
Testing forces inside Kara Bartunek's third-grade class.
Conte West Hills School third graders Olivia and Deon played tug-of-war in their classroom — not to see who was the strongest, but instead to conduct a science experiment to learn about forces.
Mike P. Skips Polls, Heads To Scrapyard
by | Nov 8, 2023 2:11 pm | Comments (18)
Thomas Breen photo
Rolling down Chapel Street towards the scrapyard.
Mike P. doesn’t remember exactly when he last voted. It was probably a decade ago, likely for President Barack Obama.
As he pushed a shopping cart full of bicycle wheels and mattress frames and long metal poles to a Chapel Street scrapyard, he reflected on what would convince him to return to the polls: a candidate committed to making “a very, very, very noticeable difference for the homeless community.”
Party Lines Fracture Ward 8 Debate
by | Nov 2, 2023 3:56 pm | Comments (61)
Laura Glesby Photo
Ellen Cupo and Andrea Zola debate.
Two Wooster Square residents running for alder convened for a debate — and sketched out diverging visions for policing, addiction treatment, and the legitimacy of the Republican Party.
"We're Not Sharks": Next Gen Mandy Aims To Do Better
by | Sep 15, 2023 2:43 pm | Comments (39)
Thomas Breen photos
Mandy Management CEO Yudi Gurevitch, at 399 Whalley main office: "We want our tenants, our residents to be happy, to feel safe, to have a good home. ... [W]e want them to feel that we're responsive, that we're there. Because we are."
At the warehouse, with a handful of plumbing supplies.
Inside a Wallace Street warehouse filled with refrigerators and stoves and plywood and snow blowers and water heaters and closet doors and toilets and sheetrock, Yudi Gurevitch engaged in the latest step of retooling, and rebuilding the reputation of, one of New Haven’s largest landlord empires. He wedged himself in between two shelves overflowing with plumbing supplies and lifted up one of dozens of plastic-wrapped SharkBite fittings.
“The goal is to have everything you could ever need for a property management company in stock,” he said. That way, when a Mandy Management property needs repairs — big or small, day or night — his company has the right parts ready to go.
Continue reading ‘"We're Not Sharks": Next Gen Mandy Aims To Do Better’
Housing Authority To Buy Clock Shop For $4.5M
by | Aug 17, 2023 9:50 am | Comments (19)
Thomas Breen FIle Photo
133 Hamilton: From storied factory to affordable housing complex?
The city’s public housing authority plans to purchase the New Haven Clock Company building on Hamilton Street and convert it into 100 mixed-income, mostly-affordable apartments — but only after the abandoned factory’s current owners rid the property of all remaining toxins.
Continue reading ‘Housing Authority To Buy Clock Shop For $4.5M’
Alder Challenge Charts Changing Wooster Sq
by | May 30, 2023 11:22 am | Comments (40)
Laura Glesby photo
Ward 8 alder challenger Andrea Zola and incumbent Ellen Cupo.
A bridal business owner with local political history roots has filed to run against Wooster Square’s two-term, union-affiliated incumbent alder in a Democratic race that sheds light on a neighborhood in flux.
Continue reading ‘Alder Challenge Charts Changing Wooster Sq’
The Word On Grand Avenue: Where's The Beef?
by | May 17, 2023 3:26 pm | Comments (6)
Paul Bass Photo
Vilmarie Ayala emerged from The Meat King market Wednesday morning with no meat.
She did have a smile. Thanks to the 3‑year-old girl running around the quiet parking lot playing with cardboard boxes.
Continue reading ‘The Word On Grand Avenue: Where's The Beef?’
New Warehouse Fills Up With Texas ACs
by | May 8, 2023 11:54 am | Comments (5)
Thomas Breen photos
Not energy efficient enough for Texas? ACs piled high inside the newly built, opened, and HVAC-giant-leased Building A at 50 Ives Pl.
Truck driver Dennis Brown pulls up for a Monday morning drop-off.
Texas-built air conditioners are stacked high inside of a new 42,000 square-foot warehouse off of East Street — thanks to an international HVAC giant’s lease of a newly built emblem of New Haven’s delivery economy.
Clock Shop Foreclosure Accord Reached
by | May 2, 2023 3:39 pm | Comments (11)
Thomas Breen photo
Missing "I" -- and $235,000 in back taxes and interest.
The current “redevelopers” of an old Hamilton Street clock factory are now looking to sell rather than rebuild the derelict industrial property, according to a new court-filed agreement.