Business/ Economic Development

They All Scream For ... Ale?

by | Feb 9, 2022 4:53 pm | Comments (18)

Grewal's design for ice cream shop.

Ice cream might be pure happiness for Elena Grewal — but not completely to some of her East Rock neighbors, if it’s offered up with wine and beer. 

That divide emerged Tuesday night at a Zoom-assisted meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals at which Grewal’s request for relief for a new shop was heard.

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Planet Venus Meets Planet Community

by | Feb 9, 2022 2:52 pm | Comments (6)

Wikimedia image

Coming soon to Wallace Street?

An adult Las Vegas-style” cabaret” with exotic dancers and late-night night drinking will bring economic revival and safety to a forlorn industrial zone.

So said the people looking to open said strip joint.

To which neighbors responded: In case you haven’t noticed, people live here. People from New Haven, not Las Vegas.

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"Viva" Reborn as "Vivaz"

by | Feb 4, 2022 10:14 am | Comments (4)

Owner Bernadino Lanche with family members who work at the restaurant: Joseph Lanche, Hugo Rivas-Lanche, and Teodora Lanche.

Coral Ortiz Photo

Chile relleno at Vivaz.

When Bernadino Lanche was a young boy in Hidalgo, Mexico, he began dreaming of opening his own restaurant. Years later, he has fulfilled his dream — and brought authentic Mexican food back to a popular spot on Park Street.

His new restaurant, Vivaz Cantina, has opened at 161 Park St., location of former longtime popular hangout Viva Zapata.

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Potrepreneurs Are Ready To Roll

by | Jan 28, 2022 3:24 pm | Comments (16)

Nora Grace-Flood Photo

Cannabis crew boning up Wednesday night.

Brandi Marshall: “I’ve got the product. I need the capital.”

Days before Connecticut starts accepting applications for cannabis licenses, 50-plus home-growers, sellers, and consumers of the plant gathered to share business strategies, discuss the history of the war on drugs, smoke joints, order beer, and eat boxes upon boxes of pizza from East Rock’s One 6 Three.

They’re boning up on the rules and preparing to go legit in an emerging industry they’ve already entered. They also vow to keep their grassroots community growing as corporate vultures swoop into the marketplace.

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$220M+ In Harbor-Boosting Fed Funds Celebrated

by | Jan 24, 2022 4:02 pm | Comments (11)

Thomas Breen photos

Looking from Long Wharf towards the industrial port in the Annex: Federal funds to be used to deepen the channel to allow for more, larger ships.

City Engineer Giovanni Zinn at Monday's presser.

Look for more room for bigger ships carrying steel, cement, and oil to New Haven’s industrial waterfront — and less room for climate-change-exacerbated storm surges to inundate the streets and highway on Long Wharf.

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The General Store Gets An Update

by | Jan 20, 2022 10:08 am | Comments (4)

The general store, circa 2022: Strange Ways' successor.

Pedestrians and people driving along Whalley Avenue may have noticed the storefront that used to house Strange Ways has changed. That’s because the beloved lifestyle store moved from Westville Village to downtown. In its place, owner Alex Dakoulas — who also still operates Strange Ways in its new location — has opened Westville General, selling meats, cheeses, condiments, candy, home goods, and gifts (just for starters).

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City Starts To Think About Broadband

by | Jan 14, 2022 9:56 am | Comments (18)

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Fiber internet? Not for 2/3 of New Haven.

City of New Haven image

Should the city partner with an existing internet service provider to boost broadband? Or set up its own network and side-step telecom monopolies? 

Those questions are at the center of a revived city effort to at least think about how to bring faster and more reliable internet to all of New Haven.

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More "Package" Purveyors Allowed Downtown

by | Jan 13, 2022 11:54 am | Comments (6)

Paul Bass Photo

New Crown & High complex: ground-floor retail remains empty.

It’s fine to cluster liquor outlets on Crown Street. On Orange Street? Fuggedaboutit. 

That at least was the import of two developments at this week’s zoning board meeting, where a Crown Street developer won permission to try to fill an empty storefront with a high-end package store while Atticus Market withdrew a request to start selling beer in East Rock.

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State Sends $2M Grant For Science Park Redev

by | Jan 6, 2022 1:47 pm | Comments (6)

Thomas Breen photo

The former Winchester Arms plant at Munson and Mansfield, slated for demolition.

Science Park’s redevelopers landed a $2 million state grant to help clean up and demolish a derelict section of the former Winchester Arms factory — and to advance plans to create hundreds of new apartments and tens of thousands of square feet of office, lab, and retail space.

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