Business/ Economic Development

91 Shelton Studios Smash Storage Space Sale

by | Jan 25, 2024 4:15 pm | Comments (21)

Nora Grace-Flood Photos

Kennies Earl: Not "invisible."

Mother Juniper members Lindsay Skedgell and Christian Abbott: Jamming conversion plans.

Mother Juniper frontwoman Lindsay Skedgell unplugged from her Vox AC15 and tuned into Zoom from a vacant” ex-factory building to send developers a message: 91 Shelton is far from empty.

Skedgell was among dozens of artists who banded together to flood the City Plan Commission’s Zoom room after hearing earlier that day that their studio space, a five-story former factory building at 91 Shelton Ave., is slated for sale to a self-storage company.

Continue reading ‘91 Shelton Studios Smash Storage Space Sale’

Laundromat Washes Ashore On Whalley

by | Jan 22, 2024 12:15 pm | Comments (3)

Jamil Ragland Photo

LaundroMax GM Chris Walker (center) with officials at ribbon-cutting.

By the time officials arrived to cut the ribbon on the west side’s newest laundromat, customers were already inside using the state-of-the-art washing machines. The air was fragrant with the smell of fabric softener and dryer sheets, and the speakers pumped in classic Mary J. Blige and Erykah Badu.

Continue reading ‘Laundromat Washes Ashore On Whalley’

Artists Mourn Loss Of Community Hub

by | Jan 9, 2024 9:05 am | Comments (31)

Brian Slattery Photo

Artist and customer Susan Clinard in Artist & Craftsman on Monday: "It’s one of those last-standing real art stores.”

It is a disaster for our block. We LOVE this store. I am so angry.” It’s my life’s blood.” This is a huge bummer … I’m there weekly with buying materials for my work or for my class at CAW.” I feel bad for us but also the wonderful staff who have always been so great.” 

These were a few of the many outcries from New Haven artists and citizens as news spread yesterday that Artist & Craftsman Supply, at 821 – 825 Chapel St., had announced it would be closing in early March.

Continue reading ‘Artists Mourn Loss Of Community Hub’

Streetwear Trio Is "DA’W.O.R.L.D."

by | Jan 8, 2024 11:26 am | Comments (0)

Lisa Reisman Photo

Hallie "Rock" Bolden, Jr. with Hallie "Bizzy" Bolden III.

The bell above the door sounded at DA’W.O.R.L.D., the Whalley Avenue mecca for men’s urban clothing.

Coming in for some love,” the customer said, dapping up DA’W.O.R.L.D. manager Hallie Bizzy” Bolden III, wardrobe consultant Tariq Riq” Bolden and owner Hallie Rock” Bolden, Jr. behind the counter. Have a good one.” 

Continue reading ‘Streetwear Trio Is "DA’W.O.R.L.D."’

Commission Frets Over Kids Playing Soccer

by | Jan 4, 2024 1:15 pm | Comments (16)

Contributed photo

These kids can't drive or park on River Street, but they'll be able to kick the ball.

What if 12 kids playing soccer in a vacant warehouse becomes 200?

City Plan commissioners debated that allegedly nightmare scenario for an hour before deciding they could live with it after all — as long as the number of players, benchwarmers and spectators doesn’t escalate beyond that cap.

Continue reading ‘Commission Frets Over Kids Playing Soccer’

How They Dialed In To The Middle Class

by | Dec 13, 2023 12:15 pm | Comments (6)

Jeanne Newman photo

Past and present SNET/Frontier employees, at the 4 Hamilton St. garage. Back row: Charles Nixon, Tommy Joyner, Earl McCoy Sr., Webster Zackery. Front row: James Jones, Rodney Diggs, Edward McClain, Jermaine Allen.

Earl McCoy, Sr. grabbed a rung on the phone company ladder, lifting other Black New Haveners along with him into lives of stable employment at a livable wage.

He and other SNET legends” connected offline to reflect on that journey, and where it’s headed today.

Continue reading ‘How They Dialed In To The Middle Class’

Downtown Rite Aid To Close

by | Dec 8, 2023 6:52 pm | Comments (24)

Rite Aid cashiers Tyrek Caesar and Claire Hernandez ...

... on one of their last shifts at the soon-to-close Church St. Rite Aid.

After Monday, Tyrek Caesar and Claire Hernandez will no longer be able to walk right across the street from class at Gateway Community College to work at the Rite Aid on Church Street — because the downtown pharmacy is shuttering for good, the latest victim to a wave of bankruptcy-induced closures for the national chain.

Continue reading ‘Downtown Rite Aid To Close’

Yale's Tree-Cutting Golf Course Renovation Plan OK'd

by | Dec 8, 2023 4:08 pm | Comments (17)

The Yale Golf Course, as pictured in a City Plan presentation.

Yale has won city permission to cut down more than 1,000 trees and renovate its Upper Westville golf course as part of a plan that university officials pitched as making 200 acres of fairways and tees more sustainable” — and that local activists criticized as environmentally backwards.

Continue reading ‘Yale's Tree-Cutting Golf Course Renovation Plan OK'd’

Black Corner Store Up For Sale

by | Nov 30, 2023 9:59 am | Comments (4)

Allan Appel photo

Co-owner Michael Massey with a young customer.

The Black Corner Store on Edgewood Avenue isn’t closing. For now. But it is up for sale, as Kenia and Michael Massey try to find a way to keep their neighborhood storefront afloat as both a for-profit business and a nonprofit hub for classes in financial literacy and other community resources. 

Continue reading ‘Black Corner Store Up For Sale’

Ex-Elks Lodge Demolished For Dixwell Plaza Redev

by | Nov 16, 2023 5:02 pm | Comments (32)

Nora Grace-Flood photo

87 Webster St. destroyed, in preparation for Dixwell block's rebirth.

As an excavator arm reached out to tear down the wall of the old Elks Club at Webster Street and Dixwell Avenue, Beverly Barnes lifted a hand to shield her face from the sight — then readjusted her focus to an anticipated future of bustling sidewalks, modernized apartments and new neighbors.

Continue reading ‘Ex-Elks Lodge Demolished For Dixwell Plaza Redev’

Neighborhood Q: How To Spend State Cannabis Cash?

by | Nov 16, 2023 8:28 am | Comments (11)

Nora Grace-Flood photo

Jacqueline James-Boyd at Newhallville meetup: Cannabis cash meant to address "all the issues we have in Black and Brown communities.”

Millions of dollars in cannabis-legalization money are slated to trickle back into New Haven’s neighborhoods most negatively impacted by the War on Drugs — and residents are responding with programmatic pitches to put those funds towards community revitalization, from serving the homeless hot meals to mentoring Black billionaires in the making.

Continue reading ‘Neighborhood Q: How To Spend State Cannabis Cash?’

Tech Hub's Grand Opening Celebrates Less Carbon, More Innovation

by | Nov 10, 2023 9:48 am | Comments (11)

Thomas Breen photo

Cool Amps' Lonnie Garris III and Nick Anderson, with their company's "laminar flow extraction module" prototype.

Retired Air Force colonel and eco-entrepreneur Lonnie Garris III returned to his home city Thursday evening to help show that the path to a climate-friendlier future — and a less carbon-intensive means of recycling lithium-ion batteries — goes through Chapel Street.

Continue reading ‘Tech Hub's Grand Opening Celebrates Less Carbon, More Innovation’

Childcare, Early Ed Get $3.5M City Boost

by | Oct 25, 2023 12:50 pm | Comments (4)

Thomas Breen file photo

At Georgia Goldburn's Hope Child Development Center in October 2022.

More early childcare providers, higher wages for those teaching the city’s toddlers, and better help for parents struggling to find the right daycare or pre‑K for their kids.

Those are some changes that could happen here in New Haven, now that the city has committed $3.5 million in federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act to help its struggling childcare system — so long as providers come through with proposals about how to spend the money. 

Continue reading ‘Childcare, Early Ed Get $3.5M City Boost’

Dwight Entrepreneur Makes The Hustle Work

by | Oct 6, 2023 9:18 am | Comments (3)

Allan Appel photo

Rashaan Boyd inside A Hustler's Vibe: "They’ve been looking for me so long, now [here I am!]”

Thanks to a combination of foot traffic and web traffic along with deep neighborhood roots, the newest entrepreneur on lower Edgewood Avenue is about to hit his 1,000th customer and has a new six-month lease in hand.

That entrepreneur, Rashaan Boyd, breathed new life into a vacant storefront at Day and Edgewood with his A Hustler’s Vibe clothing outlet and is going strong.

He is among the merchants the Independent is interviewing who are figuring out how to make small business work along largely residential stretches of Edgewood Avenue.

Continue reading ‘Dwight Entrepreneur Makes The Hustle Work’