The city’s zoning board unanimously rejected a local landlord’s plan to build 23 apartments atop a vacant former Edwards Street firehouse after a marathon hearing saw skeptical neighbors and pro-housing advocates debate over how much density should be allowed in this stretch of East Rock, and across the city at large.
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Arthur Delot-Vilain |
Jan 13, 2025 10:09 am
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Local investor Roberts: Wanted to buy, but didn't have enough $ for auction deposit.
A Fair Haven foreclosure auction brought out no new bidders — leaving the property to fall into the hands of the federal government, and the current tenant bracing to find a new place to live.
W. Matthew Harp, right, and his attorney Kirt Westfall.
LCI Photo
The since-cleaned-up backyard of 75 Brewster.
One man’s trash is another man’s tenant’s loose tires, copper pipes, and splintering wooden cart of debris and furniture.
Local landlord W. Matthew Harp floated that idea at a series of back-to-back civil citation hearings involving some of his properties, which saddled him with nearly $20,000 in fines.
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Thomas Breen |
Jan 9, 2025 12:34 pm
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"Old," leaving the warming center for a bit: "I try not to complain."
David Cox: "This is not where I want to be."
As the temperature outside dipped into the 20s Thursday morning, David Cox sat inside a Dixwell church extended-hour warming center — his legs crossed, bundled up in a coat and scarf and beanie hat, his walker by his side and a window sill lined with Pothos plants behind him.
He didn’t want to be at that warming center. And he didn’t plan on staying long. But for now, with the weather dangerously cold, it was a safe place to be.
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Thomas Breen |
Jan 9, 2025 10:51 am
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Tenant Gabriella B.: Next time, will make sure to get a lease in writing.
A state judge approved the no-fault eviction of an Edgewood family after cautioning both landlord and tenant about the quicksand-like perils of oral, rather than written, leases.
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Lisa Reisman |
Jan 8, 2025 2:50 pm
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Contributed photo
Sherrill Petaway, with uplifting Post-It notes on her scrubs.
Sherrill Petaway has spent years looking for a new home. Since July, she’s been engaged in a boot camp of sorts. One that will bulk up her credit so that she can buy a house — sooner rather than later, she hopes.
Alder Caroline Smith (right): "There are lot of different goals in the neighborhood."
A housing meetup at City Hall quickly devolved into a fiery exchange of barbs over whether or not 23 new apartments above a historic firehouse will help or hurt an East Rock block.
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Thomas Breen |
Jan 7, 2025 2:06 pm
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Judge Spader: "This case is hereby dismissed."
A state housing court judge cleared a local megalandlord’s potential criminal record after finding that he complied with the terms of a year-long diversionary program.
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Nathaniel Rosenberg |
Jan 7, 2025 11:10 am
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Architectural rendering of Dewitt Street redevelopment.
The redevelopment of a former housing cooperative in the Hill will soon net 64 new (mostly) affordable apartments, with another 40 units set to be renovated over the next two years — thanks to a second alder-approved tax break.
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Maya McFadden |
Jan 6, 2025 8:43 pm
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Youth Continuum's Tim Maguire (right): Winthrop Ave. warming center open as of Monday night.
As snow fell and the temperature plummeted, a third city warming center opened Monday night for homeless young adults looking for a place to sleep and stay warm during winter nights.
Meanwhile, two other warming centers will be staying open 24 hours a day until Thursday, as the city has activated its severe cold weather protocol.
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Thomas Breen |
Jan 3, 2025 12:11 pm
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Markeshia Ricks file photo
Former owner Salas-Romer (center) at 2016 ribbon cutting: Village Suites sold, apartments to come.
A Brooklyn-based landlord has purchased a 112-room extended-stay hotel on Long Wharf for $15 million — and plans to convert the property into apartments.
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Thomas Breen |
Jan 2, 2025 1:26 pm
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David Germaine: Transitional housing "gives you a chance to get back on track."
U.S. Sen. Blumenthal (center): Bill's import isn't "abstruse."
Army Reserve veteran David Germaine took a break from applying for jobs Thursday morning to stand alongside the top Democrat on the Senate Veteran Affairs Committee — at a Hill press conference celebrating a bipartisan funding boost designed to help keep a roof over the heads of homeless vets like Germaine.
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Arthur Delot-Vilain |
Jan 2, 2025 9:10 am
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Imperial Gardens: Under new ownership.
A mystery buyer affiliated with a local property manager who used to work for Ocean Management has purchased a 72-unit Westville apartment complex for $10.25 million.
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Arthur Delot-Vilain |
Dec 24, 2024 9:00 am
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Paul Bass Photo
Firefighter Dan Kislukonin in August at the scene of the second of two fires in two months at the abandoned clock factory.
Paul Bass File Photos
The housing authority’s planned redevelopment of a dilapidated clock factory on Hamilton Street will have to wait six months — again — in the wake of a court order issued Friday.
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Lisa Reisman |
Dec 23, 2024 4:10 pm
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The Fresh Starts team, including Marcus Harvin, Diamond Harvin, Talia Cardoba, Bradley Woodworth, Axel Woodworth, Adam Rawlings, and Big Don McDaniel.
On a bone-chilling night, Talia Cardoba spooned spicy chicken onto a heaping plate and handed it to an elf who scurried out of the kitchen.
“Careful, it’s hot,” she said, as the conversation of 16 mothers and their children floated in from the dining room of Life Haven, a 40-bed Ferry Street facility that provides temporary shelter to homeless pregnant women and women with young children.
The occasion was the second iteration of “Dinner & A Movie” hosted by Best Video and Newhallville’s Fresh Starts, a nonprofit founded on the belief that the first step toward helping someone realize their aspirations is nutritional sustenance.
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Nathaniel Rosenberg |
Dec 20, 2024 12:06 pm
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What might one day be built at 924 Grand.
A long-in-the-works plan to open a youth homeless shelter in Wooster Square got another jolt of public funding, as the Board of Alders approved spending $500,000 in federal Covid aid to help finance its construction.
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Thomas Breen |
Dec 18, 2024 11:35 am
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235 Winchester: Fined for blight, foreclosure in January?
A long-vacant Winchester Avenue property that a developer and the city have fought over for two decades is the subject of $6,300 in new anti-blight fines — and a new “final” foreclosure date set for next month.
Mayor Elicker and Spinnaker VP Frank Caico (center) ...
... celebrate new apartments at the "Anthem at Square 10" ...
... as property manager Alves (right) shows off common area "plant wall."
Brian Alves reached back in time to his teenage years attending concerts by Aerosmith and Huey Lewis and the News at the Coliseum — as he gave reporters a tour of the shiny new mixed-use building that has risen from the ex-venue’s ashes, complete with 200 apartments, ground-floor retail space, a pool, a gym, and a common room buttressed by a “real life plant wall.”
LCI attorney Williams and hearing officer Bernblum: You're fined.
(Updated) A Livable City Initiative (LCI) hearing officer approved more than $130,000 in anti-blight fines for six vacant Ocean Management properties that look like, well, trash.
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.
Tory Sansing at Spruce Coffee meetup: "We simply want the city to recognize the value of the zoning rules."
Might the 15 Edwards old firehouse soon look like this?
An East Rock landlord’s plans to convert a vacant historic firehouse into a five-story apartment building has sparked a debate around preserving character vs. creating new places to live in a vibrant mixed-use stretch of Upper State Street.
Robert Harris: “When we do bundle up, it’s tolerable."
The tiny shelters (right) behind 203 Rosette.
A group of unhoused neighbors have taken to sleeping two or even three to a room inside unheated pre-fabricated tiny shelters that are still standing in a Rosette Street backyard.
“When we do bundle up, it’s tolerable being in there,” said Robert Harris, as he pointed at a row of white Pallet shelters. “But sometimes it’s colder in these because it can be like an ice box.”
Tenants union leader Zach Postle tapes a pamphlet to Farnam's front door ...
... as union members and supporters rally for a collective lease.
Another tenants union rallied outside another front door of another Ocean Management successor — calling for their new property management company to step it up on maintenance, and to be open to negotiating a collective lease.
