by | Aug 30, 2022 8:59 am | Comments (8)
Thomas Breen Photo
Greenberg on top floor of former ACME building, with 19th-century elevator that was moved to 80 Hamilton.
A local museum nonprofit has purchased a Hamilton Street office and warehouse building that will now serve as the permanent home of New Haven artist and historian Robert Greenberg’s ever-expanding collection of Elm City artifacts, memorabilia, and ephemera.
by | Aug 15, 2022 12:43 pm | Comments (4)
107-year-old Frank Sacco plays bocce on Wooster Street.
On a sun-drenched Sunday morning, a man finessed a ball down the tree-shaded bocce court at Wooster Memorial Park.
The man was Frank Sacco, who was born on 82 Wooster St. and will turn 108 in November. His ball clacked off the other balls, coming to rest near the pallino, or target. Competitors and onlookers at the weekly Society of St. Maria Maddelena bocce league match cheered.
by | Jul 28, 2022 4:33 pm | Comments (7)
PMC image
The planned new apartment tower at 78 Olive St., now on hold.
Rising interest rates and construction costs have led a Philadelphia-based developer to push the pause button on a planned new 136-unit apartment tower — meaning that a Wooster Square surface parking lot will remain a surface parking lot for the time being.
by | Jul 14, 2022 4:44 pm | Comments (28)
The proposed configuration of the old plinth next to the new statue.
Now that the statue of Christopher Columbus is gone from Wooster Square Park, what should happen to the pedestal that once held it up?
The Historic District Commission weighed that question on Wednesday evening. It voted to keep the pedestal in place without a statue atop it, a few feet behind the new sculpture slated for the park.
Continue reading ‘Historic District Commission Approves Revised Columbus Statue Replacement’
by | Jun 23, 2022 11:03 am | Comments (0)
Courtney Luciana Photo
Mark Lamoureux.
Walking home to Wooster Street from a cleaning at the dentist on the first day of summer, Mark Lamoureux planned to get to some student papers — then some stretch out at yoga, followed by some family time.
by | Jun 21, 2022 1:42 pm | Comments (0)
Courtney Luciano Photo at work.
Maissie Musick was whipping iced lattes, cold brews, and drip coffee — and, in between serving walk-in customers, claiming to be a summer girl through and through.
by | Jun 13, 2022 3:31 pm | Comments (14)
Laura Glesby Photo
Cycletrack would begin on far side of this notoriously car-centric stretch.
Plans for the curbed bike lane: filling "an important gap."
If Giovanni Zinn’s vision comes to fruition, cyclists will no longer need to take their lives into their hands while riding along Water Street beside highway-bound cars.
by | Jun 7, 2022 1:36 pm | Comments (2)
Lisa Reisman Photo
Sunday at Upon This Rock.
Pastor Christine Perry offered the assembled some advice that also described a journey she was launching at the pulpit.
“There may be a little turbulence,” she told them. “But if there is, just hold onto your seat, because we’re definitely going to get there.”
by | Jun 2, 2022 5:57 pm | Comments (16)
Thomas Breen photo
The derelict former clock factory building at 133 Hamilton St.
Markeshia Ricks photo
Redeveloper Scott Reed at 2018 alder hearing. His company allegedly owes city $137K in back taxes.
Has the clock stopped on a long-delayed effort to convert a derelict former Hamilton Street factory into 130 affordable apartments?
The property’s Oregon-based developer says the project is still moving forward. Three years of unpaid property taxes, a recent default in a tax foreclosure court case, and a spate of city anti-blight and building safety citations suggest a different story.
by | May 23, 2022 8:38 am | Comments (7)
Thomas Breen photos
50 Ives Pl.
Two concrete emblems of the delivery economy are taking shape atop a site of New Haven’s manufacturing past.
Continue reading ‘Warehouses On Rise At Former Factory Site’
by | May 19, 2022 9:15 am | Comments (11)
Zoom photo
Plan for 78 Olive.
Thomas Breen file photo
The site's current surface parking lot.
A planned new 14-story apartment tower won its final needed city approval — clearing the way for 136 one-bedroom apartments to be built atop a surface parking lot right next door to the State Street train station.
by | May 18, 2022 11:16 am | Comments (2)
Laura Glesby Photo
Upon This Rock Ministries at 882 Grand Ave.
As New Haven gears up for sunny summer days, Mark Washington is already thinking about the frigid weather next winter — and the community members who won’t have a place to shelter during cold emergencies.
Continue reading ‘Grand Avenue Ministry Pitches Warming Center’
by | May 9, 2022 4:41 pm | Comments (4)
Italian-American Historical Society's Laura Parisi at Monday's "Walk New Haven" event in Lenzi Park.
“Anybody have a guess?” Laura Parisi asked, brandishing a a metal artifiact of the old Grand Avenue.
Continue reading ‘Forgotten Neighborhood's History Springs To Life’
by | May 4, 2022 4:58 pm | Comments (37)
Thomas Breen photos
Builder Seid (center with scissors) and Mayor Elicker at ribbon cutting.
The interior courtyard at 87 Union, aka Olive & Wooster.
New Haven’s building boom continued apace — with the official opening of 299 new luxury apartments at the recently built Olive & Wooster complex on the downtown edge of Wooster Square.
by and | Apr 27, 2022 2:53 pm | Comments (1)
Edward Ray Van Epps leaves Sunrise Cafe well-fed.
For the first time since the pandemic broke, “Eddie Wigs” Wednesday ate his usual breakfast of eggs, smoothie and milk inside with other homeless New Haveners rather than out on the street.
Continue reading ‘Indoor "Sunrise" Breakfasts Resume For The Hungry & The Homeless’
by | Apr 25, 2022 10:17 am | Comments (2)
Kimberly Wipfler Photo
The annual Cherry Blossom celebration at Wooster Square Park returned for the first time in two years on Sunday — bringing back families, friends, puppies, and community to the park.
Continue reading ‘Community Comes Back Together For Cherry Blossom Celebration’
by and | Apr 20, 2022 3:57 pm | Comments (3)
Nora Grace-Flood photos
Eddi M. photographs Alina ...
... in flower-filled Wooster Square Park.
Wooster Square’s cherry blossoms served as a fitting seasonal backdrop Wednesday morning — for a photographer aiming to turn the trees’ ephemeral beauty into immortal crypto wealth.
Continue reading ‘Cherry Trees & NFTs Blossom In Wooster Square’
by | Apr 5, 2022 4:25 pm | Comments (21)
Thomas Breen / Google Map photos
Wooster Square apartments purchased by Mandy over the past two years. Top row, left to right: 23 Brown St., 19 Brown St., 17 Brown St. Middle row: 208 Wooster St., the Wooster Street arch (not owned by Mandy), 604 Chapel St. Bottom row: 325 St. John St., 191 Wooster St., 533 Chapel St.
Affiliates of Mandy Management bought seven apartments and a vacant lot on Brown Street for $1.1 million — the latest instance of the local megalandlord’s two-year, $14 million-and-counting expansion into Wooster Square real estate.
Continue reading ‘Property Roundup: Mandy Grows In Wooster Sq.’
by | Apr 5, 2022 3:49 pm | Comments (7)
Thomas Breen photo
Downtown Alder Eli Sabin speaks up in support of zoning change.
PMC image
13-story apt. tower proposed for 78 Olive.
Alders overwhelmingly approved rezoning an Olive Street lot to make way for a proposed 13-story apartment tower to be built on the downtown edge of Wooster Square.
Local legislators took that vote Monday night during the latest regular bimonthly meeting of the full Board of Alders. The in-person meeting took place in the Aldermanic Chamber on the second floor of City Hall.
Continue reading ‘Denser Zoning OK'd For Olive St. Tower Site’
by | Apr 4, 2022 9:10 am | Comments (14)
Project design for 78 Olive St.
(Opinion) Our affordable housing crisis is a complex issue, with many factors both local and national contributing to the rising rents and lower relative incomes behind it. And just as the causes are many, to help solve this crisis we need a multifaceted approach.
Continue reading ‘Opinion: More Housing On Olive Street? Yes, Please.’
by | Mar 2, 2022 2:45 pm | Comments (7)
Chris McKeon
The proposed zone change.
The Board of Alders’ legislation committee unanimously supported a request to rezone the lot at 78 Olive St. on Tuesday evening, inching one step closer to a 13-story apartment building at the site.
by | Mar 2, 2022 1:45 pm | Comments (9)
Courtney Luciana Photo
Starting fresh: Ex-offenders Robinson and Shabazz picking up litter.
Abdullah Shabazz woke up at 2 a.m. Wednesday, showered, said his prayers, read the Quran, then caught the bus from Bella Vista to Grand Avenue to start cleaning up the street — and keeping on a straight path.
by | Feb 22, 2022 9:43 am | Comments (26)
PMC
Project design.
A Wooster Square developer’s altered plans for a 13-story apartment complex include more affordable housing and sidewalk improvements — drawing a mix of praise and criticism in its quest for support.
by | Feb 10, 2022 4:16 pm | Comments (6)
Marc Massaro
New version of proposed monument.
Cristoforo Colombo was always aloft on his pedestal, looking out toward the harbor and sea, to catch the next ship and to sail off to his next conquest.
His replacement – the Italian, or perhaps universal, immigrant family – will have come from the sea, from far away, and to stay, to put down roots and to begin their American success stories.
That’s why they’re not going to be aloft on a plinth but at eye level, facing inward toward the park and the city they are helping to build. The viewer will be able look them in the eye.
by | Feb 1, 2022 9:52 am | Comments (28)
Thomas Breen File Photo
PMC's McKeon: "We can get a copy of the report out to folks."
Building rendering, behind 360 State tower.
What rents will you charge?
“We’re still crunching numbers.”
How will zoning affect the ground floor?
“The report does not address that.”
Will construction interfere with the Farmington Canal Trail?
“I don’t know the details.”
Skeptical neighbors posed those and lots more questions Monday night to the developer of a proposed new 14-story building at 78 Olive St. They received a variety of iterations of “don’t know” in response.