Thomas Breen photos
Cars parked at 80 Elm ...
... to facilitate the construction of a different downtown development.
The fence is open and cars are parked on an empty Elm Street lot near City Hall.
Might this mean progress on a long-stalled downtown development?
Yes … just not the one you might think.
The lot in question at 80 Elm St. — originally planned for a hotel but vacant for years — is now being used for off-street parking by construction workers who are busy building up a new 96-unit apartment complex across the street at 19 Elm.
A New York City-based developer called The Hakimian Organization broke ground last fall on the long-delayed mixed-use project at that latter site, which used to be home to Harold’s Bridal Shop.
The city’s building permit database shows that 19 Elm’s owner paid $519,611 last October for a permit to construct that new seven-story building.
As evidenced by the concrete and steel on the rise at that site, as well as the hard-hatted construction crew members and crane busy at work, that project is very much going up.
Not so much at 80 Elm St.
The Norwalk-based developer Spinnaker won permission in 2019 to build a new 132-room Hilton Garden Inn hotel at that site. In 2020, they knocked down the 1948 Art Deco-style former Webster Bank building there to make way for the new hotel – just in time for the pandemic to throw their plans off track.
In February 2024, Spinnaker CEO Clay Fowler — whose company has built high-end New Haven apartment developments at The Audubon and “Square 10” – told the Independent that the hotel plan for 80 Elm is back on the table.
On Wednesday, Fowler confirmed for the Independent that his company is leasing 80 Elm to provide parking spaces for the builders of 19 Elm.
As for 80 Elm, he said, “we’re still working” to figure out if a hotel can be built at this site. “The hotel is still a possibility.”
80 Elm, still a lot.
19 Elm, not a lot.
Crane and crew at work, at ex-Harold's site.