Paul Bass Photos
Floor four, and counting: Work proceeds at 101 College St.
Builder Winstanley: On budget, on schedule.
A new bioscience tower has begun taking shape, and a vision of New Haven’s jobs future along with it.
The $250 million, 10-story, 500,000 square-foot life sciences research and lab project is rising on the grave of a filled-in former mini-highway-to-nowhere Route 34 Connector, on a newly reclaimed block bordered by MLK Boulevard, College Street, South Frontage Road, and Temple Street.
Thirteen months after breaking ground, builder Carter Winstanley returned to the site along with state and local officials Tuesday to report that the project is on time, on budget, and already 90 percent leased. The new building is directly across from another biosciences tower Winstanley previously built at 100 College St.
The steel frame is in process of going up, with crews currently working on the fourth floor. Winstanley said he expects to complete construction in 2023, with the first companies moving in as soon as fall 2023.
Tenants already signed on to occupy space include Yale’s Tsai neuroscience center; Alexion, the rare-disease drug-development company that continues to expand here after fears it would skip town; Arvinas, which develops drugs to treat cancer; and a co-working outfit called BioLabs.
Interior rendering of 101 College.
The site will also include public walkways and a classroom for local students, with the hope that some will eventually obtain the “eds and meds” jobs of the economic future on which New Haven is banking.
Hill Alders Carmen Rodriguez and Ron Hurt, who helped negotiate the community benefits agreement.
Between 65 and 95 people are working on the site each day, according to city Economic Development Administrator Mike Piscitelli; “hundreds more” are expected to find work in the finished building.
Winstanley is working with the job-placement agency New Haven Works to help New Haveners, especially from the Hill and Dwight, land many of those jobs as part of a community benefits agreement struck during the regulatory approval process for the project. Officials said they hope that become a model for future development deals, in order to deal New Haveners into new job opportunities; six similar agreements are currently being negotiated, according to outgoing New Haven Works Executive Director Melissa Mason.
Peter Dimoulas and Christine Caragianis Broadbridge, part of the Southern Connecticut State University team that has developed life-science paths on campus and linked students to internships (and jobs) in New Haven's growing biotech sector.
101 College is part of the broader Downtown Crossing project reconnecting the Hill and Downtown by gradually filling in the former Route 34 Connector.
That makes the construction particularly challenging, Winstanley noted. Crews are working on land above two lines of moving traffic. Four more lanes of traffic move aboveground alongside the property on South Frontage, another four lanes on MLK Boulevard.
It’s worth it, to create a project that helps rebuild a city and involve the community in its benefits, Winstanley said.
Winstanley, right, with state economic development chief David Lehman; the state contributed $31 million in tax credits and other incentives toward the $250 million project.
“There are easier projects. This is meaningful,” he said.
His Massachusetts-based company has been building, and filling, life sciences facilities in New Haven since 1999, beginning with 300 George Street, 25 Science Park, through the 100 College Street tower.
Last year’s ceremonial groundbreaking press event for 101 College took place on the south side of Route 34. Tuesday’s update took place on the northern side.
“A year from now,” when public pathways appear on the premises, Piscitelli predicted, “we are going to walk across the street together through the project.”
