Thomas Breen photo
No more Bigelow, hello "Bigelow Square"?
A vacant, contaminated waterfront industrial property in Fair Haven took a big step towards becoming a new 12,000 square-foot commercial/industrial building — thanks to a suite of City Plan Commission approvals for the redevelopment of the site of the now-demolished former Bigelow factory complex.
Local land-use commissioners issued those approvals Wednesday night during their latest monthly meeting, which was held online via Zoom.
The commissioners voted unanimously in support of site plan and coastal site plans for three adjacent city-owned properties at 194, 198, and 200 River St.
Those three properties stretch across roughly an acre-and-a-half of land that was once home to part of the Bigelow boiler factory complex, which used to be a national leader in the manufacture of steam boilers. Many of the River Street Bigelow buildings were constructed in the 1870s and 1880s, and the factory complex employed hundreds of people well into the 20th century.
The city demolished the long-vacant and derelict remaining industrial structures at 198 River St. in 2023, after knocking down adjacent ex-Bigelow factory buildings in 2021 because of concerns with collapsed roofs and persistent squatters.
At the very end of 2023, alders approved an Elicker administration proposal to sell 198 River St. for $1 to Bigelow Square LLC, a holding company controlled by Lloyd Street-based builders Carmine and Vincenzo Capasso, so that the Fair Haven firm could construct a new structure for “light industrial” use.
More than a year later, that redevelopment plan sat at the center of Wednesday’s site plan and coastal site plan reviews by the City Plan Commission.
The now-approved plans for 198 River call for the filling and grading of the site to above flood elevation, the construction of a new 12,000 square-foot building, and the installation of a new 14-space parking lot, among other improvements. That building will be 35 feet tall with a “brick veneer finish,” according to Tighe & Bond’s Patrick Ready, who presented the applications to the commission on Wednesday night. And it will consist of “tenant-occupied spaces” — though he did not describe what these commercial/industrial tenants might be.
An additional 33 surface parking spaces will be laid out next door at 194 River St., while 200 River St. will be used for “materials storage and processing” by Capasso, according to Ready.
City Plan Department staffer Alexander Castro noted that the city divided 198 River St. into four lots back in 2016 in an unsuccessful effort to obtain grant funding to remediate the entire area.
That divvying up of the property led the city to enter into a lease in 2017 with Capasso, which renovated the building at the address now known as 190 River St. Armada Brewing opened up in that building in 2022.
Given the success of that project, the city is now moving ahead with plans to hand over 198 River to Capasso to redevelop into a new 12,000 square-foot “light industrial” building.
“The site is currently unoccupied and is contaminated,” Ready said about 194, 198, and 200 River, in response to a question from Westville Alder and City Plan Commissioner Adam Marchand about how these plans will not negatively impact access to nearby “coastal resources.” This project and the associated “capping” of the contaminated area will therefore “create a cleaner environment” at this site, Ready said.
And what if, Marchand continued, residents ask why New Haven is pursuing an industrial use at this site? As opposed to cleaning it up entirely and creating, say, a canoe launch and a public park?
“It would be hugely expensive” to do that type of cleanup, city Economic Development Officer Helen Rosenberg said. “If you were really gonna clean it up to park levels,” that could cost $3 million in environmental remediation alone. “And then of course you have to make the park.” She noted that the city’s River Street Municipal Development Plan calls for industrial and commercial development on these lots, “as well as a waterfront trail,” which will hopefully still be built. Plus, she said, there’s an existing park just on the other side of James Street.
Before the commissioners voted unanimously in support of the site plans and coastal site plans, Marchand spoke up in support of the project.
He agreed that “we’re not diminishing access to coastal resources” with these projects, and “that it would not be plausible to say this ought to be developed into a park.”
“I commend the work of Ms. Rosenberg and our city staff,” he continued, “to support efforts of this applicants to redevelop this site and put it into more productive use.”
River St. redev site plan, as presented to City Plan.