Old Yale Armory and horse stables: Beware falling slate.
Thomas Breen photos
49 Goffe: “imminent” collapse.
The city’s building department found two unsafe buildings and one illegal appartment conversion at properties controlled by two of New Haven’s biggest landlords.
On April 5, the city sent two notices to Yale University about unsafe, vacant structures at 49 Goffe St. and 40 Central Ave. The former is a two-story brick church in the Dixwell neighborhood that Yale bought in 2010, the latter the old Yale Armory and Stables building in Yale’s athletic complex in Westville.
The city also sent on April 4 a notice of violation and an order to abate to Shmully Hecht of Saturn Properties LLC concerning the illegal conversion of two office spaces into dwelling units at his apartment complex at 455 George St. Hecht is the force behind Pike International, one of the city’s leading residential property managers for limited liability corporations formed with an array of out-of-state investors, including Saturn Properties. Pike said it’s working with the city to resolve the matter.
The city’s April 5 notice to Yale University about code violations at 49 Goffe St. indicates that that property is in “IMMINENT DANGER of failure or collapse.”
It reads that an April 4 inspection found that “water infiltration caused by roof deterioration has caused the building’s structural members to become unstable.” The notice also says that the building’s electricity was terminated on April 4 to prevent further risk to public health and safety.
“This structure is hereby deemed unsafe and its further use and/or occupancy prohibited by the building official,” the notice reads. “This structure must be immediately secured from further entry.” The notice orders the university to hire a structural engineer to complete a structural analysis of the building within 10 days of the notice.
The two-story, 8,130-square-foot structure at 49 Goffe St. was built in 1925. The university purchased it from the old St. Mary’s Unison Free Will Baptist Church in 2010 for $1 million as part of an effort to buy up and stabilize properties on an industrial block connecting Dixwell and Downtown.
The building department also cited the university for unsafe conditions at the old Yale Armory and Stables at 40 Central Ave., a crumbling warehouse on the edge of the university’s sprawling Westville sports campus.
The city said that an April 4 inspection found the structure is unsafe because “the roof and framing is in poor condition [and is] causing the slate to fall.” The city orders the university to cease occupancy of the building until the structure is either repaired or demolished, and orders that the university act on the city’s notice within 10 days.
The 60,000-square-foot concrete warehouse and stables were constructed in 1916 as a cavalry training center during World War 1. Yale’s polo program and its 50-plus ponies were housed at the Yale Armory through 2009, when the university shuttered the property because of a lack of funding for renovations.
When asked for comment on these two building department citations, a representative from Yale’s Office of Public Affairs and Communication (OPAC) requested that the Independent submit its query via email. The university failed to respond to that query by the time of publication of this article.
George Street Conversion
455 George St.
The first week of April also saw the city’s building department issue a building code violation notice to landlord Shmully Hecht for the illegal conversion of two office units into residential apartments at a Dwight apartment complex owned by one of real estate investment companies linked to Hecht’s operations, Saturn Properties LLC.
The notice states that an April inspection of the three-story, multi-family apartment building at 455 George St. found that “two offices have been illegally converted into dwelling units without the required permit and/or approvals.” The notice also states that no safety inspections have been conducted to determine the safety or compliance of the two illegally converted residential units.
City records for 455 George St. show that that property should house only three dwelling units and two offices. The notice orders Hecht to immediately cease use and occupancy of the two non-compliant dwelling units until approval is granted by the department.
Banner on the side of 455 George St.
Hecht’s company purchased the 4,314-square-foot property in 2000, according to city records.
Pike issued this statement about the city order: “Pike International has spent tens of millions of dollars preserving, upgrading, architecturally restoring and rebuilding luxury housing in New Haven. We have worked daily with all city agencies for over 20 years with the concerted effort of saving the historic architecture of New Haven for the residents of our city. Our legal team is in contact with the City of New Haven to work together to maintain 455 George in its current form to avoid any unnecessary modification that would inhibit the architectural integrity of downtown.”