2 Vie To Rebuild School As Housing, Arts Hub

Two affordable housing developers are competing to transform the long-vacant former Strong School building into an artists’ community, public gathering space, and housing complex.

Glendower Group, the nonprofit development arm of the New Haven Housing Authority, and Pennrose, a national affordable housing developer, pitched their two versions of this idea to a selection committee and to Fair Haven neighbors on Wednesday evening, as the city weighs which proposal to accept.

Both developers appeared at a virtual community meeting that drew more than 60 attendees, including members of a seven-person selection committee comprising both city employees and Fair Haven civilians.

Glendower and Pennrose each responded to a request for proposals (RFP) from the city, which was developed based on input from Fair Haven neighbors, as collected through surveys and public meeting by the planning firm Interboro Partners. Fair Haveners had voiced preferences for arts and culture spaces, programming for kids and young people, restaurants, and communal gathering spaces.

The historic three-story building was constructed in 1916 and has been vacant since 2010. Previous attempts to revive the building imploded as the city, and at one point Fair Haven community members, rejected developers’ proposals. City officials shared hope that this round of proposals will lead to a revived building.

“We’re so excited to have two credible offers like this, from two groups that have such a good track record,” said Deputy Economic Development Administrator Carlos Eyzaguirre.

According to Eyzaguirre, Glendower has proposed buying the property for $375,000 in cash, as is. Pennrose has offered to develop the abandoned school with $500,000 of ​“seller financing,” which would be paid back to the city as a loan. Both of those financial offers — along with other details in the proposals — might be negotiated once the city selects a buyer. Both projects would cost an estimated $20 to $25 million, Eyzaguirre said.

The Glendower Group, which is working with architect Karin Patriquin, is proposing a rectangular four-story addition of 20 two-bedrooms and 12 one-bedrooms to the existing historic structure. The addition would run along Perkins Street in back of the current Strong School building. 

In the former Strong School building itself, Glendower would fill the first floor with retail spaces and the second floor with a mix of public art spaces and meeting spaces, potentially including a recording studio, a ​“maker space,” a fitness center, and a larger event space. 

On the third floor, Glendower would create seven artist studios, just down the hall from eight of the apartments included in the addition, which would be reserved for the artists who work in the building. The historic building’s uniquely wide hallways would double as gallery space.

“Artists contribute so much to our community, but unfortunately it doesn’t always pay enough,” said Glendower (and housing authority) President Karen DuBois-Walton. When asked about whether those artists could include musicians, DuBois-Walton replied in the affirmative. ​“I think you should think really broadly about what it means to be an artist.”

The apartments would include both market rate and affordable apartments. ​“We think it’s the mix that creates a vibrant community,” said architect Patriquin. (DuBois-Walton did not respond to an inquiry for more details about proposed rents.)

Patriquin would make few changes to the exterior Strong School structure, in the interest of preserving its history, she said. Mainly, she would lower the front wall along Grand Avenue. ​“We’d like to make it much more accessible, much more visible to people as you’re walking down the street,” Patriquin said.

Sketches presented on Wednesday display 36 parking spaces outside the building.

A key component of Glendower’s pitch was the nonprofit’s exclusive focus on New Haven and familiarity with the Fair Haven neighborhood. 

“We are so rooted in Fair Haven, in this community,” said DuBois-Walton, who lives in Fair Haven herself. ​“We have developed quality projects throughout this city. We live here; we work here. We’re committed to Fair Haven and committed to doing this project right.”

Like other Glendower housing complexes, the building would be managed by 360 Management, a nonprofit also affiliated with the Housing Authority. The building would pay city taxes, confirmed Glendower Executive Vice President Shenae Draughn.

Pennrose, a national affordable housing development company whose New Haven project would be overseen by its Boston office, pitched a similar partial artist work-live setup -– with an LGBTQIA+ focus. The nonprofit has been working with the New Haven Pride Center, which would develop programming for communal spaces in its proposed building.

The Hartford-based Cloud Company would serve as a co-developer with Pennrose, and the Philadelphia-based architecture firm WRT would design the project.

Pennrose’s proposal would include more units of housing: a total of 58 studios, one-bedrooms, and two-bedrooms, all of which would be below market rate. The apartments would fill up part of the Strong School building as well as an L‑shaped addition behind the existing structure.

Pennrose representatives said the company would reserve eight units for tenants making less than 30 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI) (with an example rent of $633 for a one-bedroom), 25 units for tenants making under 50 percent AMI ($1,056 for a one-bedroom), 15 units for people making under 60 percent AMI ($1,267 for a one-bedroom), and 10 units for tenants making under 80 percent AMI ($1,690 for a 1‑bedroom.)

Pennrose would include a large ​“community arts and gathering space” in the former school auditorium as well as a smaller ​“community room.” The developer is not proposing any retail space. It is planning for green space and murals along the building’s exterior.

“One of the things we care about is having a shared vision with the community,” said Pennrose Developer Karmen Cheung. ​“We want to build something that works and that people in the community will use. One of our core values is to engage and listen.”

What about parking spaces? asked Lilly Valentin in the Zoom room chat.

The project would include 12 parking spaces, Cheung said. ​“One of the challenges of the site is that it’s a very tight site,” she added. ​“We have reached out to the New Haven Parking Authority too, because there is a parking lot across the street. … They’ve indicated that they would be open to that arrangement.”

​“We’re not particularly worried about levels of parking,” said Charlie Adams, the New England vice president at Pennrose. ​“Particularly working in these types of urban communities, people don’t necessarily need cars or want cars. There’s great public transportation here.”

A couple of neighbors expressed skepticism. ​“Parking may or may not be marketability issue, but insufficient parking will impact the surrounding community,” wrote Christel Manning in the chat. ​“Parking on Perkins Street is already being impacted by the [Fair Haven Community Health Care] clinic.”

Meanwhile, Fair Haven Community Health Care President Suzanne Lagarde spoke up in the chat in support of the proposal’s collaboration with the Pride Center: ​“Fair Haven is a community of immigrants and I love the thought that we would be inviting another marginalized group into our midst. This project is a statement that we are a welcoming community.”

In messages over the course of the meeting, Fair Haven residents expressed a mix of optimism and apprehension about the various plans.

“I’ve lived in Fair Haven my whole life,” wrote a user identified as ​“Channy’s iPhone.” ​“I need to make sure this isn’t the start of gentrification in the neighborhood I call home.”

There are ​“two creative, exciting proposals that I think give the neighborhood a lot of hope,” said Sarah Miller, who represents the building’s ward on the Board of Alders, and who lives beside the former Strong School with her family.