Thomas Breen photo
Ziggy's at 36 E. Grand: Lives to bake and slice another day.
The housing authority plans to purchase a vacant lot on the Quinnipiac River and a nearby pizzeria to build a mixed-income, mixed-use development with between 40 and 50 apartments.
That’s according to Elm City Communities / Housing Authority of New Haven Executive Director Karen DuBois-Walton, who confirmed to the Independent that the public housing authority is looking to purchase 16 and 36 East Grand Ave. for a total of $1.42 million.
Both of those properties sit just on the east side of the Grand Avenue Bridge in Fair Haven Heights. Both are owned by companies controlled by Carl Youngman of Newton, Mass.
16 East Grand, facing the river ...
... and the Heights.
16 East Grand is a vacant 0.8‑acre lot right on the Quinnipiac River, and 36 East Grand is currently home to a single-story commercial building that houses Ziggy’s Pizza Restaurant.
The two properties — which stand on either side of the Grand Vin wine shop mixed-use building at 28 East Grand Ave., which is not part of this proposed deal — were most recently appraised by the city for tax purposes as worth a combined $680,000.
The housing authority held a public meeting last Wednesday about the proposed purchase, as noted by indispensable local Tweeter DFA New Haven. The notice for that public meeting indicated that a portion of 16 and 36 East Grand “will be developed by the Authority to meet the needs of, among others, Families, Individuals (including Elderly and Disabled) Extremely Low Income and Very Low Income Households.”
Nora Grace-Flood photo
Housing authority Executive Director Karen DuBois-Walton.
On Friday, DuBois-Walton told the Independent that the housing authority does indeed plan to purchase 16 and 36 East Grand. She said that those who showed up to last week’s public meeting were supportive and “offered ideas such as a mixed-use development with community engagement space.”
“Our plan, in collaboration with the community and City, is to develop a mixed-income, mixed-use development,” she continued. She added that between 40 and 50 units of housing can likely be built on the site, though the agency’s team need to work up new drawings and will then have a better sense of “massing” for what can be built.
“The Authority is seeking to purchase this parcel for the purpose of providing quality mixed-income affordable housing, housing of choice,” DuBois-Walton added. “Providing housing for all fosters an equitable community. Further, our development will create jobs and stimulate economic development in the area.”
She also made clear that the housing authority does not have plans to tear down Ziggy’s at 36 East Grand as part of this redevelopment project.
DFA New Haven's Tweets about 16 East Grand deal.
The vacant riverine lot at 16 East Grand was once part of a proposed but never-built development called Quinnipiac Village — a combination of retail space, a restaurant, and condo units, which developer Joel Schiavone and his partners were hoping to build. In March 2020, the city ordered the demolition of a long-vacant white stucco building on that property that had once been home to, among other tenants, coffee purveyor Mark Orintas and his Bare Beans shop.
The proposed property deal now heads to the housing authority’s board for a vote during its next meeting on Tuesday. It marks the latest effort by the public housing agency to convert long-vacant redevelopment sites — including the former Church Street South and Hamilton Street clock factory complex — into new places to live.