Hill Neighbors: Slow Down 194-Apt Plan

A dozen Hill neighborhood leaders and residents pressed for more time — and more affordable housing — in a last-ditch effort to stall a 194-unit apartment complex planned for Davenport and Congress Avenues.

The Hill neighbors issued that slow-down call on Tuesday afternoon during a press conference held at the site of the proposed new complex at 354 Davenport Ave. 

Led by the leadership of the Hill North Community Management Team, the presser took place one day before the City Plan Commission is slated to review and potentially vote on the project’s site plan as submitted by the California-based developer Catalina Buffalo Holdings. 

That plan would see the developer knock down a handful of half-filled industrial and office buildings as well as two occupied multi-family residential buildings at 859, 865, and 879 Congress Ave. and 326, 354, 370, 380, 384, and 348 Davenport Ave., and construct in their stead a new five-story, 194-unit apartment complex. 

Thanks to the city’s inclusionary zoning ordinance, 5 percent of those apartments — or 10 units in total — would be set aside at below-market rents. The remaining units would rent out at market rates, with the developer estimating that one-bedroom apartments could cost around $2,000 to $2,300 per month. 

Many of the attendees at Tuesday’s press conference had also turned out to a recent community meeting with the developer about the project at John C. Daniels School. And many of the concerns raised at that prior meeting — around gentrification, high rents, and current Hill residents getting pushed out of the neighborhood — again took center stage at Tuesday’s event.

Time and again on Tuesday, the press conference’s organizers called on the developer to increase the plan’s percentage of affordable apartments. They also called on the City Plan Commission to delay its site plan vote vote past Wednesday — and to open up the site plan review hearing to public input. 

“When you look at other development that’s taken place here in New Haven, they’ve given 15, 20, 30, and even have some that’s given 40 percent affordability,” Sandra’s Next Generation restaurant owner Miguel Pittman said on Tuesday. ​“But this particular developer feels that they can come into our community and want us to accept only 5 percent.”

In an email response sent to the Independent Tuesday, the developer’s director of investment and operations, John Lockhart, said that his family-owned company has heard the concerns of Hill neighbors and has tried to incorporate that feedback into its apartment plan. However, he said the company could not include any more affordable apartments in the plan, and he declined to commit to moving the site plan review back further than it’s already been pushed. (See below for more on Lockhart’s comments, and read them in full here.)

"Housing Is A Right!"

Other attendees on Tuesday held signs reading ​“Housing is a right! Make it affordable” and ​“Alleviate the housing crisis.”

Some of the other speakers at Tuesday’s event included Casa Otonel Housing Corporation President Elmer Rivera Bello and Hill North CMT Treasurer Jose Dejesus.

Dejesus added that the building design is not inclusive of the community because of its large parking lot. 

Rivera Bello recalled the 2014 adoption of the Hill to Downtown Plan that developed a goal for 1,400 housing units, of which 20 percent would be affordable. ​“By that standard the proposed [development] by Catalina Buffalo Holdings should have 39 affordable units,” he said.

“It’s unfortunate that despite all the new housing plans and proposed developments throughout our city that housing affordability continues to evade our communities and has reached crisis levels,” Rivera Bello continued. ​“Today those voices have reached a fever pitch. Our community can no longer withstand the profiteering by private real estate investment companies in our communities at the expense of the needs of the communities not being met.” 

He said the solution to address the housing crisis requires action from private investment companies and public entities alike.

Pastor Chip Anderson of Christ Presbyterian Church in the Hill added that, if approved, the apartment complex will affect the entire neighborhood by ​“pulling up other rents” and property taxes, he said.

Kiara Watson Smith posed a question to the developers, who were not present at the presser: ​“When you came up with this idea, who did you build it for?” As she asked, she held a sign reading ​“Room For All.” 

“I don’t think you built it for anybody that lives here,” she continued. ​“All you cared about was making money from a community and building profit off of it and I find that disgusting.” 

Watson Smith said she’s raising her child in the Hill neighborhood. She predicted that the plan, if approved, will cause a larger police presence in the area and as a result cause ​“people like me who’ve been here, who are a part of this community, who come here and stand up for this community, who add to this community, who raise children in the community, who are going to be put behind bars because they’re just trying to survive.” 

“You’re basically putting a plate of food in front of starving people and expecting them not to grab nothing off of it,” she added. ​“Why are you playing in our face.” 

“I want a better neighborhood but I want the same neighbors,” said Mark Colville, who has lived in the neighborhood for 28 years. 

Colville said yesterday was the first time he heard of the proposed plan. 

Others raised concerns about the increasing rates of homeless families due to a lack of affordable housing, and said the proposed complex will not help to address this concern significantly enough. 

“Your child might be hungry, they might be struggling to have a roof over their head,” Christian Community Action‘s Myra Smith said. They won’t be able to live in an apartment complex like this, she said, even if the developers do follow through on promises to open up certain amenities and other spaces at the complex to the public. 

Rivera Bello added that the waitlist for housing with help from Casa Otonal Housing Corp extends past one year. Further detailing the city’s housing and affordability crisis, Christian Community Action’s Merryl Eaton said that her organization housed 99 families, including 174 kids, in a motel this past winter. 

“It may not be your neighborhood today, but tomorrow you could look up and here they are,” said Hill native and current Dwight resident Kim Hart.

Davenport Renter: "April Is Too Short Of A Time" To Move

Andrea Candelario, who lives in one of the two Davenport Avenue homes that the developer plans to knock down for this project, told the Independent she feels she will not have enough time to find a new affordable home for her and her three children thanks to this demolition-construction plan. She has twin daughters who are 20 years old and a son who is 15 years old. 

“April is too short of a time,” she said about when she would be expected to move out of her apartment to make way for demolition. 

Candelario’s family currently lives in a three-bedroom apartment on Davenport. The rent for their apartment is $1,500 a month. Thanks to the support of a federal Section 8 rental subsidy, the family’s share of each month’s rent is $500.

Candelario added that she found out about the proposed development plans only a few weeks ago from her alder who was knocking on doors and handing out flyers for the previous community meeting. 

She said she has lived in her home for the past five years. She said despite feeling unsafe in the neighborhood, she likes her apartment. She likes that it has enough bedrooms to fit her family. She also said it has central air conditioning and an in-unit washer and dryer. 

“I just go to church, work, and back in the house,” Candelario said. ​“All I hear is the ambulance.” 

She said she hopes to one day move out of the neighborhood because of safety concerns, but April would be ​“way too soon.” 

Her daughter Dina Guadalupe said she also wants to also move out of the neighborhood to a safer affordable home, but hopes the developer and city will help her family find one. 

Developer: "Margins Are Tight"

In an email comment sent to the Independent on Tuesday, Catalina Buffalo Holdings Director of Investments and Operations John Lockhart stressed that his company has heard the neighbors’ concerns — and has tried to incorporate their feedback into the apartment plan.

However, he continued, the apartment plan cannot incorporate any more deed-restricted affordable units than are mandated by the city’s inclusionary zoning ordinance — at least, not without a separate government subsidy.

“We have looked carefully at providing more affordable units and have concluded that we cannot provide additional affordable apartments without jeopardizing our financing, because the margins are tight, interest rates are increasing and construction costs are rising,” he wrote.

Lockhart wrote that his company is in discussions with Casa Otonal about ​“providing housing for its families and elderly clients, as it expands its services.”

“We anticipate that the Project will create a number of construction jobs and subcontracts for Small Contractors,” he continued. ​“We will work with our General Contractor/Construction Manager to host a Jobs Fair and let the neighborhood know about these opportunities.”

As for the current residents of the two to-be-demolished Davenport Avenue homes, he wrote: ​“We are committed to assisting the residential tenants in the two out of 6 buildings to be demolished in relocating to other housing. We will give everyone six months’ notice after we close on the properties, assist the tenants in finding alternative housing and pay for moving expenses and security deposits. These tenants will have the right to return to the property if they either qualify for the affordable units or are able to pay for the market rate units.”

Lockhart said that his company has already voluntarily pushed back its site plan application and review for this project because of community concerns and to give space for residents to comment on the proposal.

He said his company ​“will strive to create a project that will benefit the neighborhood and the City by generating more taxes, putting more eyes on the street, thereby making the Davenport/Congress Avenue neighborhood safer and creating more economic opportunities for the neighboring businesses. It is our intention to become part of the Hill neighborhood, because we plan to be at this location for the long term.”

Lockhart also wrote that his company is ​“excited to participate in the substantial growth of the City of New Haven and play our own small part in this new chapter of the City’s history. The project represents a substantial investment for our family.”