Neighborhood Transforms Overnight

Construction crews have begun building a new neighborhood on separate lots within one block of Karaine ​“Kay” Holness’s hair salon.

A half-block skip north of her Hair Kay’s shop at the crossroads of Henry, Ashmun and Munson streets at the edge of New Haven’s Dixwell neighborhood, New York-based Hudson Meridian construction company has erected the frames for 398 mostly market-rate apartments and townhouses … 

… along with the elevator shaft atop 13 acres of formerly contaminated Olin chemical property hard by the Farmington Canal Trail and Science Park at 201 Munson St. Construction, which began in December, is expected to last 18 months.

Another half-block skip to the south of Holness’s shop, Xenelis Construction has begun preparing a 1.7‑acre lot where RJ Development + Advisors is building the five-story, 176-unit Residences at Canal Place apartment complex. Fifty-eight of the apartments are to be ​“income-restricted,” meaning below market rate. Whiting-Turner is the general contractor for the projected 18-month, $50 million project.

One block north, Science Park Development Corporation and New York-developer Alex Twining have received the go-ahead to demolish the above-pictured vacant former Winchester factory building in order to build ​“hundreds” of new apartments, while at the same time also preparing to build 284 apartments (20 percent below market rate) on a nearby surface lot.

Two more new complexes loom a block away on Winchester, at two long-vacant properties that developer Kenny Hill has spent two decades arguing with the city about. That saga — which left blighted property plaguing a neighborhood otherwise in transition — appears at an end now that Superior Court Judge Walter Spader, Jr. last week granted a judgement of strict foreclosure to Hill’s lender, Stormfield Capital Funding.

Hill owed the lender more than $4 million for an unpaid construction loan on the two properties, 235 Winchester (pictured) above …

… and vacant 201 Winchester (pictured), according to court records. (Click here for previous coverage of that saga.)

At Fussy Coffee, all that construction work is a sign of hope for hundreds of new customers for a business that has struggled to regain its footing after the Covid-19 pandemic turned it into a temporary ​“ghost town” and then inflation cut into margins.

Construction workers have already boosted the morning coffee and breakfast-sandwich business, said shop owner David Negreiro (pictured). ​“It’s exciting to get new people to introduce new products. We’re excited to see new people, faces. … Tomorrow’s a bright day.”

Across the street, Kay Smith-Holness is less sanguine. She questions whether the new neighbors will boost sales at her salon — or whether they’ll actually be ​“neighbors,” period. ​“I don’t think this neighborhood will be a neighborhood anymore. I think it’s going to be a transient community where people don’t really know people. They’ll keep walking by,” she predicted as she watched the work progressing on both sides of the block. Smith-Holness has styled hair in New Haven for 32 years, the last six at her current location. She said she’s thinking of not renewing when her lease comes up in 2025. ​“Already you can feel almost you’re being squeezed out. You can feel it.” Click on the video to watch her and Negreiro offer their takes.