Science Hill Reconstruction Moves Ahead

Yale won permission to demolish a handful of Science Hill buildings, including a 661-space parking garage, and then construct a new 406-space parking garage — in the latest set of approvals designed to tee up the future development of a major new laboratory and classroom building.

The City Plan Commission voted unanimously in support of that part of Yale’s Science Hill reconstruction plan during its latest monthly online meeting on Wednesday.

In particular, the commissioners signed off on Yale’s site plan application, as well as its soil erosion and sediment control plans, for the construction of a new four-level, 406-space parking garage; the installation of ​“additional portions of a geothermal system,” as part of Yale’s attempt to lessen its fossil-fuel impact by relying on geothermal bores; and the demolition of several existing structures, including the 661-space Pierson-Sage Parking Garage, the Wright Laboratory West and Wright Laboratory Connector portions of Wright Laboratory, and the Chemical Research Building loading dock 

Commissioners also approved such modifications as including eight additional parking spaces to Parking Lot 29, the conversion of 12 parking spaces in Parking Lot 22 to visitor spaces, and the installation of pedestrian and bicycle paths.

All of this work is to be done on the northern end of the university’s science campus — which is roughly bounded by Sachem Street to the south, Whitney Avenue to the east, Edwards Street to the north, and Prospect Street to the west. 

And all of this is enabling work for the eventual construction of a massive Physical Sciences and Engineering Building (PSEB), a building of laboratory and classroom space that is slated to comprise almost half of the entire Upper Science Hill Development project, which in total will include nearly as much square footage (600,000 square feet) as the Yale Bowl. 

“This application is paramount to furthering Yale’s science and research missions,” Alexandra Daum, associate vice president for New Haven Affairs and University Properties, said during Wednesday’s meeting. ​“Hopefully that research will go and spread throughout the country and possibly throughout the world.”

A project narrative included in Yale’s applications materials for Wednesday’s meeting makes clear that a subsequent site application — to be submitted to the city this summer — will include the PSEB building itself, as well as a thermal plant, a service node, and associated improvements.

The three commissioners who were present and voted unanimously in support of the proposals were commission Chair Leslie Radcliffe, Joshua Van Hoesen, and Westville Alder Adam Marchand.

Marchand questioned the removal of the berms in Yale’s proposed construction site, specifically along Whitney. In response, Voss stated that the removal of the berms is intended to make the site more accessible and engaging to surrounding community members. Although a landscape strategy has yet to be submitted to the City Plan Commission, Voss said that the team intends to plant trees to replace the berms. 

“What it looks like is going to be important in terms of how the community experiences the removal of that berm and visual entry and physical entry into the site,” Marchand said. ​“I look forward to hearing more about that in the other application.”

During the public hearing portion of the meeting, Westville resident and Environmental Advisory Council Chair Laura Cahn raised concerns over noise levels associated with construction. Cahn lives next to the Yale field where construction has been going on ​“for years.”

“It’s very noisy and it starts very early in the morning … and it goes on for sometimes days, weeks and months,” Cahn said. ​“It can be very disconcerting to people who are trying to work at home.”

Chris Meyer, a project manager with Turner Construction Company, described the intended construction process as ​“slow and steady.” Hoping to minimize community disruption, Meyer intends for a staggered construction and demolition, rather than a concentrated period of intense activity. 

Following this strategy, Meyer estimated that the demolition of the Pierson-Sage Parking Garage will begin in the summer of 2025, with the new garage being completed in the summer of 2026. Additionally, the application anticipates that the demolition of portions of Wright Laboratory will be completed in the fall of 2026. Construction, however, will begin this summer. 

“The far northern stretches of Science Hill have always been kind of closed off,” Marchand said. ​“But it’s not going to be like that anymore.”