A rendering of the extant Strong School building which will continue to face Grand Avenue ...
... and the adjoining apartment complex slated for construction behind the historic school.
Empty hallways and vacant classrooms at Fair Haven’s former Strong School are ready for conversion into “inclusive” apartments — with 58 affordable, LGBTQ-friendly rentals on their way alongside a community arts space on scene.
That’s after the City Plan Commission gave Philadelphia-based housing developer Pennrose LLC the final go-ahead to start building out their vision to preserve the historic Horace Strong School at 69 Grand Ave. while creating new housing opportunities within the Fair Haven neighborhood.
The project promises “historic preservation of a Fair Haven landmark, creates affordable housing, and facilitates a new community amenity space,” attorney Meaghan Miles, who represented Pennrose at Wednesday’s meeting said. “All while offering cohesive, beautiful design catered towards enhancing the pedestrian experience.”
The Strong School was originally constructed in 1915 and used as a public elementary school until 2010. Beginning this November, developers will build up that extant building with a 50,225 square foot, four-story addition, which will stretch onto a vacant, adjacent Perkins Street lot and be accompanied by a paved parking lot and playscape developed at 19 Clinton Ave. Construction on the project is anticipated to wrap up by the fall of 2025.
The existing two-story school will house 14 apartments total while each floor of the building’s addition will feature 11 apartments.
Read about the project in more detail here and here. All of the apartments, a mix of studios plus one- and two-bedroom units that will in part be marketed towards working artists looking to find homes in New Haven, are tax credit eligible and will be made affordable for tenants making at or under 80 percent Area Median Income (which equates to a maximum income of $89,400 for a four-person household).
The City Plan Commission Wednesday approved the full site plan for the project and granted two additional special permits to the developer allowing for residential use on the ground floor and for a development of over 5,000 square feet in an area zoned as “neighborhood center mixed use.”
Allowing housing on the ground floor of the complex, Miles said, “facilitates the maximum amount of affordable housing” while offering a “really nice transition” between Perkins Street and Clinton Avenue, which are both residential, and the commercial corridor of Grand Avenue.
An aerial view of the anticipated development.
The planned building addition, which will house the majority of the apartments, will be attached to the Strong School by a “connector,” which will serve as a multi-story lounge space displaying local artwork.
A glass facade peering into that connector, Miles said, should offer “the kind of indoor outdoor visual connection that you tend to get from that ground floor commercial space,” while prospective tenants living inside the old school will reap the benefits of the historic building’s unique architectural assets, like the “large windows of the school, which when adapted to a dwelling unit produce really natural light,” as Miles put it.
The auditorium inside the school itself will remain intact and function as a community space for local organizations to host events, such as local arts shows or health programming.
In particular, the developers have teamed up with the New Haven Pride Center to focus on creating an “LGBTQ+ friendly” space, as their application states, which may mean hosting pride celebrations inside the complex as well as integrating design elements aimed at queer inclusivity, such as rainbow-painted walls (read more about that in a past article here).
“This has been a fantastic process,” community advocate Chris Ozyck said during a public hearing on the proposal Wednesday night. “What is there not to love about this?”
While he has been skeptical of projects seeking to establish ground-floor residential in the past, he said, “because of the way the building is set to Grand Avenue, it’s really hard to discern that this would read as residential on that commercial avenue which is so vibrant.”
After several community members offered praise for the plan, Grand Avenue resident Anne Fargeorge was the only neighbor to critique the project. “My biggest concern is that after living here for decades there won’t be any parking for those who are living here,” she said.
The developers intend to offer four on-site parking spaces and 15 spots at a municipal lot within 300 feet of the site. Fargeorge argued that wasn’t sufficient: “It seems like you’re intent on having people walk everywhere, and I think that’s kind of crazy.
“It’s nice to have big windows and an inclusive environment,” she said of the architectural remodel, “but if there’s no parking then it becomes unlivable.”
Commissioner Adam Marchand said that while increased traffic to the area could be a legitimate impact stemming from the development, “I think the benefits outweigh the potential disruptions.”
“More foot traffic is vital,” he asserted, agreeing that development encouraging walkability and pedestrian-focus is a priority of the commission, despite Fargeorge’s critique of such a goal.
Chair Leslie Radcliffe, meanwhile, said that the likelihood of traffic jams or parking overwhelm seemed slim given the site’s accessibility by different routes reaching through Fair Haven, like the Quinnipiac Bridge and Route 80.
Ultimately, the whole commission voted in favor of both special permits and the overall site plan.
“It hits all of our needs and wants for the area,” Commissioner Joshua Van Hoesen weighed in. “I like not seeing buildings deteriorate to nothing! That’s my two cents on it.”