Laura Glesby Photo
The former and future Barbell Club.
(Updated Friday 2:12 PM) 160 Carlisle St. will once again buzz with learning and community, thanks to $1.5 million in state funding allocated to revive the shuttered home of the former Barbell Club.
Gov. Ned Lamont, Mayor Justin Elicker, State Rep. Juan Candelaria, Alder Carmen Rodriguez, and other local legislators gathered in Trowbridge Square Park on Thursday afternoon to announce the funding, which the State Bond Commission then approved on Friday along with money for other New Haven initiatives.
The Barbell, formally known as Hill Cooperative Youth Services, housed after-school programs, preschool classrooms, a gymnasium, a library, and a youth-run “store” until its closure in 2008. Both city officials and community members, many of whom carried fond memories of the Barbell from their own childhoods, have been advocating for the community center’s revival.
The building has become dilapidated over more than a decade of vacancy, and the city plans to completely gut and rehabilitate the interior. At a previous July public meeting in Trowbridge Square Park, Elicker and Rodriguez said they planned to finance the project — which could cost between $1.5 and $2.5 million — with a combination of state dollars and American Rescue Plan funds.
Several other New Haven projects are received approval for funding at the State Bond Commission’s Friday morning meeting:
- $5,000,000 for Winchester Avenue/Science Park housing, including 1,000 market rate units and 200 units reserved for tenants at 50 percent Area Median Income
- $4,000,000 for Beacon’s planned new 76-unit apartment complex at State and Chapel
- $1,725,000 for repairs of the Institute Library’s roof, elevator, bathroom safety systems
- $1,300,000 for the expansion of senior programming space at The Towers
- $737,300 for upgrading the Whalley Avenue jail’s “outdated telephone system”
Mayor Elicker, Alder Carmen Rodriguez, City Engineer Giovanni Zinn, youth chief Busch-Williams, Livable City Initiative Executive Director Arlevia Samuel, Gov. Lamont, State Rep. Juan Candelaria, Alder Evelyn Rodriguez at Thursday's announcement.
“Over the years, you have constantly and consistently advocated for the Barbell to reopen to your elected officials,” Mayor Elicker said to the 30 community members present at the press conference outside the Barbell Club.
“This is gonna be a staple of our neighborhood,” said State Rep. Candelaria, who helped secure the bond commitment.
The city estimates that the renovations will cost $2.25 million. In addition to the $1.5 million from the state, the Board of Alders Monday will decide on whether to approve federal American Rescue Plan pandemic-relief funding for the project.
The city is considering contracting with a local nonprofit to run the community center. “We’ve been talking about the potential synergy with the Boys and Girls Club two blocks away,” said Elicker.
“We want to create memories for our young people in this building,” said city Youth Services Director Gwen Busch-Williams.
“We’re going to reboot and start history again,” said Alder Rodriguez (pictured).