Lucy Gellman / New Haven Arts Paper Photo
Regular salsa event on the now-closed-to-traffic "Central Patio" linking Whalley and Fountain and bordering the undeveloped former Cape Codder/Delaney's lot.
Westville Village’s empty gateway lot is back up for sale — offering a chance to rethink its future.
The lot in question connects Whalley and Fountain along Central Avenue. For decades it housed the Cape Codder restaurant, then the former home of Delaney’s Restaurant. It has sat vacant since that Delaney’s burned down in 2014.
A company formed by Lior Israel, the owner of a local excavating and construction business, bought the property in 2017 for $400,000 with plans to build a mixed commercial-residential development on the site.
TMG Architects
In 2018 the City Plan Commission approved the company’s site plan (pictured above) to build a three-story 23,934 square foot building at the 882 Whalley Ave. property featuring a 180-seat restaurant on the first floor and 22 apartments above.
The plan never came to fruition. On Tuesday the company put the property up for sale. Asking price: $800,000. The city most recently appraised that property as worth $190,400 for tax purposes.
Israel told the Independent that the decision to try to sell the property was based on private reasons, not any change in the market.
An online ad for the property highlights the City Plan site plan approval: “Investors take note! This lot has all the work done for you! According to the City of New Haven, Permission/Approval was granted for the variances both Special Exceptions and Coastal Site Plan permit for 10 on site parking spaces and 14 off-site share parking spaces, a full restaurant liquor license” and the restaurant and apartment space.
Westville Alder and City Plan Commissioner Adam Marchand said he’d be “fine” with a buyer proceeding with the approved plan. “If somebody wants to tweak it and do something else, I’m open to that too.”
Paul Bass Photo
The lot today.
Much has changed in Westville since 2018, observed Westville Village Renaissance Alliance Executive Director Lizzy Donius. So this would be a “nice moment for more thoughtful, more intentional” discussion about what the community would like to see at the “critical” spot for the commercial district at Westville’s heart.
At the time of the 2017 purchase, she noted, “we had no Pistachio [Cafe]. No Camacho [Garage]. No new Delaney’s.” Therefore, she argued, Westville could support a more ambitious mixed-use project that includes a version of the “Central Patio” outdoor spaces WVRA claimed on the closed-to-traffic block of Central between Whalley and Fountain.
WVRA's Donius (pictured): Westville's grown since 2017.
City Economic Development Administrator Mike Piscitelli agreed about the site’s importance as well as the value in reevaluating its best use.
He said the city is considering whether to include 882 Whalley in its list of properties recommended for public purchase under a $5 million “land bank” being created with federal pandemic-relief dollars. The idea of the program to have the city obtain important pieces of underdeveloped or undeveloped land until a “partner” can be found to develop it along the lines of the community’s priorities
“It’s such an important site. This is a big moment,” Piscitelli said. “We’re going to work with people interested in” the property.