Yale Dorm Demo Plans Detailed

Yale plans to start the months-long process of demolishing a former graduate student dormitory at 420 Temple St. in February, while the building slated to replace it is still being designed.

Yale administrators offered that update about the coming demolition of Helen Hadley Hall at a meeting with nearby residents on Monday afternoon.

The university first announced plans to replace the now-closed Helen Hadley Hall with engineering facilities in February 2023.

On Monday at 2 Whitney Ave., university officials explained that the dormitory’s demolition and replacement will be part of a larger expansion of Yale’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, potentially making room for new laboratory and academic space.

Why Helen Hadley Hall? ​“It’s nearing the end of its life,” said Senior Program Planner Jim Elmasry. And the University was able to find alternative accommodations for 188 students who would otherwise have been eligible to live in the 177-room dormitory, making use of existing Yale-owned housing.

The administrators told attendees that the building will come down in pieces over the course of months. ​“You won’t see a wrecking ball,” said Project Manager Jose Canarte. ​“You shouldn’t hear lots of booms.”

First, the construction team will have to abate the building of asbestos and any other environmental contaminants discovered. That process is expected to begin in November or December, according to the administrators. The building has to be completely rid of toxins before demolition can occur, Canarte said.

The actual tear-down process will begin in February, according to a tentative schedule presented on Monday, which anticipates that demolition will finish by July 2025.

During that time, Canarte said, the university will reserve about five or six parking spots directly outside the building for construction vehicles to occupy. No other street closures will be necessary, he said.

Yale will ​“try everything to salvage” the street trees outside of the dorm, Canarte said. However, if the trees’ root balls extend below the building, the university will remove them. 

Typical construction hours are from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., though administrators said they would consider shifting those later by an hour upon the request of one neighbor present. They also said they’d work with neighbors to monitor how noise and vibrations affect nearby properties.

A Yale shuttle stop currently outside the dormitory will be relocated to the corner of Temple and Grove.

“There’s also a Connecticut Transit stop right there,” said local architectural historian Anstress Farwell.

“Thanks for letting me know!” replied Elmasry, jotting down a note.

What's Yale Building Instead?

When asked for details about what Yale plans to build in place of the dormitory, the administrators stressed that the design process for that new structure hasn’t yet begun.

Neighbor Lauren Benton asked about the ​“proposed scale of the building.”

“That’s what we’re investigating now,” said Elmasry, who later noted that the architect team selected to design the facility has not yet signed the contract. ​“We’re not looking to require [zoning] variances for anything,” he said. 

420 Temple St. is located in an RH2 residential zone, where there is no direct cap on the height of new construction, though the total floor area of a new building can’t be more than twice the size of the lot itself without zoning relief.

Elmasry later estimated that the future building could be around four stories high.

Over the course of the meeting, Benton pressed the university officials on why they plan to demolish the building without a design for its replacement. She expressed concern about the amount of time that 420 Temple might remain an empty lot cordoned off by a chain-link fence.

“You’re racing ahead with demolition without knowing what you’re going to build there?” she asked, noting that she believes Yale must have a better idea of what they plan to put in Helen Hadley Hall’s place.

Why not hold off on demolition, Benton asked, ​“rather than create an empty place in the middle of the city?”

Alexandra Daum, Yale’s associate vice president for New Haven affairs and university properties, said that the university wants to get the development process completed as soon as possible. 

“What you’re describing” — waiting to demolish until a replacement is finalized — ​“takes years,” Daum said to Benton. Demolishing now is ​“a way to get the building on the street, with students, fulfilling its mission as quickly as possible.”

She assured Benton that there’s no ​“secret plan” in place for the building, that Yale simply doesn’t want to present early-stage ideas that may not actually be realistic or reflective of what the project will ultimately be.

Given that the design hasn’t been finalized, Farwell suggested that neighbors be given a voice in the process at a future meeting.

She invoked Jane Jacobs’ notion of spurring safety and vibrancy by bringing more ​“eyes on the street.” There may be an opportunity to build community-oriented spaces, such as a cafe on the building’s ground floor, which could keep the building alive after work hours, Farwell said. 

Daum agreed with Farwell — and promised to return to the neighborhood in the spring with more concrete design plans.