Yale's proposed dramatic arts building, circa 2029 ...
... to be located at York and Crown.
All the world’s a stage — for Yale, which plans to construct a new seven-story, 188,000 square-foot building for its drama school and the Yale Repertory Theater, to be located at the northwest corner of Crown and York streets.
Those details and many more are included in two different applications recently submitted by the university to City Hall.
One pertains to the proposed building’s site plan. That document is currently under review by the City Plan Department, and must ultimately be heard and voted on by the City Plan Commission.
The other is a resolution indicating that this development will not negatively impact the area’s availability of parking spaces. That proposal is slated to be voted on by the Board of Alders on Monday night.
The site plan and parking-focused documents offer the first detailed look at a Yale theater-hub construction project that has long been rumored for that stretch of downtown, and that was confirmed in broad strokes by the university two years ago.
According to the site plan application, the new building will be located at Yale-owned properties at 321, 333, 337 and 341 Crown St., 142, 146 and 148 York St., and a portion of 150 York St.
“The new building will include classrooms, offices, production and technical shops, rehearsal and meeting spaces, a 100-seat studio theater, and a new 400-seat Yale Repertory Theater,” the site plan application reads. “The new building will further collaboration among the David Geffen School of Drama, the Yale Repertory Theater, and undergraduate programs. These programs also contribute significantly to the artistic life of the downtown area and the larger New Haven community. Public programs for outside school groups will have scheduled use of learning areas and the theater venue.”
The new building will house the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale graduate school program, which enrolls 230 students across a dozen degree programs in acting, design, directing, playwrighting, and more; the Yale Repertory Theater, which already has two other performance venues located nearby; the university’s undergraduate program in theater, dance, and performance studies; and the Yale Dramatic Association undergraduate student theater group.
The proposed development will be up to seven stories tall, plus a mechanical penthouse above.
It will contain around 188,294 square feet of gross floor area, as well as around 28,706 square feet of mechanical and below-grade space.
And it will be “a highly energy efficient building” powered entirely by electricity, and heated and cooled in large part by a “carbon-free renewable geothermal system.”
The project will eliminate 41 existing on-site parking spaces, according to a letter written by Yale’s vice president for facilities, J. Michael Bellamy, in support of the university’s request that the alders not require an amendment to Yale’s Central/Science Campus Overall Parking Plan (OPP) for this development. Bellamy wrote that those eliminated parking spaces “will be accommodated within the surplus spaces available within the OPP.”
Pending approvals, construction should start in the summer of 2025 and be completed in the summer of 2029.
The drama school's current home, on York.