Markeshia Ricks Photos
596-598 George St. as it stands today.
LCI Deputy Director Cathy Schroeter, Executive Director Neal-Sanjurjo at hearing.
The city plans to restore a historic West River brownstone that was once pegged for demolition into affordable homes for two working-class families and their future tenants.
The Board of Alders Community Development Committee Wednesday night at City Hall voted unanimously to approve an application by the city’s neighborhoods anti-blight agency, Livable City Initiative, to apply for a $1.8 million from the state’s 2017 Homeownership Development Projects grant to redevelop the property at 596 – 598 George St. The matter now goes before the full Board of Alders for final approval.
Neighbors and preservationists previously raised an outcry against the plans by the building’s owner, Yale-New Haven Hospital, to tear down the 19th century brownstone at the corner of George Street and Orchard to make way for a Habitat for Humanity home-build. (Click here to read a previous story about a neighborhood meeting about that.) LCI negotiated to take the property off the hospital’s hands for $1. The building is a block away from Yale-New Haven’s St. Raphael campus.
LCI Executive Director Serena Neal-Sanjurjo said her agency plans to use the funds from the state grant to do a historic rehabilitation of the brownstone’s facade and transform what “looks like an old scary building” into townhouses that would consist of a total of two owner-occupied units and four rental units.
The future homes could be purchased by families with incomes up to 100 percent of the area median income, or AMI, which Neal-Sanjurjo said currently is $82,700 for a family of four.
Alder Frank Douglass.
Dwight Alder Frank Douglass, the committee’s chairman, praised the project at Wednesday night’s hearing.
“I ride by there every day,” he said. “If I had the money, I would have purchased it myself. I’m glad you guys are taking responsibility.”
Hill Alder Dolores Colon also gave the project a thumbs up. “I would like to have LCI do it than any other [owner] do it,” she said of the project. “I trust them completely.”
The multi-family house was built around 1885 in the Queen Anne-Romanesque Revival style. It has been documented by the state’s Historical Commission. It sits within the boundaries of the Dwight Street Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.Neal-Sanjurjo said LCI wants to not only preserve the house’s historic charm but also affordable homeownership for working class people. Preservationists call the building a “linchpin” property that helps anchor the Dwight and West River neighborhoods.
West River Alder and board President Tyisha Walker stated in a letter that she supports the plan “enthusiastically.”
“Homeownership is a priority for my neighborhood, and the opportunity for this to be developed into homes with owner occupants is a great asset to our neighborhood,” she wrote. “I am encouraged by the fact that this project will also include rental units to bolster the ability of the homeowners to maintain the property. All in all, this is a net positive for everyone involved.”
Alder Richard Furlow.
The building once served as the office of obstetrician-gynecologists Drs. Bernard Conte and Marianne Beatrice, who were both attending physicians at Yale-New Haven and St. Raphael’s for over 40 years.
Amity/Beverly Hills Alder Richard Furlow asked how a family with limited means might keep up a historic home.
Neal-Sanjurjo said the rental income from tenants would make that possible. Those rental units will have to go to families who meet the same AMI requirements that the homeowners will have to meet to purchase one of the homes.
“Our goal is to keep it affordable,” she said.
A side view of 596 George St.