Beacon Communities image
Proposed housing slated to replace parking at 300 State St. lot. (The building on the left in this rendering would be new. The building on the right currently exists.)
Thomas Breen photo
A Boston-based affordable housing developer plans to build 79 apartments —and only three parking spaces — in the Ninth Square, in an effort to convert a surface lot and existing historic commercial buildings into affordable places to live rather than affordable places to put cars.
Beacon Communities detailed that proposal Wednesday night during the latest city Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) meeting, which was held online via Zoom.
The developer has applied for a special exception to allow three on-site parking spaces where 36 spaces are required, and one on-site loading space where two spaces are required, for 79 new dwelling units planned for 742, 754, and 760 Chapel St. and 294, 300 and 310 State St. Beacon already owns the nearby 335-unit mixed-use Residences at Ninth Square complex, and has spent much of the past two years investing in reviving the downtown-adjacent neighborhood.
Because Beacon’s zoning relief request has to do with parking minimum, the BZA referred the matter on Wednesday night to the City Plan Commission, which will issue an advisory report next month before the special exception application returns to the zoning board for a final vote.
Zoom
Wednesday’s BZA meeting.
Attorney Gregory Muccilli framed Wednesday’s parking relief request as part of a larger project to put languishing State and Chapel Street properties to a denser, residential use.
“This proposed development will improve a currently-underutilized site and create a new, transit-oriented, mixed-use development while preserving the historic nature of several of the existing buildings.”
The proposed development would see Beacon build a total of 79 new apartments split between existing historic commercial properties at 742 – 760 Chapel St., and a planned new four-story residential building proposed for the existing surface lot around the corner on State Street.
Those new apartments would 24 studios, 19 one-bedrooms, and 36 two-bedrooms units. The contiguous complex would also include roughly 5,700 square feet of commercial space, 4,000 square feet of amenity space, and indoor parking for 48 bicycles.
Beacon also intends to impose income-related restrictions on rents at 80 percent of the new apartments. Their plan is to set aside 16 apartments for renters earning no more than 60 percent of the area median income (AMI), 33 apartments for those making no more than 50 percent AMI, and 16 apartments for those making no more than 30 percent AMI. The remaining 14 apartments would be rented out at market rates.
“Beacon’s affordability component goes well beyond the proposed inclusionary zoning requirements for the “Core” submarket as is currently being
considered by the Board of Alders,” Muccilli pointed out in Beacon’s BZA application, “without any of the as-of-right benefits which would accompany such requirements.”
Beacon Communities images
Rendered views of the proposed State St. development.
Which brought Muccilli, Beacon Director of Development LeAnn Hanfield, and engineer Geoff Fitzgerald to the parking relief request.
Beacon plans on building only three on-site parking spaces for the project, and only one on-site loading space.
In addition to the proposed 48 indoor bike spots, Muccilli wrote, the site is adjacent to New Haven State Street Station, a short walk from Union Station, and “further is walkable and bike-able to nearly every major attraction in New Haven, thus making the proposed develop truly transit-oriented. Additionally, there is no parking requirement for the commercial space. The proposed development maximizes the availability of parking, proximity to public transit and provides for significant levels of pedestrian access.”
Fitzgerald agreed. “We’re closing the missing tooth in the important streetscape along State Street,” he said Wednesday night. “There’s a lot of available parking in the area, and the surface lot is not conducive to a comfortable pedestrian situation here.”
Thomas Breen photo
Hill Alder Carmen Rodriguez: In support.
During the public hearing portion of the meeting, attorney Ben Trachten and Hill/City Point/Ninth Square Alder Carmen Rodriguez threw their support behind the proposal.
“This is exactly the type of project to approve,” said Trachten. “The parking relief is minimal for downtown.”
Rodriguez said she has received many phone calls regarding “Beacon and the good job that they do bringing affordability” to the neighborhood and the city more broadly: “I hope that everyone will take a good look at this and approve what they are setting in motion.”
The parking-related special exception application now advances to the City Plan Commission before returning to the BZA for a final vote.
Beacon has also submitted to the Board of Alders a separate application seeking a tax break for this same housing project. That tax break application still needs to be heard by an aldermanic committee before heading to the full board for a final vote.