The old Lehman Brothers Inc. printing company, which has been empty for almost 10 years.
Garrick, Paris, and Rozich unveil project.
With a plan to renovate a shuttered Goatville printing plant, a fast-growing New Haven real estate company is betting that New Haven’s housing boom is ready for condominiums, not just high-end rental apartments.
The testing ground for this condo experiment will be the former Lehman Brothers printing plant at Foster and Canner streets, which has been closed and derelict for almost a decade.
During Monday night’s East Rock Community Management Team meeting at the mActivity Gym on Nicoll Street, project manager Mendy Paris, architect Wayne Garrick, and lawyer Kenneth Rozich of the company Ocean Management presented their prospective plan for converting the building into a 30-unit condominium complex. New Haven is awash in new high-end housing construction, but other developers report they have been able to obtain financing only for rentals, not condos. Ocean gets private financing from out-of-state investors and doesn’t need to rely on banks.
Home to one of the country’s preeminent commercial printing companies for almost 80 years, the modest East Rock industrial complex used to produce engravings, fine stationery, and wedding invitations. It closed its doors in December 2008 when Lehman Brothers Inc. fell into Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
The plot passed through bankruptcy court into the hands of a young developer, who, in the seven years since buying the property, had not been able to turn the old industrial complex into anything other than an overgrown ruin and neighborhood nuisance.
Several months ago the property was purchased by Ocean, a real estate company run by New Haven native Mendy Katz and owned by Israeli investor Shmuel Aizenberg. The company originally bought up and renovated trashed low-income rental properties; it has been adding middle-class rentals to its portfolio. In three years it has mushroomed to one of New Haven’s largest landlords, with over 900 apartments.
According to Paris, a realtor who brokers and rents out properties Ocean renovates, the new owners anticipate investing $8 to 10 million in converting the derelict Lehman Brothers facility into 30 new condos.
Just last month Ocean Management completed a $3.5 million real estate project in the neighborhood, gutting and rehabbing the old YMCA railroad building at 1435 State St. in Cedar Hill and reopening it as a new 21-unit apartment complex.
On Monday night, Paris and Garrick unveiled tentative site plans for the new project.
Garick shows the management team the current survey of 191, 197, and 199 Foster St.
Garrick first showed the management team an existing survey of the land: a little over an acre in size, bounded by Foster, Canner, Nicoll, and Willow Streets, and encompassing the addresses 191, 197, and 199 Foster St.
At its northern end, the site contains a boarded-up, two-story home that Ocean Management plans to demolish.
The center section of the plot contains the old printing press building: a 10,000 square-foot, cast-and-concrete building from 1916 that Garrick described as reminiscent of the Bauhaus style of architecture. Sometime in the 1940s, a large warehouse was added to the main building.
“It’s in decent condition, even though it’s been neglected structurally,” Garrick said about the main building that used to house the printing press. “It is our plan to reuse that building as part of the project.”
He said that the new development had been designed according to the zoning standards of a RH‑2 District, which regulates high density dwellings, even though its one-acre-plus footprint qualifies the project for a Planned Development Unit (PDU) designation, which allows for greater regulatory flexibility for large residential projects.
“We took the approach to conform to zoning,” Garrick said. “At least as much as we could. And, more importantly, to eliminate the zoning nonconformities and work within the constraints of the zoning ordinance or regulations.”
The new site plan for the condo development at the old Lehman Brothers printing facility.
Garrick told the group that Ocean Management planned on demolishing the warehouse, which currently has a number of zoning nonconformities, including a complete absence of rear yard setback along the Nicoll Street properties. Right now, the complex immediately abuts its residential neighbors’ property lines.
He said that Ocean Management will convert the old printing press building, which is two stories tall, into six two-bedroom units, each of which will be roughly 1,500 square feet.
Where the warehouse currently is, the new owners will construct a four-story mid-rise building, with ground-level covered parking and three stories of residential units above. The building will contain 18 residential units: six 2‑bedrooms per floor, with each unit roughly 1,350 square feet.
In place of the old, abandoned home at the northern end of the plot, Ocean Management plans to build six 2‑bedroom townhouses, each around 1,350 square feet. The townhouses will be separated from the old printing press building by a row of trees.
All residents at the new complex will have their own covered parking spaces as well as some form of semi-private, outdoor space, such as the balcony for residents of the new midrise building or a front yard and garden for the townhouses.
“The idea is that the units are designed differently,” Garrick said in reference to the townhouses, the main building two-bedrooms, and the mid-rise two-bedrooms. “They hopefully are responsive to the different needs of people. And just as importantly we hope that the design of the site plan we’ve developed is responsive to the neighborhood, and their needs and what could happen in the future.”
Management team chair David Budries asked if Ocean Management anticipates needing to get any variances from the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) for this project.
Garrick said that the only major variance consideration for this project pertains to lot coverage. RH‑2 districts allow for 30 percent lot coverage; that is, built structures may occupy no more than 30 percent of a plot’s area. This plan currently projects a lot coverage of just under 40 percent. But, instead of pursuing a variance from the BZA, Garrick said, the team plans on applying for the necessary exceptions based on a PDU, or planned development unit, a city zoning tool for projects covering multiple parcels of land.
East Rock Alder Anna Festa asked Garick and Paris to confirm that this project is indeed all condominiums, as opposed to apartment rentals.
Paris and Garick.
“Yes,” Paris said. “We’ll see how the market adapts. But from my understanding, there is a need for condominiums in New Haven. There aren’t a lot of developers doing them right now. We’re pretty confident we should be doing fine with that.”
He told the group that Ocean Management did a lot of market research and, after considering building an apartment complex at this location, decided that New Haven already has plenty of high-end rentals on the market.
Abby Roth.
“I just want to say that I think it’s great that you’re looking to do these as condominiums,” said Abby Roth, the Democratic candidate for Downtown/East Rock alder. “As someone who lived in a condominium for nine years, I hear a lot from condominium owners that they wish there could be more in New Haven, because people who don’t want to live in a house can still make an investment in the community.”
Paris said that Ocean Management is looking to start construction on this project in June 2018, and to complete construction by the end of 2019. He said that they are not yet sure on how much each condo will cost, but that Ocean Management will market them at “a pretty aggressive price,” likely $300 per square foot.