The Grove Restores A Hidden Venue

Theatrical shows, world-music concerts, poetry slams, book signings and industry festivals could all soon take over a forgotten, century-old warehouse on the Ninth Square’s periphery.

Founders of The Grove, a thriving co-working space at 760 Chapel St., are in the process of restoring a warehouse behind the office into a multi-use event space.

From a dusty warehouse with a rotting roof and peeling walls, they envision creating The State House, a hub for art, music and crafts that will add to the creative scene downtown.

Accessible from the parking lot on State Street, the 4,600-square-foot venue will have a performance area on the ground floor, with a small stage, a bar and restrooms, plus storage, dressing rooms and additional restrooms down in the basement. The theater can fit 125 seats.

Slate Ballard, The Grove’s CEO (where he’s grown the membership to about 135 people), and Carlos Wells, the longtime bar manager at Firehouse 12 and owner of Safety Meeting Records, are co-founding The State House together. They took the first steps in getting the venue officially underway on Tuesday evening by presenting plans to the Board of Zoning Appeals.

Before the theater can open up in June, Ballard needs a tavern license that will allow sales of beer and wine as well as a waiver to rely on street parking. Planning staff recommended approval for both special exceptions.

Cafes and taverns in business districts usually need careful scrutiny, because they can morph into clubs with ​“much higher levels of activity and parking demand than anticipated,” Thomas Talbot, the deputy zoning director, wrote in an advisory report. But that doesn’t seem like it will be the case at the State House. ​“They are not proposing this as a conventional tavern with regular hours of operation; it will be open for scheduled events only,” Talbot explained.

Ballard said he’s already in talks to bring in bands from Puerto Rico and Zimbabwe, diversifying the jazz line-up that predominates in the Ninth Square. He also wants to do a speaker series, book talks, art shows, business meet-ups and TED-style conferences. He told the zoning board that they’d hold about 15 to 20 events a month.

The warehouse, once part of the Horowitz Brothers’ fabric shop until it closed up in 2004, has sat largely unused for years.

In 2013, A Broken Umbrella, New Haven’s site-specific, history-reviving theater company, got permission from the city to briefly take over the space to stage a play about bodice-ripping female bikers from the 19th-century. To get the space ready, the troupe ripped out a suspended ceiling, uncovered hardwood floors, and pulled tiling from the herringbone-patterned walls.

After that four-week run, the theater went back into disuse — until the Elm City Innovation Collaborative won a multi-million dollar grant from CTNext, a quasi-public state agency supporting entrepreneurship.

Ballard and Wells are now trying to renovate the space, putting in a whole new roof while preserving details like the painted columns and hardwood floors. ​“We’re trying to keep the history,” Ballard said. They’re also adding a modular stage, a rig of lights and speakers, an audio booth and handicap-accessible bathrooms.

“This will be a really nice adjunct to this collaborative workspace that fronts on Chapel Street and will allow for a historic portion of this building that has not been used for a very long time to support entertainment and the arts,” Carie Olson, an attorney representing Ballard, told the zoning board.

Several downtown representatives agreed that the project could make a huge difference to the Ninth Square, which has struggled with business closures and increased crime in recent months.

Aaron Greenberg, Wooster Square’s alder, submitted a letter backing the project, saying he hoped more foot traffic in the area might help fill up nearby retail vacancies.

“Neighbors and I look forward to seeing this project revitalize a dormant street and space in bringing new energy and pedestrian traffic,” he wrote. ​“This project is a welcome and attractive addition to the Ninth Square neighborhood.”

Win Davis, executive director of the Town Green Special Services District, also said that the city needed more activity on State Street. He urged the board to approve the special exceptions, pointing out that venues like College Street Music Hall and the Shubert Theater sold beer and wine without parking, too.

The State House’s application will be referred to the City Plan Commission for its input, before it’s sent back to the Board of Zoning Appeals for a final vote.