Union Station Future Coming Into Focus

What’s the timeline for Union Station’s planned redevelopment?

Will local businesses get preferential treatment in the transit hub’s new retail spaces?

And how will the massive new federal infrastructure bill help make Union Station a better place to travel to and from?

Those were among the questions raised Wednesday during the latest monthly meeting of the city Development Commission.

The hour-long virtual meeting took place online via Zoom.

Development Commissioners lobbed those questions at Doug Hausladen, who helms the city’s parking authority and who is one of the key local players in the tectonic shifts taking place at New Haven’s historic, century-old transit hub on Union Avenue.

Hausladen presented to the commissioners on Wednesday the latest information regarding a proposed 55-year, three-part deal among the city, the state, and Park New Haven regarding the future of Union Station. He also answered questions about what this accord might mean for the future redevelopment of Union Station itself, as well as for the surrounding neighborhoods of Downtown, the Hill, and Long Wharf.

“What’s really exciting for us at Union Station is just having a new conversation with the State of Connecticut and the region about what our regional welcome doormat is,” Hausladen said on Wednesday. Over four million passengers come through the station each year. Thousands of additional travelers come every year to the commuter rail station on State Street. And after decades of disagreements between the city and the state over what the station should look like and how it should grow, the two sides are now finally working together.

“We will have one voice to talk about these two very important assets for our region and our community.”

The proposed Union Station agreement consists of three separate documents. The Board of Alders Finance Committee recently gave an enthusiastic recommendation of approval for all three.

Those documents are now before the full Board of Alders, which could take a final vote on the matter as early as this upcoming Monday.

That deal itself includes:

• A lease, operating and funding agreement between the city and the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) for the management and operation of New Haven Union Station, State Street Station, and associated parking garages and parking lots. The proposed agreement includes a base term of 35 years with two 10-year options for renewal.

• A ​“Capital Partnership Agreement” that lays out the city’s and state’s goals for the redevelopment of the Union Station campus over the next five decades. That includes building 600 new parking garage spaces, an ​“intermodal center” for bus riders, and tripling the station’s retail footprint from 10,000 to 30,000 square feet.

• An agreement between the city and the New Haven Parking Authority that would have the parking authority continue to manage the day-to-day operations of the local transit hub. That parking authority agreement includes a base term of five years, with automatic five-year-term renewals thereafter.

Hausladen said on Wednesday that the proposed redevelopment of the stations’ east and west surface parking lots will play out over three next steps.

First, the parking authority will put out a request for information (RFI) to prospective developers about what kinds of public-private developments might be possible at those two lots. The city will then go through the process of rezoning the two lots to tee up the properties for new construction. That rezoning process should begin ​“imminently,” Hausladen said.

Next, after the sites have been rezoned, the parking authority will put out requests for qualifications (RFQ) to prospective developers who are interested in building atop these sites.

Finally, after developers have submitted proposals, the parking authority, the city, and the state will evaluate those proposals and pick one to actually be built.

Timeline? Retail? Sidewalks? Infrastructure? Tweed? …

What is the projected time of completion of this planned redevelopment? Development Commissioner Sarahi Jordan asked.

“There are certain elements of the deal that will be relying on development partners,” Hausladen replied. ​“Bringing the partners to the table and bringing the right developer to the table will be crucial.”

He said he hopes the parking authority will be reviewing qualifications and submissions by developers by next winter. ​“Maybe in two years time, we’re putting shovels in the ground, looking at approved plans ready to be constructed.”

Hausladen noted that the capital plan included in the city-state accord calls for the construction of 600 new structured parking garage spaces, largely to replace Union Station’s ripe-for-redevelopment, 300-space east lot. That plan also calls for the creation of a mixed-use intermodal center (MUIC) that will provide ​“parking opportunities as well as intermodality with buses and shuttles.”

Is that essentially a bus depot? Development Commission Chair Anthony Sagnella asked.

That’s the plan, Hausladen said. And more.

The ground floor of the cumbersomely acronymed MUIC will be ​“appropriately sized for regional and intercity buses,” he said. Those include Peter Pan and the flyer to Hartford. It may also include spaces for taxis and ride-shares. Intracity buses — that is, the 271 CTtransit public bus — will remain on Union Avenue, he said.

“For now, I would definitely call the MUIC the bus depot,” Hausladen said. ​“But I think of it as more than that. Imagine retail, bathroom facilities, cargo facilities to get cargo into retail for Union Station.”

And what about those retail options? Sagnella continued. When will the city, the state and the parking authority be looking for new vendors and restaurants to fill that planned 30,000 square-feet worth of retail space?

Hausladen said that, if the alders approve the proposed deal, the new lease and funding agreement will likely go into effect some time in December or January. Within 100 days of that agreement taking hold, the parking authority and the stations’ new Operations Committee will have to put together a ​“retail strategy” — focused more on layout than on specific vendors. ​“How many square feet go to fast casual, how many to retail, where do you get dry cleaning, where’s the lockers,” Hausladen said, giving examples of what that plan may cover.

Then, likely next spring or summer, when the parking authority goes out to bid with a RFQ for the larger planned surface-lot redevelopments, it will also likely launch a public search for new vendors at the station.

Will local businesses get preferential treatment during that process? asked Development Commissioner Miguel Pittman.

Hausladen said that the station’s new Operations Committee will have a ​“laser focus on showcasing the State of Connecticut and the region inside of Union Station.” Right now, many of the vendors are franchises, he said. Expect less of that in the future — and expect the addition of more ​“small proprietors and local vendors from New Haven and from the region into the mix.”

At one point, the city and the state were considering trying to attract a developer to build a new hotel above Union Station, Commissioner David Valentino said. Is that still an option worth considering?

While there is demand for more places to stay overnight nearby the Amtrak-Metro North-Hartford Line-Shoreline East hub that is Union Station, Hausladen said, ​“the structure itself, from an engineering standpoint, is not looking very hospitable through loads that would be required” to host a hotel.

That doesn’t mean that a hotel won’t be included as part of the east or west lot redevelopments, he said. But there likely won’t be won built atop the station itself.

Is this project going to benefit from the new $1 trillion federal infrastructure bill recently passed by the House of Representatives and soon to be signed by President Joe Biden? Jordan asked.

We certainly hope so, Hausladen replied. The bill includes $65 billion for the Northeast Corridor, the ​“largest investment in Amtrak in over 50 years. Thank you President ​‘Amtrak Joe’ for remembering what is powering the economy of our country,” he said.

Hausladen said the grants made available through this new infrastructure bill be competitive. He said there are many Metro North stations along the transit corridor already planning applications for federal infrastructure money through this bill.

“We’re excited for the opportunity to go after these grants that are coming out,” he said. ​“The State of Connecticut has a laser focus on Union Station and redeveloping the area around it.”

As Union Station and the area that surrounds it gets built out, Commissioner John Martin said, please don’t forget about the connections between spaces — the bridges and roads and sidewalks. He urged Hausladen to do everything he can to advocate for pedestrian- and bike-friendly routes, ​“not just car corridors.”

That could mean funding for murals, art installations, sidewalks, bike lanes, good lighting, and other improvements.

“As these neighborhoods become redeveloped, whether on Church Street South or Long Wharf, the connective areas are just so critical.”

Hausladen agreed. He described a planned new two-way cycletrack on Water Street connecting Downtown Crossing Phase 2 over to the Farmington Canal Trail extension.

And he noted how difficult it currently is to walk from Union Station to say, the Post Office on Brewery Street, or to Ikea on Sargent Drive. Both are ​“job centers,” he said, and both should be easily and safely accessible from the transit station.

And what about connecting Union Station to Tweed New Haven Airport? Sagnella asked. As the airport expands, more commuters will likely want and need easier access to that hub.

Hausladen said he’s currently in conversation with Tweed Airport Authority Executive Director Sean Scanlon about that very issue.

“The 206 is the bus that goes from the Green, stops at State and Chapel,” and heads out to the airport, Hausladen said. Commuters who travel to the State Street station have to walk just one block to pick up that bus that will take them to the airport.

“If we start promoting State Street Station to Fly Tweed,” Hausladen said, ​“I think it’s a win-win. It’s a home run.”