Gentrification Eyed For Ex-Artists’ Haven

After nearly 18 months of vacancy, the former Daggett Street Square artists’ outpost could soon be home to doctors, nurses and other medical professionals at nearby Yale-New Haven Hospital.

At least that is the aspiration of the owner of the former Baumann Rubber Co. building at 69 – 75 Daggett Street.

Attorney Miguel Almodovar and architect Robert Mangino, for building owner 69 – 75 Daggett Street LLC, unveiled a plan to the Board of Zoning Appeals Tuesday night that would put 80 studio and one-bedroom apartments in the former rubber factory. For many years the building on a struggling side street of the Hill neighborhood housed low-rent studio commercial studio space that morphed into illegal housing. That is until the city’s anti-blight agency, fire marshal and building officials shut it down in 2015 for numerous code violations that they said included serious threat to human life.

The building has been vacant since then. Now, the owner wants to convert it to legal residential apartments that would tap into a market-rate expansion into vacant stretches of the Hill, including a recently approved $100 million project.

The owner is now seeking a special permit to reduce the amount of parking spaces that would be required for the building, which currently is in a light Industrial zoning district, from 80 to 55. Almodovar argued Tuesday night that the plan for conversion of the former factory into residences is exactly what the city has envisioned not only in its revised use table in the city’s Code of Ordinances, but also in its comprehensive plan, Vision 2025.

The Board of Zoning Appeals referred the request to the City Plan Commission. The BZA could vote on whether or not to grant the permit as early as next month.

“This building can comfortably fit 80 units,” Almodovar said. ​“We’re not trying to cram in units. We want a space and a building that works for the neighborhood and the residents.”

That means not only less parking — already a contentious issue for Hill neighbors — but less visible parking. Almodovar said the owners expects potential renters — possibly medical professionals from nearby Yale-New Haven Hospital — will walk, or take bikes and buses to work. The majority of the parking would be contained on the first floor of the building, hidden from most eyes.

Tom Talbot, New Haven’s deputy director of zoning, said that the City Plan Department is recommending a reduction of required parking in most residential uses, and if such a recommendation is adopted, the owners wouldn’t need the special exception for fewer parking spaces.

“There is some recognition on the part of staff that reductions like this are, given where they’re located, in many or all cases appropriate,” he said.

Almodovar said given that his client’s project is located between both the Route 34/Downtown Crossing project and the future re-do of Church Street South, it would serve as another bridge to connect the Hill neighborhood back to downtown.

“It is a formerly industrial building, and there is no realistic chance of it being used for industry again,” Almodovar pointed out. ​“This project fits almost seamlessly with the city’s comprehensive plan. We believe that creating more residential units in this area is in keeping with the residential nature [of the neighborhood] to the west, and adds amenity to Yale-New Haven Hospital as a place where doctors, nurses and other staff will be able to live and easily commute to work.

“Moreover, currently the build is empty,” he added. ​“We believe that this project will increase the desirability of the neighborhood by filing that building with tenants and creating a lively, vibrant community instead of an empty building.”

“Vibrant” depends on the eyes of the beholder.

Before artists were given the boot, Daggett Street Square housed what many remember as a lively and vibrant warren of artists’ and musicians’ studios. And for years, while the owner appeared to not be looking, it had become not only a home for the city’s underground arts scene, but also a number of artists’ literal (and illegal) homes.

The undercover living came to a head, when a hotplate sparked a fire, bringing city officials to the building’s doorstep in March. Inspectors found a lack of proper smoke detectors, blocked fire exits and an inadequate sprinkler system. They also found people living on a property zoned for commercial use.

Now the building is on its way to becoming a legal place to live in, but it remains questionable whether artists would be able to afford to live there in the future.

Attorney Ken Rozaich, also an attorney for the owner, who was present at Tuesday’s meeting, said that if permits can be obtained in a timely manner his client is looking to have shovels in the ground by next spring.

Board of Zoning Appeals member Ben Trachten did not participate in the deliberations Tuesday night. He was the attorney of record for the owner when the eviction process began last year.