A plan to redevelop the former Coliseum site cleared yet another hurdle at a Thursday night meeting of the Board of Aldermen’s Legislation Committee, setting the stage for the full board to approve the plan.
An evening earlier prior, on Wednesday, the board’s Finance Committee approved the sale of the former Coliseum site — the block bordered by Orange, George and State streets, and MLK Boulevard — to Montreal-based development company LiveWorkLearnPlay . The company plans to spend $395 million to build some 719 housing units, 76,900 feet of retail space, 200,000 square feet of office space, a new public plaza, and a 160-room hotel. (Click here for a rundown on all the numbers.)
Thursday saw aldermen voting to approve zoning changes that would allow for such a development, reclassifying the area from a BD to a BD‑3 zone.
This change, explained City Plan Director Karyn Gilvarg, will move the site from primarily single-use commercial uses to the mixed use desired in the new development project, including residentia and hotel buildings. It “seemed like it made a lot of sense” to extend the Coliseum site under BD‑3, she added, after the city worked to create the new designation last year.
After presenters Gilvarg and Deputy Director of Zoning Tom Talbot answered a few clarifying questions from aldermen, the floor was opened to public testimony. Speakers from a wide array of backgrounds — including Anne Worcester of Market New Haven, Chris Cryder of the Connecticut Fund for the Environment, and David Kahn of Devil’s Gear — spoke up in support of the redevelopment project and, by extension, the zoning changes before the committee.
After taking public testimony, aldermen voted unanimously to approve the changes, sending the measure to the full board for final approval.
“The whole project as it’s been discussed and the whole building of that area, it just makes sense to do what’s necessary in order to make the larger project a reality,” Dixwell Alderwoman Jeanette Morrison said before the vote.
Thomas MacMillan Photo
Following the meeting, LiveWorkLearnPlay principal Max Reim (pictured at the Wednesday hearing) said that the $362 million that LiveWorkLearnPlay is promising to spend (the rest comes from government, largely to reconnect Orange Street on either side of the current Route 34 Connector) will come from a combination of personal and private equity. He was asked if he plans to bring in any as-yet unnamed equity partners at some point after the public approvals go through. Reim said no such plan has been discussed but he is “always open” to new partners, and must be flexible with sources of additional funding due to the long-term nature of the project.