Proposed Harold’s building rendering.
Aliyya Swaby Photo
Jacob Feldman pitches zoners.
The same developer creating an extended-stay hotel on George Street is seeking permission to put 64 apartments in two commercial buildings in the downtown market.
Brothers Jacob and Josef Feldman of MOD Equities asked the Board of Zoning Appeals Tuesday night for special exceptions and variances to build apartments and commercial spaces in the former Harold’s bridal shop at 19 Elm St. and part of the Joseph English building at 418 State St.
The board did not yet vote on the matter, sending it first to the City Plan Commission next week for a hearing.
The proposals are the latest in a wave of downtown building projects, focusing on apartments and denser development. The brothers received zoning permission to put 108 studios in an extended-day hotel at 323 George St. in December.
19 Elm St. currently.
At 19 Elm St., they asked Tuesday for a variance to build sidewalls taller than allowed by ordinance — 60 feet instead of 43 feet on the west side and 6.6 feet on the east side — and to have no front yard where 5 feet is required. They also asked for a special exception to allow 19 on-site parking spaces where 25 are required.
The building is located in a business zone. The Feldmans presented their plan to the Downtown Wooster Square Community Management Team last May.
The building’s plan calls for five stories with 46 apartment units with a 1,200 square foot commercial space on the bottom floor, Jacob Feldman told zoning commissioners.
MOD Equities’ lawyer, Matt Ranelli, said Tuesday that the plan meets the city’s updated Comprehensive Plan for the next 10 years by accommodating alternative transportation to cars. The building is close to the State Street train station “and every bus route in New Haven,” he said. They asked for the special exception to decrease parking in order to include 20 outdoor bike parking spaces, along with an additional 20 indoors.
The complex would include two-story duplex units and one- and two-bedroom apartments.
Two neighbors spoke up about the plan. Joe Mirrione, who works at 27 Elm St. said he doesn’t know how he feels about it, except that “parking is a concern.”
Josef and Jacob Feldman.
The Feldman brothers also requested a variance to allow no usable open space where 450 square feet are required and a special exception to provide no parking instead of 13 spaces at 418 State St. They bought a portion of the building from PMC Property Group and closed the deal in the fall, Josef Feldman said.
They plan to put 18 apartments on the third and fourth floors of an existing commercial building, and keep the existing office and commercial first-floor uses. The building cannot accommodate the required amount of open space for a residential or mixed-use building of this size, said lawyer Greg Muccilli. The roof construction makes a roof deck physically impossible and no space is available on the lot, he said.
But Pitkin Plaza, Wooster Square Park and the New Haven Green are nearby, to provide open space nearby, he said.
The building is located “within minutes of mass transit” and tenants will be able to “walk anywhere to downtown,” he said, making the decrease in parking reasonable. It will have a fitness room, game room, and bicycle storage.
They are still deciding what to do with the basement space underneath the building, he said later.